Paleontology professor to give virtual talk on oldest animal ecosystems

Dr. Marc Laflamme, an associate professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga, will present a virtual talk, “Complexity in the Oldest Animal Ecosystems,” on Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 1 to 2 p.m.

In his presentation, Dr. Laflamme, also a research associate in paleobiology at Royal Ontario Museum, will illustrate the oldest animal ecosystem, the Ediacara biota, which is a group of fossilized soft-bodied organisms from the Ediacaran period (approximately 630 to 540 million years ago).

The affinities of organisms in the Ediacara biota are fiercely debated and their disappearance from the fossil record prior to the Cambrian explosion of animals is equally perplexing.

Geological and biological contexts in which the first animals evolved (and in which the Ediacara biota disappeared) thus represent one of the crucial transitions in the history of life, incorporating Earth’s first major biotic crisis, as well as its most dramatic evolutionary radiation.

Laflamme will review the current understanding of this critical interval, and outline several outstanding questions that will help to illuminate the ecological and environmental step-changes that ushered in the Phanerozoic Eon. Dr. Thomas Hegna from the Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences invited Laflamme to give the talk.

The presentation, which is open to the public, can be accessed online.