Geobiological Trends and Events in the Precambrian Biosphere

Reconstruction of the global biological events in the Precambrian requires a multidisciplinary approach. Data from the poor fossil record of the prokaryotes has to be supplemented by the interpretation of some sedimentological, geochemical and paleoclimatic phenomena as the biologically controlled processes. Biochemical and ecological conservatism of the prokaryotic ecosystems makes it possible to decode their signals documented in the Precambrian geological history. Expansion of the eukaryotes was the cause of the strong transformation of the fossil record as a whole. In addition to the biological innovation represented by the growth and change in the taxonomic diversity and cell (or body) size of the organisms, there were other global bio-events connected with the restructuring of the ecosystems, colonization of new environments, and rise of new physiologies which strongly affected the sedimentological and taphonomic processes.