October 17, 2014
Trace Fossils: Ecosystem Engineering During the Early Cambrian
Ecosystem engineers are organisms that create, significantly modify or maintain habitats. Trace fossils providing paleontological evidence of ecosystem engineering became abundant over 520 million years ago during the Ediacaran and Early Cambrian periods! However, not much is known about the organisms that created them. This summer I interned at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in the Paleobiology Department and had the opportunity to work with a real-life paleontologist to learn more about these organisms. With my mentor's help, I collected various trace fossil burrow measurements from published literature and applied an allometric analysis to my data. I was able to compare my findings to similar research conducted on contemporary organisms, which led to an interesting and exciting hypothesis. As a scientist, I contributed valuable data to help others better understand Ediacaran and Early Cambrian organisms and their relationships with the environment.
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