Advent of Complex Life

Marc LaFlamme
Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Paleobiology
Ph 202-633-1369

Mailing Address:
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012, MRC 121
Washington, DC 20013-7012

Shipping Address:
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History
10th & Constitution NW
Washington, DC 20560-0121
Video Biography 

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.