Mary Droser
Mary Droser
(she/her/hers)
(she/her/hers)
Primary Investigator
Primary Investigator
Embedded Files
Email: droser@ucr.edu
Email: droser@ucr.edu
Current Lab Members
Current Lab Members
Background
Background
Dr. Antell grew up in rural northeast Oregon, alternately devouring encyclopedias of animals and venturing out to camp, hike, or cross-country ski. After so much informal study of the environment, it was natural to pursue a double major in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Earth & Planetary Sciences for an undergraduate degree, at Yale University in Connecticut. Graduate school required another long-distance move, this time to the UK for 5 years, to earn a PhD and start a postdoc position in Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford. A University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship lured this Oregonian back to the West Coast in 2022, to pursue independent research under the auspices of the Droser Lab at UC Riverside.
Research
Research
Dr. Antell is a macroecologist who explores the reciprocal interactions between life and Earth systems at a range of spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales. This research agenda involves building statistical models to address questions of how ecosystem diversity and structure arose and is maintained. The main study taxa are marine invertebrates and plankton; within that broad remit the research is driven by questions rather than any specialized taxonomic interest.
Selected Awards
- Winifred Goldring Award for outstanding paleontology student, Association for Women Geoscientists and the Paleontological Society, 2021- Earth Sciences departmental award for equality, diversity, & inclusion work, Oxford, UK, 2020- Clarendon Fund Scholarship, Oxford, UK, 2017-2021- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), declined in order to attend graduate institution outside the US- D. E. Chantler Award for “courage, strength of character, and high moral purpose,” Yale, 2016- W. R. Belknap Prize for excellence in a biology thesis, Yale, 2016Selected Awards
Selected Publications
Antell, G. T., & Saupe, E. E. (2021). Bottom-up controls, ecological revolutions and diversification in the oceans through time. Current Biology, 31(19), R1237-R1251. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.069Selected Publications
Antell, G. T., Fenton, I. S., Valdes, P. J., & Saupe, E. E. (2021). Thermal niches of planktonic foraminifera are static throughout glacial–interglacial climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(18), e2017105118. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2017105118
Greene, S. E., Antell, G. T., Atterby, J., Bhatia, R., Dunne, E. M., Giles, S., ... & Yamoah, K. A. (2021). Safety and belonging in the field: a checklist for educators. Earth ArXiv. DOI: 10.31223/X53P6H
Antell, G. T., Kiessling, W., Aberhan, M., & Saupe, E. E. (2020). Marine biodiversity and geographic distributions are independent on large scales. Current Biology, 30(1), 115-121. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.065
For a full list of peer-reviewed writing, check google scholar here [link]
For a list of grants, service work, and conference and invited talks, find a current CV maintained on GitHub [link]
Rachel Surprenant
Rachel Surprenant
(she/they)
(she/they)
Ph.D. Candidate
Ph.D. Candidate
Background
Background
Rachel grew up on the Central Coast of California and entered her undergraduate career at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota as a mathematics major. However, after taking a geology course to fulfill a requirement and going on her first field trip she changed her major to geology and never looked back!
Research
Research
Rachel has experience in using zircon geochronology to understand mantle evolution and in the comparative taphonomy and paleoecology of vertebrate microfossil bonebeds from the Cretaceous of Montana. In pursuit of her interest in taphonomy, Rachel came to UC Riverside to study the taphonomy and paleoecology of the Ediacaran organism Funisia dorothea and completed her degree in the Spring of 2020. She is now pursuing her PhD at UC Riverside in the Droser lab, conducting research on the broader record of nonmineralized Ediacaran tubular organisms through a taphonomic lens as well as the sedimentology of microbial mat-mediated systems.
Hobbies
Hobbies
In her free time you can catch Rachel hiking with her dog, cooking, or doing art (with a particular excitement for scientific illustrations, nature scenes, and, of course, memes).
