Ben Slater
Researcher at Department of Earth Sciences; Palaeobiology
- E-mail:
- ben.slater@geo.uu.se
- Visiting address:
- Geocentrum, Villavägen 16
752 36 Uppsala - Postal address:
- Villavägen 16
752 36 UPPSALA
Download contact information for Ben Slater at Department of Earth Sciences; Palaeobiology
- ORCID:
- 0000-0002-5774-9114
More information is available to staff who log in.
Short presentation
My research aims to better understand major transitions in the history of life through the use of organically-preserved 'Small Carbonaceous Fossils' (SCFs). In particular, I use the SCFs record to reconstruct patterns relating to the origins and 'Cambrian Explosion' of animals, and the adaptation of life to the environments of the land (terrestrialization).
Keywords
- cambrian explosion
- metazoan evolution
- palaeobiology
- palaeoecology
- small carbonaceous fossils (scfs)
Biography
I am a palaeontologist based in the department of Earth Sciences, University of Uppsala. I am interested in major transitions in the history of life and using the fossil record to understand revolutionary changes in the biosphere and the development of intricate interactions between organisms. Specific topics of interest include the Cambrian Explosion of animal life, and the development of complex terrestrial ecosystems. My research has primarily focused on using the rich record of organic-walled microfossils - Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs) and mesofossils - to answer questions regarding arthropod–plant interactions in the Palaeozoic, the coal-forming Permian floras of the Southern Hemisphere, and the initial diversification of animals and assembly of Phanerozoic-style ecosystems during the Cambrian.
My website: http://benslater.weebly.com/
Research
Publications
Selection of publications
- Cambrian 'sap-sucking' molluscan radulae among small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) (2023)
- DEEP TIME BIOGEOMORPHOLOGY (2022)
- Deep Time Biogeomorphology 2 (2022)
- Animal origins (2022)
- Small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from North Greenland (2021)
- Late Ediacaran Microfossils from Finland (2021)
- Evolutionary synchrony of Earth's biosphere and sedimentary-stratigraphic record (2020)
- Cochleatina: an enigmatic Ediacaran-Cambrian survivor among small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) (2020)
- Caught in the act: priapulid burrowers in early Cambrian substrates (2019)
- Early Cambrian small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from an impact crater in western Finland (2019)
- Oxygen minimum zones in the early Cambrian ocean (2018)
- Small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from the Terreneuvian (lower Cambrian) of Baltica (2018)
- Widespread preservation of small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) in the early Cambrian of North Greenland (2018)
- Discussion on ‘Tectonic and environmental controls on Palaeozoic fluvial environments: reassessing the impacts of early land plants on sedimentation’ (2017)
- A cryptic record of Burgess Shale-type diversity from the early Cambrian of Baltica (2017)
Recent publications
- Evidence for saprotrophic digestion of glossopterid pollen from Permian silicified peats of Antarctica (2024)
- Life in the Cambrian shallows (2024)
- The palaeobiological significance of clustering in acritarchs (2024)
- Cambrian 'sap-sucking' molluscan radulae among small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) (2023)
- Organic-walled microfossils from the lower Cambrian of North Greenland (2023)
All publications
Articles
- Evidence for saprotrophic digestion of glossopterid pollen from Permian silicified peats of Antarctica (2024)
- Life in the Cambrian shallows (2024)
- The palaeobiological significance of clustering in acritarchs (2024)
- Cambrian 'sap-sucking' molluscan radulae among small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) (2023)
- Organic-walled microfossils from the lower Cambrian of North Greenland (2023)
- Geometric morphometrics of macro- and meiofaunal priapulid pharyngeal teeth provides a proxy for studying Cambrian "tooth taxa" (2023)
- DEEP TIME BIOGEOMORPHOLOGY (2022)
- Deep Time Biogeomorphology 2 (2022)
- Animal origins (2022)
- Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland (2022)
- Arthropod interactions with the Permian Glossopteris flora (2021)
- Small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from North Greenland (2021)
- Late Ediacaran Microfossils from Finland (2021)
- Evolutionary synchrony of Earth's biosphere and sedimentary-stratigraphic record (2020)
- Cochleatina: an enigmatic Ediacaran-Cambrian survivor among small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) (2020)
- Caught in the act: priapulid burrowers in early Cambrian substrates (2019)
- Comment on: Tang et al.[2019]: A problematic animal fossil from the early Cambrian Hetang Formation, South China (2019)
- The Ediacaran–Cambrian transition: the emerging record from Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs) (2019)
- Early Cambrian small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from an impact crater in western Finland (2019)
- Oxygen minimum zones in the early Cambrian ocean (2018)
- Small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from the Terreneuvian (lower Cambrian) of Baltica (2018)
- Opening a new window onto the Cambrian Explosion of animal life (2018)
- Widespread preservation of small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) in the early Cambrian of North Greenland (2018)
- Discussion on ‘Tectonic and environmental controls on Palaeozoic fluvial environments: reassessing the impacts of early land plants on sedimentation’ (2017)
- A cryptic record of Burgess Shale-type diversity from the early Cambrian of Baltica (2017)
- Paurodendron stellatum: a new Permian permineralized herbaceous lycopsid from the Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica (2015)
- A high-latitude Gondwanan Lagerstätten: The Permian permineralised peat biota of the Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica (2015)
- Fossil Focus: Arthropod–plant interactions (2014)
- Peronosporomycetes (Oomycota) from a Middle Permian permineralised peat within the Bainmedart Coal Measures, Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica (2013)
- Animal–plant interactions in a Middle Permian permineralised peat of the Bainmedart Coal Measures, Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica (2012)
- Cryptic diversity of a Glossopteris forest: Permian silicified peats of the Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica (2012)
- First cladoceran fossils from the Carboniferous: palaeoenvironmental and evolutionary implications (2012)
- New vistas on animal-plant-fungal interactions in the Permian-Triassic of Gondwana (2011)
- Fossil Focus: Coal Swamps (2011)
- Guadalupian (Middle Permian) megaspores from a permineralised peat in the Bainmedart Coal Measures, Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica (2011)
- A new Late Jurassic turtle from Spain: Phylogenetic implications, taphonomy and palaeoecology (2011)
- Organic-walled microfossils from the early Cambrian of North Greenland: a reappraisal of diversity