| Title |
Ancient steroids establish the Ediacaran fossil Dickinsonia as one of the earliest animals
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Science, September 2018
|
| DOI | 10.1126/science.aat7228 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Ilya Bobrovskiy, Janet M Hope, Andrey Ivantsov, Benjamin J Nettersheim, Christian Hallmann, Jochen J Brocks |
| Abstract |
The enigmatic Ediacara biota (571 million to 541 million years ago) represents the first macroscopic complex organisms in the geological record and may hold the key to our understanding of the origin of animals. Ediacaran macrofossils are as "strange as life on another planet" and have evaded taxonomic classification, with interpretations ranging from marine animals or giant single-celled protists to terrestrial lichens. Here, we show that lipid biomarkers extracted from organically preserved Ediacaran macrofossils unambiguously clarify their phylogeny. Dickinsonia and its relatives solely produced cholesteroids, a hallmark of animals. Our results make these iconic members of the Ediacara biota the oldest confirmed macroscopic animals in the rock record, indicating that the appearance of the Ediacara biota was indeed a prelude to the Cambrian explosion of animal life. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 574 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 89 | 16% |
| United Kingdom | 37 | 6% |
| Spain | 32 | 6% |
| Mexico | 19 | 3% |
| Japan | 17 | 3% |
| Canada | 13 | 2% |
| France | 12 | 2% |
| Brazil | 10 | 2% |
| Australia | 10 | 2% |
| Other | 74 | 13% |
| Unknown | 261 | 45% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 456 | 79% |
| Scientists | 103 | 18% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 12 | 2% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 3 | <1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 213 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 213 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 36 | 17% |
| Student > Bachelor | 27 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 26 | 12% |
| Researcher | 20 | 9% |
| Professor | 13 | 6% |
| Other | 39 | 18% |
| Unknown | 52 | 24% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 53 | 25% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 38 | 18% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 17 | 8% |
| Chemistry | 8 | 4% |
| Environmental Science | 6 | 3% |
| Other | 17 | 8% |
| Unknown | 74 | 35% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2018. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 May 2024.
All research outputs
#4,663
of 25,930,027 outputs
Outputs from Science
#251
of 83,454 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#76
of 353,617 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Science
#6
of 1,222 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,930,027 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 83,454 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 66.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 353,617 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 1,222 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.