Selected Awards
- Future Investigators in NASA Earth Science and Space Technology (FINESST); Project title: "Leveraging regional and global records of Ediacaran tubular taxa to pinpoint the nature and dynamics of metazoan success at the dawn of animal life"- Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research; The American Philosophical Society- Evolving Earth Foundation Student Grant Award- Geological Society of America Student Research GrantSelected Awards
Selected Publications
Selected Publications
M.L. Droser, H. McCandless, I.V. Hughes, C. Murdoch, J. Murdoch, P.C. Boan, R.L. Surprenant, 2022, Bringing the world-famous half billion year old fossils of the Ediacara Biota to South Australian students: In the classroom and in the field: South Australian Science Teachers Association (SASTA).
S.D. Evans, C. Tu, A. Rizzo, R.L. Surprenant, P.C. Boan, H. McCandless, N. Marshall, S. Xiao, M.L. Droser. 2022. Environmental drivers of the first major animal extinction across the Ediacaran White Sea-Nama transition: PNAS.
S.P. Jonnalagedda, R.L. Surprenant, M.L. Droser, B. Bhanu. 2021. SPACESeg: Automated Detection of Bed Junction Morphologies Indicating Signs of Life in Ediacaran Period: 2021 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.
Surprenant, R.L., M.L. Droser, J.G. Gehling. 2020. Biological and ecological insights from the preservational variability of Funisia dorothea, Ediacara Member, South Australia. PALAIOS.: v.35, p. 359-376, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2110/palo.2020.014.
Droser, M.L., Tarhan L.G., Evans, S.E., Surprenant, R.L., Gehling, J.G. 2020. Biostratinomy of the Ediacara Member (Rawnsley Quartzite, South Australia): Implications for depositional environments, ecology, and biology of Ediacara organisms. Interface Focus 10: 20190100.
Selected Presentations
Surprenant, R.L. 2020. Ediacaran paleoecology and taphonomy as informed by the Ediacara Member, South Australia. Macalester College, St. Paul (Invited Talk). Surprenant, R.L., M.L. Droser, J.G. Gehling. 2019. Ediacaran test tubes: Earth’s earliest experiments in multicellularity recorded in the morphology and ecology of three tubular taxa from the Ediacara Member, South Australia: Geological Society of America, 2019 Annual Meeting: 221-4. Oral PresentationSurprenant, R.L., T.G. Lydia, J.G. Gehling, M.L. Droser. 2019. A Tale of Tube Cities: The role of Funisia dorothea in preserving short-term community succession in Ediacara assemblages: North American Paleontological Convention. Symposium 4. Oral PresentationSurprenant, R.L., M.L. Droser, J.G. Gehling. 2018. Putting the “fun” in taphonomy: themultifaceted role of Funisia dorothea in the preservation of Ediacaran Ecosystems: Geological Society of America, 2018 Annual Meeting: 249. Poster Presentation.Surprenant, R.L., R.R. Rogers, K.A. Curry Rogers. 2018. Taphonomy of a vertebrate microfossil bonebed in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Two Medicine Formation of Montana – a comparative approach: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2018 Annual Meeting: B122. Poster Presentation.Selected Presentations
Phil Boan
Phil Boan
(he/him/his)
(he/him/his)
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. Student
Background
Background
Phil grew up in Simpsonville, SC and Parkland, FL., and he began his college education at the University of South Carolina as a history major with the intent on pursuing a law degree and joining the U.S. Navy. These plans were changed when he learned about the numerous kidney stones inside him. This, combined with accidentally signing up for a "Geology for Engineers" class resulted in him switching his major to geology at the beginning of his junior year. He received a Bachelors of Science in Geological Sciences from the University of South Carolina in 2018, and from 2017 to 2019 Phil worked as a Geologic Technician, and later as a Geologist I, for South Carolina Geological Survey.
Research
Research
Phils research interests include (but are certainly not limited to): Paleontology, Paleoecology, Spatial Analysis, Geologic Mapping, and Photogrammetry. He is currently conducting research in South Australia where he is investigating the spatial relationships between sessile Ediacaran organisms.
Hobbies
Hobbies
You can often find Phil discussing his favorite sport, NCAA Football and Women's Basketball, which he follows religiously. Other hobbies of Phil include running, hiking, and reading history.
