Quantifying the Evolution of Early Life

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. Numerical Methods

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Ordination Methods and the Evaluation of Ediacaran Communities

      • Matthew E. Clapham

      Pages 3-21

   3. Exploratory Multivariate Techniques and Their Utility for Understanding Ancient Ecosystems

      • John Warren Huntley

      Pages 23-48

   4. Morphometrics in the Study of Ediacaran Fossil Forms

      • Marc Laflamme, Michelle M. Casey

      Pages 49-71

   5. Analyzing Predation from the Dawn of the Phanerozoic

      • Lindsey R. Leighton

      Pages 73-109

   6. Ecospace Utilization During the Ediacaran Radiation and the Cambrian Eco-explosion

      • Andrew M. Bush, Richard K. Bambach, Douglas H. Erwin

      Pages 111-133

   7. Quantifying Bioturbation in Ediacaran and Cambrian Rocks

      • Katherine N. Marenco, David J. Bottjer

      Pages 135-160

   8. Assessing the Role of Skeletons in Early Paleozoic Carbonate Production: Insights from Cambro-Ordovician Strata, Western Newfoundland

      • Sara B. Pruss, Hannah Clemente

      Pages 161-183

   9. Exploring the Ecological Dynamics of Extinction

      • Amelinda E. Webb, Lindsey R. Leighton

      Pages 185-220

3. Technological Approaches

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 221-221

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   2. Fossils with Little Relief: Using Lasers to Conserve, Image, and Analyze the Ediacara Biota

      • Jonathan B. Antcliffe, Martin D. Brasier

      Pages 223-240

   3. Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy and Raman (and Fluorescence) Spectroscopic Imagery of Permineralized Cambrian and Neoproterozoic Fossils

      • J. William Schopf, Anatoliy B. Kudryavtsev

      Pages 241-270

   4. X-Ray Microanalysis of Burgess Shale and Similarly Preserved Fossils

      • Patrick J. Orr, Stuart L. Kearns

      Pages 271-299

   5. Ultrastructural Approaches to the Microfossil Record: Assessing Biological Affinities by Use of Transmission Electron Microscopy

      • Sebastian Willman, Phoebe A. Cohen

      Pages 301-320

   6. Paleobiological Applications of Focused Ion Beam Electron Microscopy (FIB-EM): An Ultrastructural Approach to the (Micro)Fossil Record

      • James D. Schiffbauer, Shuhai Xiao

      Pages 321-354

   7. Reconstructing Deep-Time Biology with Molecular Fossils

      • Christian Hallmann, Amy E. Kelly, S. Neal Gupta, Roger E. Summons

      Pages 355-401

   8. Carbon and Sulfur Stable Isotopic Systems and Their Application in Paleoenvironmental Analysis

      • Kathleen A. McFadden, Amy E. Kelly

      Pages 403-450

4. Back Matter

   Pages 451-462

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This volume provides a detailed description of a wide range of numerical, statistical or modeling techniques and novel instrumentation separated into individual chapters written by paleontologists with expertise in the given methodology. Each chapter outlines the strengths and limitations of specific numerical or technological approaches, and ultimately applies the chosen method to a real fossil dataset or sample type. A unifying theme throughout the book is the evaluation of fossils during the prologue and epilogue of one of the most exciting events in Earth History: the Cambrian radiation.

• Cambrian radiation
• Early animal evolution
• Ediacara biota
• Numerical methods
• Technical methods
• quantitative geology

• , Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellow, Departm, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum, Washington, USA

  Marc Laflamme

• , Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, USA

  James D. Schiffbauer

• , Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, USA

  Stephen Q. Dornbos

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