Palaeobiology and community analysis of the Burgess Shale biota.

最早的动物出现并在所谓的寒武纪大爆发期间迅速进化，大约开始于5.42亿年前。世界上研究这一重要事件的最佳地点之一是不列颠哥伦比亚省约霍国家公园的伯吉斯页岩。在这里，保存异常完好的生物化石群，主要由软体动物组成，在这一关键时期提供了一个罕见的海洋生物一瞥。 我的研究计划将研究大规模的生态和寒武纪大爆发的进化方面使用伯吉斯页岩作为我的主要信息来源。我将研究基于新的或鲜为人知的伯吉斯页岩动物化石的不同身体计划之间的进化关系，旨在确定关键特征和生态创新的起源时间。另一个目标是研究伯吉斯页岩生物群如何随着生态、进化和环境因素的变化而在空间和时间上发生变化。这项研究将涉及跨学科的实地调查，以更好地限制在加拿大落基山脉的各种伯吉斯页岩型矿床的地层位置，并评估其古环境的差异。 我的研究结果不仅对古生物学家，而且对广泛的地球和生命科学家，特别是对重建动物古代起源感兴趣的进化生物学家都具有重要意义。该计划将保持加拿大在早期动物进化和古生物学研究方面的领导地位。

The earliest animals appeared and evolved rapidly during the so-called Cambrian Explosion, starting about 542 million years ago. One of the best places in the world for the study of this important event is the Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park, British Columbia. Here, the exceptionally-preserved fossil biota, composed mostly of soft-bodied animals, offers a rare glimpse into marine life during that critical time period. My research program will examine large-scale ecological and evolutionary aspects of the Cambrian Explosion using the Burgess Shale as my primary source of information. I will study the evolutionary relationships among different body plans based on fossils of new or poorly known Burgess Shale animals, with an aim to fix the timing of the origin of key characters and ecological innovations. A further goal is to study how the Burgess Shale biota changed through space and time in response to ecological, evolutionary and environmental factors. This research will involve interdisciplinary field-based investigations to better constrain the stratigraphic position of various Burgess Shale-type deposits in the Canadian Rockies, and to evaluate differences in their paleoenvironmental settings. Results of my research will be of significance not only to paleontologists but to a broad range of earth and life scientists, and in particular to evolutionary biologists interested in reconstructing the ancient origins of animals. This program will maintain Canada's position as a leader in the study of early animal evolution and paleontology in general.