ACL: Advent of Complex Life - MIT Astrobiology Team

Marc LaFlamme

Bateman Postdoctoral Associate and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University
PO Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109
Email: marc dot laflamme at yale dot edu
Institution: Yale University
Telephone: (203) 432-5411

My research interests lie in the classification and preservation of the Ediacara biota, the oldest large and complex organisms in the rock record. These globally-distributed soft-bodied organisms abruptly appear in the fossil record some 578 million years ago, and represent the dominant members of early ecosystems up until the Cambrian explosion of animals. My research focuses on the enigmatic Rangeomorphs and Erniettomorphs, which likely represent extinct lineages on par with animals and plants. I have used traditional and landmark-based morphometric techniques to study the growth and differentiation in closely related species, and recently applied modeling techniques to evaluate the likely feeding strategies employed by these enigmatic organisms.

My present research focuses on the taphonomic pathways that allowed for the preservation of soft-bodied Ediacara biota in coarse sediments. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) is being used to study the chemical differentiation found in Ediacaran preservational settings.