Media, AnimationS, Videos

Life's Big Bang - The Story of the Cambrian Explosion. Hosted by Mark Torrender at Evolution Soup

Terrestrial life in the aftermath of a snowball Earth? Hosted by Alex Kovalick (a Virginia Tech alum) at UC Riverside

First Animals: How did they move? Hosted by Jack Matthews at Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Reference: Tang, Q., K. Pang, X. Yuan, and S. Xiao, 2020, A one-billion-year-old multicellular chlorophyte. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 4: 543–549. https://www.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1122-9.

Xiao2019GeologyYichnus.avi

Reference: Xiao, S., Z. Chen, C. Zhou, and X. Yuan, 2019, Surfing in and on microbial mats: Oxygen-related behavior of a terminal Ediacaran bilaterian animal. Geology. http://www.doi.org/10.1130/G46474.1.

Chen2019NatureYilingia.mp4

Reference: Chen, Z., C. Zhou, X. Yuan, and S. Xiao, 2019, Death march of a segmented and trilobate bilaterian elucidates early animal evolution. Nature, 573: 412-415. http://www.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1522-7.

Reference: Chen, Z., X. Chen, C. Zhou, X. Yuan, and S. Xiao, 2018, Late Ediacaran trackways produced by bilaterian animals with paired appendages. Science Advances, 4: eaao6691. doi: http://www.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao6691.

Reference: Chen, Z., X. Chen, C. Zhou, X. Yuan, and S. Xiao, 2018, Late Ediacaran trackways produced by bilaterian animals with paired appendages. Science Advances, 4: eaao6691. http://www.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao6691.

Reference: Zhang, H., S. Xiao, Y. Liu, X. Yuan, B. Wan, A. D. Muscente, T. Shao, H. Gong, and G. Cao, 2015, Armored kinorhynch-like scalidophoran animals from the early Cambrian. Scientific Reports, 5:16521. http://www.doi.org/10.1038/srep16521.

Courtesy of "The Economist"

CellSeparation1.avi

Reference: Hagadorn, J. W., S. Xiao, P. C. J. Donoghue, S. Bengtson, N. J. Gostling, M. Pawlowska, E. C. Raff, R. A. Raff, F. R. Turner, C. Yin, C. Zhou, X. Yuan, M. B. McFeely, M. Stampanoni, and K. H. Nealson, 2006, Cellular and subcellular structure of Neoproterozoic embryos. Science, 314: 291–294.

Muscente_et_al_2017_GR_SA2.mp4

Reference: Muscente, A. D., J. D. Schiffbauer, J. Broce, M. Laflamme, K. O'Donnell, T. H. Boag, M. Meyer, A. D. Hawkins, J. W. Huntley, M. McNamara, L. A. MacKenzie, G. D. Stanley Jr., N. W. Hinman, M. H. Hofmann, and S. Xiao, 2017, Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space. Gondwana Research, 48: 164-188. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.020.

Muscente_et_al_2017_GR_SA1.mp4

Reference: Reference: Muscente, A. D., J. D. Schiffbauer, J. Broce, M. Laflamme, K. O'Donnell, T. H. Boag, M. Meyer, A. D. Hawkins, J. W. Huntley, M. McNamara, L. A. MacKenzie, G. D. Stanley Jr., N. W. Hinman, M. H. Hofmann, and S. Xiao, 2017, Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space. Gondwana Research, 48: 164-188. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.020.

Muscente_et_al_2018_Astrobiology_animation_S1.mp4

Reference: Muscente, A. D., A. D. Czaja, J. Tuggle, C. Winkler, and S. Xiao, 2018, Manganese oxides resembling microbial fabrics and their implications for recognizing inorganically preserved microfossils. Astrobiology, 18: 249-258. doi: 10.1089/ast.2017.1699.

Muscente_et_al_2018_Astrobiology_animation_S2.mp4

Reference: Muscente, A. D., A. D. Czaja, J. Tuggle, C. Winkler, and S. Xiao, 2018, Manganese oxides resembling microbial fabrics and their implications for recognizing inorganically preserved microfossils. Astrobiology, 18: 249-258. doi: 10.1089/ast.2017.1699.

Reference: Xiao, S., Y. Zhang, and A. H. Knoll, 1998, Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite. Nature, 391: 553-558. Scale = 0.1 mm.

Lantianella laevis; Reference: Yuan et al., 2011, An early Ediacaran assemblage of macroscopic and morphologically differentiated eukaryotes. Nature, 470: 390-393. Wan et al., 2016, Systematic description of putative animal fossils from the early Ediacaran Lantian Formation of South China. Palaeontology, 59: 515–532. doi: 10.1111/pala.12242. scale = 1 cm.

Cloudina; Reference: Hua, H., Z. Chen, X. Yuan, L. Zhang, and S. Xiao, 2005, Skeletogenesis and asexual reproduction in the earliest biomineralizing animal Cloudina. Geology, 33:277-280. Scale = 0.1 mm.

Pteridinium; Reference: Chen, Z., C. Zhou, S. Xiao, W. Wang, C. Guan, H. Hua, and X. Yuan, 2014, New Ediacara fossils preserved in marine limestone and their ecological implications. Scientific Reports, 4: 4180 (DOI:10.1038/srep04180). scale = 1 cm.

Archaeophycus yunnanensis; Reference: Xiao, S., 2002, Mitotic topologies and mechanics of Neoproterozoic algae and animal embryos. Paleobiology, 28(2):244-250.

Sarcinophycus radiatus; Reference: Xiao, S. and A. H. Knoll, 1999, Fossil preservation in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Lagerstätte, South China. Lethaia, 32: 219-240.

Reference: Xiao, S., A. H. Knoll, X. Yuan, and C. M. Pueschel, 2004, Phosphatized multicellular algae in the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China, and the early evolution of florideophyte red algae. American Journal of Botany, 91:214-227.

Updated from: Xiao, S. and M. Laflamme, 2009, On the eve of animal radiation: Phylogeny, ecology, and evolution of the Ediacara biota. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24:31-40.

Reference: McFadden, K. A., J. Huang, X. Chu, G. Jiang, A. J. Kaufman, C. Zhou, X. Yuan, and S. Xiao, 2008, Pulsed oxygenation and biological evolution in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 105: 3197-3202.