Selected Awards
- N. Gary Lane Student Research Award; May 2020; Presented by the Paleontological Society- Spot Award; April 2019; Presented by the South Carolina Department of Natural ResourcesSelected Awards
Selected Publications and Presentations
Boan, Phillip C., Morrow, Robert H., and Howard, C. Scott. 2019. Lead in the Geologic Environment. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Geological Survey Report. Morrow, Robert H., Boan, Phillip C., and Arrington, Tanner. 2019. The Carolina Terrane in South Carolina: A Compilation of Over 50 Years of Exploration and 1:24K – Scale Geologic Mapping, presented at Digital Mapping Techniques, Butte, MT, 19-22 May.Boan, Phillip C., Tacker, R.C., Martin, Anthony J., Knapp, James H. 2018. Possible Trace Fossils from the Early Ediacaran (620 MA) of North Carolina, or Tectonic Psuedofossils?, presented at Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, 14-18 November.Boan, Phillip C. 2018. Structural Geologic Approach to Understanding Tectographic Origins of Early Life in Durham County, North Carolina: Part I, presented at Discover USC, 20 April.Gross, Megan R., Boan, Phillip C., Edgar, Sedona, Niles, Jacob D., Stewart, Jason L., Herman, David J., Peach, Brandon T., Bradley, Philip J. and Knapp, James H. 2018. Structural Geologic Test of the Tectographic Origin of Ediacaran Specimens, Durham County, North Carolina: Undergraduate Research on Neoproterozoic Life Part II, presented at Geological Society of America Southeastern Section Meeting, 12-13 April.Boan, Phillip C., Burstein, Jacob T., Burstein, Joshua A., Kellet, Ryan, Medlin, Lawrence J., Herman, David J., Peach, Brandon T., Bradley, Philip J., and Knapp, James H. 2018. A Structural Geologic Test of the Tectographic Origin of Ediacaran Specimens, Durham County, North Carolina: Undergraduate Research on Neoproterozoic Life Part I, presented at Geological Society of America Southeastern Section Meeting, 12-13 April. Selected Publications and Presentations
Heather McCandless
Heather McCandless
(she/her/hers)
(she/her/hers)
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. Student
Background
Background
Heather has always wanted to be a scientist when she was growing up and was always interested in how ecosystems formed and functioned. She remembers being fascinated by food web activities in elementary school and loving to compare ecosystems across the world like the Arctic and Serengeti in middle school. Heather studied Evolution and Ecology at UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, and during this degree realized that studying evolution without looking at the fossil record was missing almost the whole story! Because of this, Heather studied paleontology for her Master's and is now continuing on for her Ph.D.
Research
Research
Heather is a Ph.D. student researching the paleoecology of the Ediacaran period and beyond. She is interested in community variation across small time scales and the drivers of community composition and assembly. She is broadly interested in how Ediacaran communities compare to other community assemblages across time. Because Heather is focused on accurate ecological census data, she also spends time looking at and understanding how taphonomy affects the preserved fossil record and how those biases change across time periods as well.
Hobbies
Hobbies
Heather loves exploring new hobbies like embroidery or whittling or working with clay and is always happy to watch the newest reality show while she's at it. Heather also likes to be outdoors (especially at the beach) and is learning to love cooking.
Email: hmcca005@ucr.edu
Email: hmcca005@ucr.edu
Selected Awards
- Evolving Earth Student Research Grant 2022- Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology 2022- The Lerner-Gray Fund for Marine Research 2022Selected Awards
Selected Publications
S.D. Evans, C. Tu, A. Rizzo, R.L. Surprenant, P.C. Boan, H. McCandless, N. Marshall, S. Xiao, M.L. Droser. 2022. Environmental drivers of the first major animal extinction across the Ediacaran White Sea-Nama transition: PNAS.Master's Thesis - First to Float: Investigating the Taphonomy and Morphology of Attenborites janae From the Nilpena Ediacara National Park. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1h66q0brSelected Publications
Selected Presentations
GSA Annual Meeting 2021: First to Float: Ridge Over Troubled Water: Investigating the Life Habit of Attenborites janae. McCandless and Droser. Oral PresentationGSA Annual Meeting 2022: Deconstructing Taphonomy to Reconstruct Morphology: Characterizing the Life Habit and Morphology of Attenborites janae from the Nilpena Ediacara National Park. McCandless, Boan, and Droser. Poster Presentation. Selected Presentations
Tory Botha
Tory Botha
(she/her/hers)
(she/her/hers)
Ph.D. Student - The University of Adelaide, South Australia
Ph.D. Student - The University of Adelaide, South Australia
Background
Background
Tory grew up in Far North Queensland, Australia and began her undergrad at the University of Adelaide in South Australia with the intention of majoring in genetics. Through a first-year geology elective, changed course to study geology and evolutionary biology which soon led to her changing her major to palaeontology.
