Visiting Speaker - Dr. Marc Laflamme

On Friday, April 1, Dr. Marc Laflamme, PhD'07, University of Toronto, Mississauga and Chair of the IUGS-ICS Ediacaran Subcommission,, will be giving a talk for the Queen's Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering.

Dr. Laflamme will be presenting on: "Complexity in the oldest animal ecosystems".

Zoom link: Email dumondl@queensu.ca for the Zoom link

Abstract: 

Ecosystems are built from biological interactions between organisms. Historically, Ediacaran ecosystems were considered “simple” due to their antiquity, and due to our difficulty in classifying Ediacaran organisms. The Ediacaran–Cambrian transition signals a drastic change in both diversity and ecosystem construction. The Ediacara biota disappears and is replaced by more familiar Cambrian and Paleozoic metazoan groups. Although metazoans are present in the Ediacaran, their ecological contribution is dwarfed by Ediacaran-type clades of uncertain phylogenetic affinities, while Ediacaran-type morphologies are virtually non-existent in younger assemblages. Ultimately, the combination of studies on ecosystem construction, biostratigraphy, and biogeography showcases the magnitude of the transition at the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary.

Bio:

I obtained my PhD in geology and paleontology at Queen’s University in 2007, and ever since then have been interested in the classification and preservation of the Ediacara biota, the oldest large and complex organisms in the rock record. These globally-distributed soft-bodied organisms abruptly appear in the fossil record some 578 million years ago, and represent the dominant members of early ecosystems up until the Cambrian explosion of animals. My research focuses on the evolutionary hierarchy and relationships amongst the Ediacara biota, and their relationships to animals. I use morphometric techniques to study the growth and differentiation in closely related species, and apply modeling techniques to evaluate feeding strategies in these enigmatic organisms. I also apply advanced instrumentation such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to study the geochemical and sedimentological context of soft-tissue fossilization. My recent research focuses on understanding the fossilization of soft tissues, combining laboratory decay experiments with extensive field-based studies in Newfoundland, South Australia, and Namibia. My fieldwork showcases how growth, feeding, reproduction, and inter-species competition can be revealed through studies of fossil communities.