the ediacaran facies where arumberia has been found are interpreted as terrigenous sedimentary rocks in shallow marine or fluviolacustrine (intertidal or delta plain) settings that may have been affected by desiccation and salinity. however, an alternative interpretation of the ediacaran facies where "arumberia" is found is that they were coastal gyspiferous paleosols of intertidal to supratidal settings. terminal ediacaran (560 ma) facies in baltica dominantly contain biomarkers (hopane and sterane ratios) characteristic of bacterially-dominated communities in shallow marine oligotrophic settings. these values reflect a high ratio of bacterial to eukaryotic biomass and suggest these ecosystems were nutrient-limited and dominated by bacterial communities, which may have imposed growth constraints and evolutionary modifications to ediacaran organisms like "arumberia."