Research
Research
During her bachelor’s degree Tory found an interest in morphometrics and 3D scanning through a project which looked into the morphological evolution of burrowing lizard heads. During Honours she pursued her interest in palaeontology, palaeoecology and morphometrics by studying the morphology and ecology of Ediacaran organism Eoandromeda octobrachiata at the University of Adelaide and South Australian Museum under the supervision of Diego Garcia-Bellido, Emma Sherratt and Mary Droser. For her PhD she will continue to study the morphology and mode of life of Ediacaran organisms using methods such as morphometrics.
Hobbies
Hobbies
When not at uni you can find Tory hiking or camping around South Australia, baking or reading.
Background
Background
Walker is from the Chicagoland area and grew up frequently visiting the Field Museum of Natural History as a child. This eventually led him to majors in Geology and Evolutionary Biology at Beloit College and an interest in early ecosystem evolution. He has previously worked at the Field Museum and the Milwaukee Public Museum, and enjoys volunteering for community outreach projects.
Research
Research
Walker has experience in morphometrics and previously looked at ecosystem driven morphological changes. He is now studying a diverse fossil assemblage of the Ediacara biota and pursuing his master’s degree in the Droser lab.
Hobbies
Hobbies
Walker’s hobbies include but are not limited to: camping, painting, music and songwriting, movies, reading, writing, and tea.
Former Lab Members
Former Lab Members
Michelle Zill
Michelle Zill
(she/her/hers)
(she/her/hers)
Ph.D. Candidate
Ph.D. Candidate
Background
Background
Michelle grew up in the Bay Area of Northern California, where she spent a significant portion of time exploring tidepools and collecting sea shells. Throughout high school and undergraduate, she volunteered and worked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium where she developed her passion for science outreach. Though originally interested in marine biology, after an inspiring class in paleontology, she found her academic home in the Earth Sciences. She received her B.S in Earth Sciences with a minor in Marine Sciences at the University of California, San Diego in 2015, then a M.S. in Earth Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2016. She is currently completing her PhD here at University of California, Riverside.
Research
Research
As a paleoceanographer, Michelle’s research interests broadly include the interaction of ocean life and climate. Her current projects investigate sediment alteration, through bioturbation and changes in ocean circulation, throughout the Paleogene, focused on hyperthermal events, such as the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).
Hobbies
Hobbies
When not working, you can find her on long hikes where she often encountered the famous Riverside donkeys. She also enjoys swimming, baking, and going on adventures throughout Southern California when possible.
