Quantitative Approaches to Understanding Ediacaran Ecology

Ediacaran macrofossils occupy a crucial position in the history of life on Earth, marking the transition between the microbially dominated Proterozoic and the Cambrian explosion of modern animals. These Ediacaran organisms differ fundamentally from those found in other time periods, making it difficult to resolve their phylogenetic relationships or even their basic ecology. Bedding surfaces at Mistaken Point, SE Newfoundland preserve what appear to be entire in-situ communities of Ediacaran (565 Ma) macrofossils under a series of volcanic ash flows. In this dissertation I employ statistical and modelling techniques to investigate the ecological interactions of these problematic organisms with each other and with their environment, in order to test hypotheses about their ecology