Dickinsonia - Ecology

Ecology

The organisms displayed isometric, indeterminate growth – that is to say, they kept on expanding until they were covered with sediment or otherwise killed. They spent most, if not all, of their lives with most of their bodies firmly anchored to the sediment, although they may have moved from resting-place to resting-place. Their mode of anchorage may have been oyster-like concretion, lichen-like rooting with rhizines, or fungus-like attachment to an underground network of hyphæ.

The organisms are preserved in such a way that their resistant parts must have been a sturdy biopolymer (such as keratin) rather than a brittle mineral (such as calcite or a pyritised death mask).