Email: mzill001@ucr.edu
Selected Awards
- Dissertation Year Program Award, University of California, Riverside, CA. May 8, 2020- Graduate Student Research Grant, Geological Society of America, April 30, 2018- Environmental Dynamics and GeoEcology Grant, University of California, Riverside, CA. May 5, 2017- Dean's Distinguished Fellowship Award, University of California, Riverside, CA. April 25, 2016 - Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, University of California, Riverside, CA. May 14, 2020- University Teaching Certificate, University of California, Riverside, CA. April 20, 2020 - Chancellor’s Making Excellence Inclusive: Graduate Student Diversity Certificate, Riverside, CA. June 7, 2019 - California Legislature Assembly Certificate of Recognition, 61st District, CA. April 2, 2019 - Science to Policy Graduate Certificate Program, University of California, Riverside, January 7, 2019 - Outstanding Student Award, San Diego Association of Geologists, San Diego, CA. December 9, 2015, La Jolla, CA. June 1, 2015Selected Awards
Selected Publications
Sibert E.C., Zill, M.E., Frigyik, E.T., Norris, R.D., (in press). No state change in pelagic fish production and biodiversity during the Eocene- Oligocene Transition. Nature Geoscience. Cavole, L.C.M., Demko, A.M., Diner, R.E., Giddings, A., Koester, I., Pagniello, C.M., Paulsen, M.L., Ramirez-Valdez, A., Schwenck, S.M., Yen, N.K. and Zill, M.E., 2016. Biological Impacts of the 2013- 2015 Warm-Water Anomaly in the Northeast Pacific. Oceanography, 29(2), pp.273-285.Selected Publications
Selected Oral Presentations
Zill, M.E., Active learning techniques for the science classroom. Teaching Careers Week at University of California, Riverside, CA. May 15, 2020. (invited talk). Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Ridgwell A.J., Droser, M.D., Impact of bioturbating organism on the deep- sea sediment record across the Paleocene- Eocene Thermal Maximum. Paleoecology Seminar at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. September 27, 2019 (invited talk).Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Droser, M.D., Constraining Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum carbon cycling using the record of bioturbation. North American Paleontological Convention, Riverside, CA. June 24, 2019.Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Ridgwell A.J., Droser, M.D. Constraints on Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum Carbon Cycling: Significance of Bioturbation. EDGE Institute Fall Student Symposium, Riverside, CA. December 1, 2017.Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Ridgwell A.J., Droser, M.D. Evaluating the significance of bioturbation for constraints on Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum carbon cycling. Climatic and Biotic Events of the Paleogene 2017, Snowbird, UT. September 4, 2017.Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Droser, M.D. Deep sea core ichnology during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. 2017 iMuds Workshop, Lake Arrowhead, CA. June 17, 2017. Selected Oral Presentations
Selected Poster Presentations
Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Penman, D.E., Sexton P.F., Scher H.D., Reconstructing North Atlantic Ocean circulation during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 9-13, 2019.Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Droser, M.D., Bioturbation intensity as a constraint on Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum carbon cycling. International Conference on Paleoceanography, Sydney, AUS, Sep. 2-6, 2019. Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Droser, M.D., Utilizing bioturbation to constrain Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum carbon cycling in the Pacific. Geological Society of America Fall Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, November 4-7, 2018.Zill, M.E., Kirtland Turner, S., Droser, M.D., Bioturbation’s Impact on the Deep-Sea Sediment Record During the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum. Southern California Geobiology Symposium, Los Angeles, CA, April 8, 2017.Selected Poster Presentations
Bridget Kelly
Bridget Kelly
(she/her/hers)
(she/her/hers)
PhD
PhD
Research
Research
Bridget’s research focuses on the growth and paleoecology of tropical oysters, with special interest in the communities of sclerobionts that use the oyster shells as a hard substrate. Her current research is being conducted in the desert regions of Southern California.
Aaron Martinez
Aaron Martinez
(he/him/his)
(he/him/his)
PhD
PhD
Background
Background
Aaron spent most of his childhood on the beach in Hawaii where he loved playing in the waves and looking at shells. After spending a while as a lifeguard and playing water polo, he went to college as a math major. A short fall off a cliff into some fossil scallops reminded him how much he liked shells and he’s been picking up rocks ever since. Nowadays, he combines organic geochemistry and paleontology to look at molecular fossils in order to understand past biogeochemical cycles. Aaron received a B.S. in Geology from the College of William and Mary in 2014, then a Ph.D. from UCR in Geological Sciences in 2020.
Research
Research
Aaron’s research interests range to any facet of geobiology. From fossil taphonomy, time-averaging, and trace fossils to lipid biomarker geochemistry, stable isotopes, and microbial community analysis. He is currently working to unravel microbial community dynamics of Late Devonian mass extinctions and looking at Eocene carbon cycles.
