510-million-year-old Moroccan trilobites adapted to brackish water
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Infomediaire
Illustrative image · Maciej Cisowski · Pexels · Licence PexelsAn international study shows that trilobites that lived more than 510 million years ago could adapt to varying salinity. Exceptionally preserved fossils from Aït Youb in Morocco's High Atlas helped reconstruct these environments, according to researchers published in Communications Earth & Environment.
Trilobites that lived more than 510 million years ago in Morocco's High Atlas could withstand variations in salinity and live in brackish water, according to an international study published in the Nature group's journal Communications Earth & Environment.
The specimens were discovered at Aït Youb in the High Atlas, where their exceptional preservation makes it possible to study both these ancient arthropods and the aquatic environments they inhabited. The study is coordinated by Abderrazak El Albani, a professor at the University of Poitiers, and its first author is Ibtissam Chraiki, a Moroccan postdoctoral researcher in Poitiers.
The research brings together 13 researchers from seven universities, including the University of Poitiers, Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech, Mohammed V University, Cardiff, Saskatchewan, Montpellier and Córdoba. It received support from the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technology and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region.
In a statement to MAP, Abderrazak El Albani highlighted the cooperation between the teams in Poitiers and Marrakech, as well as its contribution to the international visibility of Moroccan research and fossil heritage.
