IGCP Project 493 – The Ediacaran/Vendian Biota

2007 Reporton Canadian Activities

Report by Guy M. Narbonne (Queen’s University)

The major event of 2007 was a day-long field trip to Mistaken Point led by Guy Narbonne (Queen’s University), Emily Bamforth (Queen’s University), Duncan McIlroy (Memorial University of Newfoundland), and Catherine Ward (Portugal Cove South) held as part of the Canadian Paleontology Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland. A morning session on Ediacaran and Cambrian life at this meeting (chaired by Duncan McIlroy) included three talks on the Ediacara biota.

The report by Canfield, Poulton and Narbonne (see citation in Science below), that the abrupt appearance of the oldest-known large and complex Ediacaran fossils immediately followed oxygenation of the deep oceans, generated considerable interest in the scientific and popular media.

2007 was an excellent year for scientific publications on the Ediacara biota by Canadian scientists (see citations below). Additional scientific papers on the Ediacaran fossils of Newfoundland by Canadian workers Guy Narbonne, Marc Laflamme, Emily Bamforth, and Lija Flude (Queen’s University), Hans Hofmann (McGill University), Art King and Sean O’Brien (Newfoundland Geological Survey), and Duncan McIlroy (Memorial University of Newfoundland) are in press and should be out in 2008.

Additional media interest in Mistaken Point was reflected in the airing of “Ediacara of Newfoundland”, a radio interview of Guy Narbonne jointly aired by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) “The Science Show” and the Canadian Broadcasting Commission (CBC) “Quirks and Quarks” as a celebration of recent major developments in Australian and Canadian science. Our paleontological research at Mistaken Point was featured on the long-running CBC-TV science series “The Nature of Things” (narrated by David Suzuki) as the middle part of a series on “AtlanticCoast”.

Published papers:

Canfield, D.E., Poulton, S.W., and Narbonne, G.M., 2007, Late Neoproterozoic deep ocean oxygenation and the rise of animal life. Science 315:92-95. Selected as a weekly "Research Highlight" by Nature, and featured in the news section of Science, Nature, and New Scientist.

Gehling, J.G. and Narbonne, G.M. 2007, Spindle-shaped Ediacara fossils from the Mistaken Point assemblage, Avalon Zone, Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences44: 367-387.

Ichaso, A., Dalrymple, R.W., and Narbonne, G.M., 2007, Paleoenvironmental and basin analysis of the late Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) upper Conception and St. John’s Groups, west Conception Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences44: 25-41.

Laflamme, M., Narbonne, G.M., Greentree, C., and Anderson, M.M., 2007, Morphology and taphonomy of an Ediacaran frond: Charnia from the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, Geological Society of London, Special Publication286: 237–257.

Book Chapters:

Narbonne, G.M., Gehling, J.G., and Vickers-Rich, P., 2007, The misty coasts of Newfoundland. Chapter 3, pp. 62-67 inFedonkin, M.A., Gehling, J.G., Grey, K., Narbonne, G.M., and Vickers-Rich, P. 2007, The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia. John Hopkins Press, 344 p.

Narbonne, G. M., 2007, The Canadian Cordillera, Chapter 10, pp. 174-183 inFedonkin, M.A., Gehling, J.G., Grey, K., Narbonne, G.M., and Vickers-Rich, P. 2007, The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia. John Hopkins Press, 344 p.

Fieldtrip guidebook:

Narbonne, G.M., Bamforth, E.L., McIlroy, D.M., and Ward, C., 2007, Earth’s Earliest Animals: The Mistaken Point Fossils of Newfoundland. Canadian Paleontology Conference, Field Trip Guidebook, 35 p.

Conference Presentations:

Bamforth, E.L., andNarbonne, G.M. 2007. Pectinates: An Early Experiment in Multicellular Life from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland(oral presentation). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 39 (6): 332. Denver, CO.

Bamforth, E.L.,andNarbonne, G.M. 2007. Network rangids: an early experiment in multicellular life from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland (oral presentation). Canadian Paleontology Conference Proceedings No. 5: Pg. 8. St. John’s NL. “Thomas E. Bolton Award” for best oral presentation.

Bamforth, E.L., andNarbonne, G.M. 2007. Pectinates: An Early Experiment in Multicellular Life; A multi-branched rangeomorph from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland (oral presentation). Sixth Annual Advances in Earth Science Research Conference (AESRC), Abstracts Volume (electronic). Ottawa, ON. “Best Oral Presentation” Award

Bamforth, E.L.,andNarbonne, G.M. 2007. Pectinates: An Early Experiment in Multicellular Life; A multi-branched rangeomorph from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland (oral presentation). Alberta Palaeontological Society (APS) Eleventh Annual Symposium, Abstracts Volume: 2-3. Calgary, AB.

Laflamme, M., Gehling, J.G., and Droser, M., 2007, Three-dimensional fronds from the Ediacaran of South Australia, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 39 (6): 332. Denver, CO.

Laflamme, M. and G. M. Narbonne. (2007). A new multifoliate rangeomorph frond from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland and northwestern Canada. 51st Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association, Uppsala, Sweden.

Laflamme, M. and G. M. Narbonne. (2007).Ediacaran Fronds from Mistaken Point Newfoundland, Leicester’s fossil celebrity: Charnia and the evolution of early life, Leicester, UK. March 2007. Poster.

Laflamme, M. and G. M. Narbonne. (2007). Tiering in Ediacaran Fronds from Mistaken Point Newfoundland, Atlantic Geosciences Society Annual Meeting and Colloquium, Moncton, New Brunswick. February 2007. “Rupert H. MacNeil” best paper award.

Narbonne, G.M., 2007, Solving Darwin’s Dilemma: The Mistaken Point fossils of Newfoundland. Canadian Paleontology Conference Proceedings No. 5: p. 12. St. John’s NL.

Narbonne, G.M., and James, N.P., 2007, Cryogenian (middle Neoproterozoic) reefs from northwestern Canada. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 39 (6): 331. Denver, CO.