바이오인

An International Conference on the Cambrian Explosion

 

 

 

We invite you to attend a special Conference on the Cambrian Explosion to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Burgess Shale by Charles Doolittle Walcott. We cordially extend this invitation to all geologists, paleontologists, geochemists and biologists interested in the profound organismal, ecological and environmental changes that occurred during the Precambrian-Cambrian transition. Moreover, we think that this meeting would be of great interest to historians of geology and anyone curious about the origins of animals.
 
The meeting will be held at the Banff Centre, August 4 - 6th, 2009. The resort town of Banff, located about 125km west of Calgary, Alberta , is one of the most scenic spots in the Canadian rocky Mountain National Parks and is only 80 km away from the discovery site of the Burgess Shale (near Field, British Columbia).

 

 

We will have three days of formal presentations (oral and poster formats) starting on Tuesday August 4th and finishing on Thursday August 6th.

 

Each talk will be 15 to 20 minutes in length. 

 

There will be no parallel sessions. 

 

Please note that the official language of the conference is English.

 

1. C. D. Walcott: the discovery and study of the Burgess Shale
2. Precambrian life and environments: prelude to the Cambrian Explosion
3. Global environmental changes during the Precambrian - Cambrian transition, including paleotectonics and geochemistry of Precambrian and Cambrian seas
4. Taphonomy and sedimentology of Burgess Shale-type deposits
5. Paleobiology and paleoecology of Cambrian animals
6. Paleocommunity reconstructions of Cambrian biotas
7. The origin of body plans from developmental and molecular biological perspectives
8. The demise of the Cambrian fauna and post Camrian Burgess Shale-type fossils.

 

 

We have invited eight keynote speakers to give a series of 45-50 minute talks during the conference on different complementary themes.

 

These talks will be free and open to conference delegates and the general public:

 

Derek Briggs (Yale University)
Nick Butterfield (University of Cambridge)
Desmond Collins (Royal Ontario Museum)
Simon Conway Morris (University of Cambridge)
Douglas Erwin (Smithsonian Institution)
Chen Junyuan (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Nigel Hughes (University of California)
Guy Narbonne (Queen’s University)

 

Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron
Associate Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology
Department of Natural History
Royal Otario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto Ontario
M5S 2C6
CANADA

 

Tel: 416-586-5593 ext. #1

Fax: 416-586-5882

E-mail: jcaron@rom.on.ca