The Precambrian Ediacara Biota—Earth's earliest fossil record of communities of macroscopic, multicellular organisms—provides critical insights into the emergence of complex life on our planet. Excavation and reconstruction of nearly 300 m² of fossiliferous bedding planes in the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite, at the National Heritage Ediacara fossil site Nilpena in South Australia, have permitted detailed study of the sedimentology, taphonomy and palaeoecology of Ediacara fossil assemblages. Characterization of Ediacara macrofossils and textured organic surfaces at the scale of facies, bedding planes and individual specimens has yielded unprecedented insight into the manner in which the palaeoenvironmental settings inhabited by Ediacara communities—particularly hydrodynamic conditions—influenced the aut- and synecology of Ediacara organisms, as well as the morphology and assemblage composition of Ediacara fossils. Here, we describe the manner in which environmental processes mediated the development of taphofacies hosting Ediacara fossil assemblages. Using two of the most common Ediacara Member fossils, Arborea and Dickinsonia, as examples, we delineate criteria that can be used to distinguish between ecological, environmental and biostratinomic signals and reconstruct how interactions between these processes have distinctively shaped the Ediacara fossil record.

前寒武纪埃迪卡拉生物群——地球上最早的宏观多细胞生物群落化石记录——为我们这个星球上复杂生命的出现提供了重要的见解。近300 m ²开挖重建南澳大利亚国家遗产埃迪卡拉化石遗址 Nilpena 的 Rawnsley 石英岩成员中的含化石层理面，允许对埃迪卡拉化石组合的沉积学、埋藏学和古生态学进行详细研究。在相、层理平面和单个标本的尺度上对埃迪卡拉巨化石和纹理有机表面的表征，对埃迪卡拉群落居住的古环境环境——特别是水动力条件——影响埃迪卡拉生物的自体和共生态的方式产生了前所未有的洞察力，以及埃迪卡拉化石的形态和组合组成。在这里，我们描述了环境过程调节承载 Ediacara 化石组合的 Taphofacies 发展的方式。例如，Arborea和Dickinsonia描绘了可用于区分生态、环境和生物地层信号的标准，并重建这些过程之间的相互作用如何独特地塑造了埃迪卡拉化石记​​录。