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SUMMARY:Using ecology to unlock the secrets of early animal evolution - Em
 ily Mitchell\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20211125T150000Z
DTEND:20211125T160000Z
UID:TALK162796@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Oscar Branson
DESCRIPTION:The sudden appearance of animals in the fossil record\, after 
 billions of years of microbial life\, is one of the most dramatic events i
 n the history of life on Earth. These oldest known animals are found in th
 e Ediacaran time period (630–541 Ma)\, just before the Cambrian radiatio
 n.  Studying Ediacaran evolution is fraught with difficulties due to the u
 nique anatomies of Ediacaran organisms. But we have one potential avenue o
 f attack - the preservation of Ediacaran fossils is exceptional\, with tho
 usands of organisms preserved where they lived. To exploit that informatio
 n we can use a suite of ecological methodologies\, normally only used on e
 xtant communities.\n \nDuring this talk I will highlight how this rich dat
 a source\, combined with cutting edge technological and ecological advance
 s\, has transformed our understanding of Ediacaran life. The talk will exp
 lain how laser-scanning has transformed our ability to digitally capture h
 undreds of square meters of Ediacaran bedding planes across the wind-swept
  coasts of Newfoundland. Over the last four years my team and I have used 
 a micron-resolution laser scanner to capture almost 20\,000 fossils in-sit
 u across from Newfoundland\, Canada and Charnwood Forest\, UK. I will go o
 n to explain how this unprecedented dataset has been used with careful spa
 tial and Bayesian approaches to enable the teasing-apart of Ediacaran eco-
 evolutionary dynamics\, and finally how these Ediacaran organisms paved th
 e way for the rapid Cambrian radiation of animals. This lecture will expla
 in how we were able to discover secrets such as the how some Ediacaran spe
 cies were dominantly clonal\, how Ediacaran communities are highly unusual
 \, rarely competing with each other for food and final how variations in t
 he local habitat may be driving Ediacaran diversification and paving the w
 ay for the Cambrian radiation.
LOCATION:Department of Earth Sciences\, Tilley Lecture Theatre
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