Video: Graham CopeKoga
Ediacaran fossils are among the oldest large complex organisms on Earth, appearing suddenly after 3 billion years of only microbial life. However, very little is known about them because their anatomy differs from all other known organisms, although at least some of them are likely to be the first animals. Exceptionally for the fossil record, there is a near-perfect record of these communities, because thousands of these non-mobile organisms were preserved where they lived. This exceptional preservation means that detailed statistical analyses of the fossil spatial distributions can be used to infer their otherwise opaque biology and ecology. We are working in Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve to map out the Ediacaran communities using a high resolution laser scanner and photogrammetry. These Ediacaran fossils have body plans unlike anything else either alive today or elsewhere in the fossil record. While they look superficially like plants these Mistaken Point organisms lived in deep water so couldn't have been photosynthetic.
Since 2016 we have been laser scanning all of the Ediacaran communities in Newfoundland, Canada and Charnwood Forest, UK. This data will be used for many different studies, but is primarily collected for spatial analyses. The Ediacaran communities in Newfoundland were immobile and because they were preserved where they lived, the position of each fossil on the rock surface captures its life-history. Some scans of Ediacaran fossils are shown below. |
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