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Preservation and fluorescence of the microfossils from Neoproterozoic Doushantuo formation
Author(s) -
Chi Huimei,
Feng Man,
Xiao Zhongdang,
Lu Zuhong
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.20547
Subject(s) - fluorescence , microscopy , fossilization , paleontology , confocal laser scanning microscopy , confocal , light sheet fluorescence microscopy , fluorescence microscope , microscope , geology , chemistry , biology , biophysics , optics , philosophy , linguistics , physics
The phosphatized microfossils from Doushantuo Formation, Southeast China show us the biodiversity about 600 million years ago, which is a unique window for the evolution of the early life on earth. However, the process of phosphatic fossilization in detail still remains unknown. Here we report our study on the preservation state of the fossils by using confocal laser scanning microscopy. We found that fluorescent signal of the fossil could reflect the preservation state when compared with the transmission light microscopy. First, we found the fluorescent signal of the decayed cells of the fossil was weaker than that of the nondecayed part. Second, we found that the three‐dimensional reconstruction of the fluorescent signals could help to judge the degree of mineralization of the fossil cells, compared with the observation by transmission light microscope. Third, we found that almost all of the fossil specimens we observed could fluoresce more or less when excited by laser light. Therefore, the fluorescent microscopy provides a useful method for the study of the preservation state of the phosphatic fossil cells. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.