摘要
The Late Carboniferous metazoan framework reefs are unusually well developed in Ziyun region, southern Guizhou Province, China, even in a global perspective. The main reef-building organisms include Formitchevella, Ivanovia cf. manchurica, phylloid algae, and "unnamed reef-building organisms", and along with other inhabitants they constitute different reef communities. Within a given community, the organisms compete for space while maintaining symbiosis. In addition, ecological replacement also occurs among the different communities. Intraspecies competition drives Formitchevella skeleton to grow continuously, and sometimes the skeleton may be curled to avoid the spatial competition with the neighbors.