CAREER: Ecological turnover at the dawn of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event - quantifying the Cambro-Ordovician transition through the lens of exceptional preservation

The first animals originated over half a billion years ago, but marine life did not reach modern-like levels of biodiversity and ecological complexity until approximately 450 million years ago during the so-called Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, or GOBE (go-bee). Although the GOBE represents a critical transition between the appearance of the first animals and the subsequent exploration of dry land, this major event is largely informed by a biased fossil record consisting mainly of shells, bones, and teeth.

This project investigates how exceptional fossil deposits – which contain the remains of soft-bodied animals – impact our knowledge of marine biodiversity and ecology during the early stages of the GOBE. New investigations of the Fezouata fossil biota of Morocco will lead to the discovery of dozens of new extinct animal species, produce an unrivalled understanding of the organization of the first modern-like marine communities, and allows for an evaluation of the rise in ecological complexity that defines the biosphere today.

This project integrates undergraduate students from groups that are underrepresented in geology and evolutionary biology into an ambitious research, educational and outreach program. In addition, the project will produce a unique augmented reality-enhanced natural history museum exhibition in Greater Boston, as well as authoritative online resources for K-12 students, teachers, and the general public.

This research investigates how exceptionally preserved non-biomineralizing fossil organisms impact our understanding of animal evolution and ecology during the early stages of the GOBE, which caused the largest and fastest diversification at lower taxonomic levels of marine organisms for the entire Phanerozoic. Cutting-edge imaging techniques, such as X-ray computed tomography, will be used to study the Fezouata fossils to reveal new anatomical features normally obscured by the rock matrix.

These techniques will allow for the description and characterization of the full biodiversity of the Tremadocian-Floian Fezouata biota of Morocco. Conducting stratigraphically controlled sampling and working with specimens in museum collections will allow the PI to reconstruct the paleoecology and community structure of fossil organisms from the Fezouata biota and assess their spatiotemporal variability within this deposit.

Finally, the project will test how non-biomineralizing organisms inform patterns of ecological turnover during the Cambrian-Ordovician transition and lead to the early establishment of modern-like marine communities.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.