For the first 3.5 billion years of life on Earth, the only biological organisms were microscopic, with little morphological diversity or biogeographical differentiation. 520 MA the fossil record reveals a sudden exponential increase in the organism diversityand body size. This sudden increase is known as the Cambrian Explosion which resulted in Phanerozoic ecosystems with complex trophic structures. However the Cambrian Explosion does not represent the first complex, macroscopic ecosystem on Earth. The first complex macroscopic organisms first appeared around 580 MA during the middle Ediacaran and did not survive long into the Cambrian. The Ediacaran biota are very unusual and different to Phanerozoic organisms and their ecosystems a failed attempt at complexity.

My research attempts to understand the ecology of the oldest assemblage of Ediacaran Biota in terms of their interactions with each other and their environment.  My approach is quantitative and includes modelling feedback loops within ecosystems, further details can be found here .  I then verify my models using statistical analysis of spatial distributions of bedding planes.