Hobbies
Hobbies
Aaron likes poking fun at Phil and watching microbiology in action by brewing mead and making bread. He eats endless bread and uses that an excuse to get outside as much as possible, or at least to the gym.
Selected Publications
Haddad, E. E., Tuite, M. L., Martinez, A. M., Williford, K., Boyer, D. L., Droser, M. L., & Love, G. D. (2016). Lipid biomarker stratigraphic records through the Late Devonian Frasnian/Famennian boundary: comparison of high-and low-latitude epicontinental marine settings. Organic Geochemistry, 98, 38–53.Martinez, A. M., Boyer, D. L., Droser, M. L., Barrie, C., & Love, G. D. (2019). A stable and productive marine microbial community was sustained through the end- Devonian Hangenberg Crisis within the Cleveland Shale of the Appalachian Basin, United States. Geobiology, 17(1), 27–42.Stüeken, E. E., Martinez, A., Love, G., Olsen, P. E., Bates, S., & Lyons, T. W. (2019). Effects of pH on redox proxies in a Jurassic rift lake: Implications for interpreting environmental records in deep time. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2019.03.014Boyer, D., Martinez, A., Evans, S., Cohen, P., Haddad, E., Pippenger, K., Love, G., Droser, M. Living on the Edge: effects of prolonged oxygen stress on life in the Late Devonian. (submitted: Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology).Selected Publications
Selected Conference Abstracts
Martinez, A.M., and R. Lockwood, 2014. Estimating Time-Averaging in the Chesapeake Bay via Amino Acid Racemization of Holocene Mollusks. Geological Society of America National Meeting; Vancouver, British Columbia.Martinez, A.M., Boyer, D.L., Droser, M.L., and G.D. Love, 2016. Deadly Waters: paleoenvironmental analysis of the Late Devonian Hangenberg Bioevent in the Appalachian Basin. Geological Society of America National Meeting; Denver, Colorado.Martinez, A.M., Boyer, D.L., Droser, M.L., and G.D. Love 2019. Intermixed Messages: integrated geochemical and paleontological analysis of end-Devonian marine communities in the Appalachian Basin, USA. 11th North American Paleontological Convention; University of California-Riverside, California.Martinez, A.M., Boyer, D.L., Droser, M.L., and G.D. Love 2019. Integrated Geochemical and Paleontological Assessment of end- Devonian Marine Communities from the Appalachian Basin, USA. 29th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry. Gothenburg, Sweden. Selected Conference Abstracts
Selected Poster Presentations
Grigsby, S., Martinez, A.M., Hopkins, A. J., and Ustin, S., 2013. Physical Properties of Forest Canopies using Airborne LiDAR; American Geophysical Union. San Francisco, California.Glade, R., Martinez, A.M., Grigsby, S., and Ustin, S., 2013. Relationships between Topography and Leaf Area Index in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, CA. American Geophysical Union; San Francisco, California.Martinez, A.M., and R. Lockwood, 2014. Time-averaging in Chesapeake Bay mollusks: estimates based on amino acid racemization of Holocene Mulinia. 10th North American Paleontological Convention; University of Florida, Florida.Martinez, A.M., Boyer, D.L., Love, G.D., and M.L. Droser, 2015. Multiproxy Characterization of the Cleveland shale in the Appalachian Basin. Geological Society of America National Meeting; Baltimore, Maryland.Martinez, A.M., Droser, M.L., and G. D. Love, 2016. Lipid biomarker records through the Hangenberg Bioevent of the Late Devonian in the Appalachian Basin, Ohio. 13th Southern California Geobiology Symposium, California Institute of Technology, California.Martinez, A.M., Droser, M.L., and Love, G.D., 2017. Identity Crisis: Detecting the Hangenberg Biocrisis in the Cleveland Shale of the Appalachian Basin, USA. 14th Southern California Geobiology Symposium; University of Southern California, California.Martinez, A.M., Tischer, J., Warter, V., Stamps, B. W., Trower, E. J., Fischer, W. W., and Geobiology Course 2017. Tar Seeps and Sulfide Springs: Sulfur Cycling within an Extreme (Stream) environment, Santa Paula Creek, Ventura, CA. Geological Society of America National Meeting, Seattle; Washington.Martinez, A.M., Kirtland Turner, S., and Love, G.D. 2019. Think Green: Eocene Azolla blooms and their effects on global carbon cycling; 16th Southern California Geobiology Symposium. California Institute of Technology; California. Selected Poster Presentations
