Ernietta plateauensis [specimen photographed in the field]. – Similar to Pteridinium, Ernietta is an unusual, bag-shaped fossil that likely represents early, Ediacaran-aged (~545 million years ago) animals. Work on this species has reconstructed it living in dense aggregations on the seafloor to help in feeding, much like modern mussels. From Gibson et al. (2019); artwork by David Mazierski.
Palaeozoology II
Research
We use specimen-based, experimental, and modeling approaches to understand ancient fossils, and reconstruct their role in the evolving biosphere and Earth system. We perform exploratory fieldwork in Germany, and work closely with colleagues in Namibia, Canada, the US, and Australia to help discover the diversity preserved in new fossil sites. We are always looking for new ways to use the exceptional collections housed in the Section, so interested researchers are encouraged to get in touch.
Ongoing projects:
The hydrodynamics of evolving animal diversity. – In collaboration with researchers in the UK and US, we are reconstructing how evolving animals and changing ecosystem structure interacted with moving fluids to create complex hydrodynamic flow-fields. The results of this work are shedding new light on the paleobiology and -ecology of enigmatic fossil groups, as well as how fluid flow patterns may have created ecological opportunity on longer, evolutionary timescales. This work was previously supported through joint funding from the US National Science Foundation (#NSF-NERC EAR-2007928), and the UK National Environment Research Council (#/V010859/2).
The evolutionary history of ecosystem engineering. – As part of the ‘E6’ project funded by the US National Science Foundation (#NSF-DEB 2051255), we are part of an international group seeking to synthesize the evolutionary history of organismal ecosystem engineering (particularly with respect to reefs), and understand how the structure and function of Earth systems have been bioengineered over the last 4.1 billion years. A key focus of this research is producing a single conceptual framework that will allow us to understand to what extent anthropogenic engineering impacts will have predictable consequences on longer timescales.
Bioturbation and the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. – A recently funded DFG project (#DFG 558639296) is focused on reconstructing the evolution of behavioral complexity and ecosystem engineering impacts over the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, through the lens of trace fossils. This work involves a combination of fieldwork (principally in Namibia and Australia), specimen-based research, and – through collaboration with Senckenberg am Meer – neoichnological experiments.
Other research activities of the section (often long-lasting):
Studies on global events in the Devonian
Studies on global events in the Devonian do continue and – where possible – are regarded in the light of the ‘time-specific facies’ approach. The Upper Devonian Kellwasser Crisis is an example for this, as comparison of certain facies can be traced over facies boundaries. This includes correlations using element geochemistry, gamma ray, and XRF data from the classical section Steinbruch Schmidt in the Kellerwald area of the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge and sections in Moravia (Weiner et al. 2017).
Studies concerning the Kellwasser Event in the Harz Mountains
In the Harz Mountains, studies concerning the Kellwasser Event are embedded in Senckenberg activities in the European Geopark ‚Harz · Braunschweiger Land · Ostfalen‘ (e.g., Schindler et al. 2015; Franzke et al. 2017; Schindler in press).
Studies with respect to the lower Eifelian Choteč Event
With respect to the lower Eifelian Choteč Event, studies are currently under way in Europe, Morocco and North America together with German, Czech and American colleagues. First results on the comparison of sections in Bohemia and the Appalachians have been presented (Brocke et al. 2016).
Siliciclastic sedimentary rocks of the Lower and Middle Devonian in the German Rheinisches Schiefergebirge
In the German Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, the focus lies on siliciclastic sedimentary rocks of the Lower and Middle Devonian of the Rhein/Mosel/Lahn area. An example of integrated research with other Senckenberg scientists (e.g., actuopalaeontology at ‘Senckenberg am Meer’ in Wilhelmshaven), as well as with external colleagues, are investigations of sections in the Mosel Valley and its tributaries. Besides the ”fossil” approach, this project offers the possibility of comparing processes acting in Devonian and in modern environments as well. The German Wadden Sea and the coast of Brittany are key areas for understanding shallow marine to land-sea transitional settings.
In the course of these studies, recently a spectacular fossil was found in a Lower Devonian succession. A so-called ‘vendobiont’, i.e., a form of life which is very typical for the latest Precambrian (Ediacarian) could be obtained from rocks approximately 150 million years younger! A first talk on the fossil has been given (Schindler et al. 2019); work is currently under way.
