IGCP Project 493 – The Ediacaran/Vendian Biota
2007 Report on Canadian Activities
Report by Guy M. Narbonne (Queen’s University)
The major event of 2007 was a day-long field trip to Mistaken Point led by Guy
Narbonne (Queen’s University), Emily Bamforth (Queen’s University), Duncan McIlroy
(Memorial University of Newfoundland), and Catherine Ward (Portugal Cove South)
held as part of the Canadian Paleontology Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland. A
morning session on Ediacaran and Cambrian life at this meeting (chaired by Duncan
McIlroy) included three talks on the Ediacara biota.
The report by Canfield, Poulton and Narbonne (see citation in Science below), that the
abrupt appearance of the oldest-known large and complex Ediacaran fossils immediately
followed oxygenation of the deep oceans, generated considerable interest in the scientific
and popular media.
2007 was an excellent year for scientific publications on the Ediacara biota by Canadian
scientists (see citations below). Additional scientific papers on the Ediacaran fossils of
Newfoundland by Canadian workers Guy Narbonne, Marc Laflamme, Emily Bamforth,
and Lija Flude (Queen’s University), Hans Hofmann (McGill University), Art King and
Sean O’Brien (Newfoundland Geological Survey), and Duncan McIlroy (Memorial
University of Newfoundland) are in press and should be out in 2008.
Additional media interest in Mistaken Point was reflected in the airing of “Ediacara of
Newfoundland”, a radio interview of Guy Narbonne jointly aired by the Australian
Broadcasting Commission (ABC) “The Science Show” and the Canadian Broadcasting
Commission (CBC) “Quirks and Quarks” as a celebration of recent major developments
in Australian and Canadian science. Our paleontological research at Mistaken Point was
featured on the long-running CBC-TV science series “The Nature of Things” (narrated by
David Suzuki) as the middle part of a series on “Atlantic Coast”.
Published papers:
Canfield, D.E., Poulton, S.W., and Narbonne, G.M., 2007, Late Neoproterozoic deep
ocean oxygenation and the rise of animal life. Science 315:92-95. Selected as a weekly
"Research Highlight" by Nature, and featured in the news section of Science,
Nature, and New Scientist.
Gehling, J.G. and Narbonne, G.M. 2007, Spindle-shaped Ediacara fossils from the
Mistaken Point assemblage, Avalon Zone, Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Earth
Sciences 44: 367-387.
Ichaso, A., Dalrymple, R.W., and Narbonne, G.M., 2007, Paleoenvironmental and basin
analysis of the late Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) upper Conception and St. John’s Groups,
west Conception Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 44:
25-41.
Laflamme, M., Narbonne, G.M., Greentree, C., and Anderson, M.M., 2007, Morphology
and taphonomy of an Ediacaran frond: Charnia from the Avalon Peninsula of
Newfoundland, Geological Society of London, Special Publication 286: 237–257.
Book Chapters:
Narbonne, G.M., Gehling, J.G., and Vickers-Rich, P., 2007, The misty coasts of
Newfoundland. Chapter 3, pp. 62-67 in Fedonkin, M.A., Gehling, J.G., Grey, K.,
Narbonne, G.M., and Vickers-Rich, P. 2007, The Rise of Animals: Evolution and
Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia. John Hopkins Press, 344 p.
Narbonne, G. M., 2007, The Canadian Cordillera, Chapter 10, pp. 174-183 in Fedonkin,
M.A., Gehling, J.G., Grey, K., Narbonne, G.M., and Vickers-Rich, P. 2007, The Rise of
Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia. John Hopkins Press,
344 p.
Fieldtrip guidebook:
Narbonne, G.M., Bamforth, E.L., McIlroy, D.M., and Ward, C., 2007, Earth’s Earliest
Animals: The Mistaken Point Fossils of Newfoundland. Canadian Paleontology
Conference, Field Trip Guidebook, 35 p.
Conference Presentations:
Bamforth, E.L., and Narbonne, G.M. 2007. Pectinates: An Early Experiment in
Multicellular Life from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland (oral presentation). Geological
Society of America Abstracts with Programs 39 (6): 332. Denver, CO.
Bamforth, E.L., and Narbonne, G.M. 2007. Network rangids: an early experiment in
multicellular life from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland (oral presentation). Canadian
Paleontology Conference Proceedings No. 5: Pg. 8. St. John’s NL. “Thomas E. Bolton
Award” for best oral presentation.
Bamforth, E.L., and Narbonne, G.M. 2007. Pectinates: An Early Experiment in
Multicellular Life; A multi-branched rangeomorph from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland
(oral presentation). Sixth Annual Advances in Earth Science Research Conference
(AESRC), Abstracts Volume (electronic). Ottawa, ON. “Best Oral Presentation”
Award
Bamforth, E.L., and Narbonne, G.M. 2007. Pectinates: An Early Experiment in
Multicellular Life; A multi-branched rangeomorph from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland
(oral presentation). Alberta Palaeontological Society (APS) Eleventh Annual
Symposium, Abstracts Volume: 2-3. Calgary, AB.
Laflamme, M., Gehling, J.G., and Droser, M., 2007, Three-dimensional fronds from the
Ediacaran of South Australia, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
39 (6): 332. Denver, CO.
Laflamme, M. and G. M. Narbonne. (2007). A new multifoliate rangeomorph frond from
the Ediacaran of Newfoundland and northwestern Canada. 51st Annual Meeting of the
Palaeontological Association, Uppsala, Sweden.
Laflamme, M. and G. M. Narbonne. (2007). Ediacaran Fronds from Mistaken Point
Newfoundland, Leicester’s fossil celebrity: Charnia and the evolution of early life,
Leicester, UK. March 2007. Poster.
Laflamme, M. and G. M. Narbonne. (2007). Tiering in Ediacaran Fronds from Mistaken
Point Newfoundland, Atlantic Geosciences Society Annual Meeting and Colloquium,
Moncton, New Brunswick. February 2007. “Rupert H. MacNeil” best paper award.
Narbonne, G.M., 2007, Solving Darwin’s Dilemma: The Mistaken Point fossils of
Newfoundland. Canadian Paleontology Conference Proceedings No. 5: p. 12. St. John’s
NL.
Narbonne, G.M., and James, N.P., 2007, Cryogenian (middle Neoproterozoic) reefs from
northwestern Canada. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 39 (6):
331. Denver, CO.