Selected Awards
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)- Ed Picou Fellowship Grant; GCSSEPM Foundation- Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant; American Museum of Natural History- Student Research Grant; SEPM Foundation- Best Student Presentation; 10th North American Paleontological ConventionSelected Awards
Chrissy Hall
Chrissy Hall
(she/her/hers)
(she/her/hers)
PhD
PhD
Background and Research
Background and Research
As a Master's student in the Droser Lab, Chrissy worked on the Ediacaran fossil Tribrachidium which is one of several Ediacaran taxa with three-fold radial symmetry. Since then, Chrissy has been working on more of these tri-radially symmetric taxa, trying to understand how they lived and grew and how similar they are to one another. Her PhD work focused on how marine life responded to a rapid warming event in the Eocene (Eocene Thermal Maximum 2). Specifically, Chrissy looked at how ostracode abundance, diversity, and body size changed across the event. She is now expanding this research to investigate more broadly how both marine and lacustrine ostracodes responded to environmental changes throughout the Paleogene.
Chrissy is currently working as a postdoc at the University of Connecticut.
Selected Awards
- UCR Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship (2018-2019) - Outstanding Teaching Assistant (2015)Selected Awards
Selected Publications
Droser, M.L., Gehling, J.G., Tarhan, L.G., Evans, S.E., Hall, C.M.S., Hughes, I.V., Hughes, E.B., Dzaugis, M.E., Dzaugis, M., Dzaugis, P., and Rice, D., 2019, Piecing together the puzzle of the Ediacara Biota: excavation and reconstruction at the Ediacara National Heritage Site Nilpena (South Australia): Palaeogeography, Paleaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology, v. 513, p. 132-145, doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.09.007Hall, C.M.S., Droser, M.L., Clites, E.C., and Gehling, J.G., 2018, The short-lived but successful tri-radial body plan: a view from the Ediacaran of Australia: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, doi: 10.1080/08120099.2018.1472666Hall, C.M.S., Droser, M.L., and Gehling, J.G., 2018, Sizing up Rugoconites: a study of the ontogeny and ecology of an enigmatic Ediacaran genus: Australasian Palaeontological Memoirs, v. 51, 7-17. Hunt, G., Martins, M.J.F., Puckett, T.M., Lockwood, R., Swaddle, J.P., Hall, C.M.S., and Stedman, J., 2017, Sexual dimorphism and sexual selection in cytheroidean ostracodes from the Late Cretaceous of the U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain: Paleobiology, v. 43, p. 620-641, doi: 10.1017/pab.2017.19Tarhan, L.G., Haddad, E., Hall, C.M.S., Dahl, R.M., Hancock, L., Henry, S.E., Joel, L.V., Thomson, T.J., and Droser, M.L., Invited, 2016, Seafloor colonization in the earliest Paleozoic: evidence from the Cambrian of Death Valley: Proceedings of the Death Valley Natural History Association, p. 355-379 (Invited contribution).Hall, C.M.S., Droser, M.L., Gehling, J.G., and Dzaugis, M.E., 2015, Paleoecology of the enigmatic Tribrachidium: New data from the Ediacaran of South Australia: Precambrian Research, v. 269, p. 183-194, doi: 10.1016/j.precamres.2015.08.009Selected Publications
Scott Evans
Scott Evans
(he/him/his)
(he/him/his)
PhD
PhD
Research Summary
Research Summary
As a graduate student in the Droser Lab Scott examined the biology and ecology of Dickinsonia and other modular taxa of the Ediacara Biota from South Australia. Specifically, this involved investigations of growth, mobility, feeding habit, biomechanics, reproductive strategy, community ecology and taphonomy. I also continue to work to try and better understand the relationship between environmental conditions, particularly oxygen availability, and the evolution and demise of Dickinsonia and other early animal forms in the Ediacaran. Exceptional preservation of Devonian soft-bodied forms has been an additional area of interest.
