Paleobiologi

My project aims to clarify the stem-group structure of several clades of Arthropoda, using material from two Cambrian fossil lagerstätten, the Burgess Shale of Canada and the Sirius Passet fauna of Greenland. Currently, the project is concentrating on the systematics of anomalocaridids or dinocaridids, a group of relatively large arthropods that are thought to be the top predators in the Cambrian seas. Much of the fossil material is from the Burgess Shale collections at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. Morphology, evolution and ecology of the dinocaridids will be described, as the specimens are relatively abundant and have stratigraphic data associated with them. Several taxa will be examined as part of a broader analysis of anomalocaridid systematics and their relation to the evolutionary history of arthropods. Further study will focus on the origin of Chelicerata and the stem-group of the Insecta.

Research conducted as part of a Masters project at the University of Western Ontario in Canada examined a trace fossils thought to be the results of predation. Boring drilled into the hard shells of brachiopods from the Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian were identified in fossils from northern and eastern Canada. The characteristics and patterns of these boring were examined in light of their ecological implications, and subjected to multivariate analysis. Results of this study indicated that predation was not prevalent in brachiopods for these localities and time periods. This work was summarized at the GSA Annual Meeting in October 2006, and can be viewed here.