Alex Liu

The fossil record of early animal evolution. 

Research Area

My research explores the origin and early evolution of animals, and how this impacted the Earth System. In particular I focus on the fossil record of the Ediacaran biota, a group of organisms from ~579–539 million years ago that document the earliest stages of animal evolution and behavioural innovation. 

My group describes and interprets body and trace fossils from global localities, and investigates aspects of taphonomy (fossil preservation), sedimentology, and macroevolution. Questions my group seeks to answer include:

• How and when did the major animal body plans and behaviours evolve and diversify?
• In what ways are the evolution and diversification of animals linked to changes in geochemistry, climate, substrate properties, or environment?
• How and why were organisms preserved as fossils so frequently in the Ediacaran Period?

Other active research areas include reconstruction of Neoproterozoic–Cambrian palaeogeography and palaeoclimate (including the timing and extent of glacial events); the role of microbial biofilms in early animal ecosystems; and the fossil record of meiofaunal organisms. 

If you are interested in studying early animal evolution via field-based observations, experimental, petrological, phylogenetic and/or big-data approaches, working with an extensive network of national and international collaborators, then please get in touch!

Project Interests

I would be keen to work with you to co-develop palaeobiological projects on any aspect of early animal evolution! Project topics could include: 

• tracking the radiation/extinction of specific animal clades (e.g. sponges, bilaterians) through the Ediacaran–Cambrian fossil record; 
• taxonomic and phylogenetic work describing exciting new fossil material from my team’s spectacular field sites in Namibia and Canada; 
• palaeoecological investigation of organism interactions and behaviour; 
• evaluation of broad-scale trends in the fossil record to identify interplay between life and the environment;
• application of new experimental/analytical techniques.

Projects relating to meiofaunal evolution or conservation palaeobiology are also welcomed.