Scott is currently postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where he is working with Doug Erwin and Mary Droser to determine the underlying genetic regulatory programing that was responsible for producing the variety of developmental features observed in the Ediacara Biota. In January of 2021, Scott will be headed to Virginia Tech to work with Shuhai Xiao for a postdoctoral fellowship funded through the Agouron Institute. Here he will work to further constrain the impact of fluctuating oxygen and the advent of burrowing on the evolution of complex animal life by investigating the Ediacara Biota from South China and comparisons with modern organisms.
Selected Awards
- University of California, Riverside Outstanding Teaching Assistant 2016-2017- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Honorable Mention 2015Selected Awards
Selected Publications
Evans, S. D., Hughes, I. V., Gehling, J. G., and Droser, M. L., 2020. Discovery of the oldest bilaterian fossil from the Ediacaran of South Australia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v. 117, 78445-7850. Droser, M.L., Tarhan, L.G., Evans, S.D., Surprenant, R.L., and Gehling, J.G. Biostratinomy of the Ediacara Member (Rawnsley Quartzite, South Australia): Implications for Depositional Environments, Ecology and Biology of Ediacara Organisms. Interface Focus. 10: 20190100. Evans, S.D., Huang, W., Gehling, J.G., Kisailus, D., and Droser, M.L., 2019. Stretched, mangled and torn: Responses of the Ediacaran fossil Dickinsonia to variable forces. Geology, v. 47(11), 1049-1053. Cover image. Evans, S.D., Gehling, J.G., and Droser, M.L., 2019. Slime travelers: Early evidence of animal mobility and feeding in an organic mat world. Geobiology, v.17(5), 490-509. Cover image. Evans, S.D., Dzaugis, P.W., Droser, M.L., and Gehling, J.G., 2019. You can get anything you want from Alice’s Restaurant Bed: Exceptional preservation and an unusual fossil assemblage from a newly excavated bed (Ediacara Member, Nilpena, South Australia). Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 66. DOI: 10.1080/08120099.2018.1470110. Droser, M.L., Evans, S.D., Dzaugis, P.W., Hughes, E.B., and Gehling, J.G., 2019. Attenborites janeae: A new enigmatic organism from the Ediacara Member (Rawnsley Quartzite), South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 66. DOI: 10.1080/08120099.2018.1495668. Dzaugis, P.W., Evans, S.D., Droser, M.L., Gehling, J.G, and Hughes, I.V., 2019. Stuck in the Mat: Obamus coronatus, A new benthic organism from the Ediacara Member, Rawnsley Quartzite, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 66. DOI: 10.1080/08120099.2018.1479306. Scott Evans – CV 2 Evans, S.D., Diamond, S.W., Droser, M.L., and Lyons, T.W., 2018. Dynamic oxygen and coupled biological and ecological innovation during the second wave of the Ediacara Biota. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences, ETLS20170148.Geeza, T.J., Gillikin, D.P., Goodwin, D.H., Evans, S.D., Watters, T., and Warner, N.R., 2018. Controls on magnesium, manganese, strontium, and barium concentrations recorded in freshwater mussel shells from Ohio. Chemical Geology. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.01.001. Droser, M.L., Gehling, J.G., Tarhan, L.G., Evans, S.D., Hall, C.M.S., Hughes, I.V., Hughes, E.B., Dzaugis, M.E., Dzaugis, M.P., Dzaugis, P.W. and Rice, D., 2018. Piecing together the puzzle of the Ediacara Biota: Excavation and reconstruction at the Ediacara National Heritage site Nilpena (South Australia): Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.09.007. Evans, S.D., Droser, M.L., and Gehling, J.G., 2017. Highly regulated growth and development of the Ediacara macrofossil Dickinsonia. PLoS ONE, v. 12(5), e0176874. Evans, S.D., Droser, M.L., and Gehling, J.G., 2015. Dickinsonia lift off: Evidence of current derived morphologies. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology, v. 434, 28-33.Selected Publications
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