ongoing research
Several research projects are currently being undertaken by lab members. Here we highlight a few topics of broad interest within the group, and details of close collaborators on those projects.
investigating the environmental context for a late EDIACARAN EXTINCTION
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A major question relating to the Ediacaran macrobiota is why they disappear from the fossil record prior to the base of the Cambrian. Hypotheses including biotic replacement by 'modern' animals, preservational biases, and mass extinctions have been proposed to explain this disappearance. However, inconsistency in the level of detail to which the depositional environments hosting Ediacaran fossils have been described and reconstructed around the world means that it is difficult to distinguish between these competing hypotheses. Our Leverhulme Trust funded Research Project (which started in October 2021) will address this challenge by drawing together taphonomic, sedimentological and petrological data from late Ediacaran shallow marine localities in Canada, Russia and Namibia, to produce a globally-consistent environmental framework for these major Ediacaran localities. The project builds upon previous successful collaborations with Sean McMahon, William McMahon, and Dima Grazhdankin.
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DR WILLIAM MCMAHON (DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE)William is a PDRA working with Dr Neil Davies, and his work explores the Palaeozoic terrestrialization of the continents from sedimentological and geochemical perspectives. He has led publications reanalysing problematic Ediacaran biologically-mediated sedimentary structures, and reassessing the depositional environments represented by the fossil-bearing Australian Ediacara Member. He is a Co-PI on our Leverhulme Research Project Grant.
PROFessor DMITRIY GRAZHDANKIN (IPGG, NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
Dima is an established palaeobiologist whose work specialises in the palaeontology, sedimentology and stratigraphy of Ediacaran-Cambrian sections in Russia. We have previously collaborated on projects to describe specific Ediacaran taxa, including Charnia (led by Dr Frankie Dunn), and Orbisiana (led by Dr Anton Kolesnikov).
DR SEAN MCMAHON (UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH)
Sean is a geobiologist with interests in the mechanisms of fossil preservation, the deep biosphere, astrobiology, and the geological record of pseudofossils. He collaborates with us on taphonomic projects, providing both petrological expertise and a wealth of experience in designing taphonomy experiments.
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describing new taxa and their developmental biology
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Our work in Newfoundland, Canada, has led to the discovery of several new fossil sites and taxa in recent years (e.g. Liu et al., 2016). We have a variety of projects writing up these new fossil assemblages and their taxa, as well as re-examining previously documented species to explore their growth, development, and systematics. Current work in this area includes description of a new rangeomorph taxon by former MSc student Anna McGairy (co-supervised by Dr Charlotte Kenchington), and collaboration with Dr Frankie Dunn (Oxford) to investigate development in the taxa Charnia and Fractofusus. Previous work has involved study of taxa including Haootia (Liu et al., 2014) and Dickinsonia (Hoekzema et al., 2017).
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DR FRANKIE DUNN (OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY)
Frankie is a postdoctoral research fellow whose work is concerned with understanding the origin and early evolution of animals and how the fossil record informs our view of those events. She regularly collaborates with us on projects relating to the Ediacaran macrobiota, providing insight into development and morphogenesis, and conducting phylogenetic analyses.
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Dr Charlotte kenchington (Department of earth sciences, Cambridge)
Charlotte is an independent Leverhulme Early Career Fellow. Her research investigates Ediacaran systematics, ichnology and palaeoecology, with a particular focus on understanding the extent of ecophenotypism amongst frondose taxa. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2016, and held a postdoctoral position at Memorial University of Newfoundland prior to returning to Cambridge with her current fellowship.
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EDIACARAN PALAEOECOLOGY
The group has longstanding interests in aspects of Ediacaran palaeoecology, initially relating to sites in Newfoundland and the U.K. (e.g. Liu et al, 2015), and more recently working with Dr Emily Mitchell (Cambridge) to apply quantitative approaches to the study of global localities (e.g. Mitchell et al., 2019). Katie Delahooke's PhD project is applying spatial point process analyses to exceptionally preserved Ediacaran fossil assemblages from Newfoundland, to explore the ecological role of the smallest organisms preserved within those palaeocommunities.
DR EMILY MITCHELL (Department of Zoology, university of cambridge)
Emily is a palaeoecologist whose previous Ediacaran work has specialised in the application of Spatial Point Process Analyses to Ediacaran fossil assemblages. She regularly co-supervises students within the lab, and contributes statistical and palaeoecological expertise to our projects.
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