Critical Transitions in the History of Life

US-China Workshop In Geology and Paleontology
Critical Transitions in the History of Life
Washington, DC | November 5 & 6, 2005


Conveners Zhe-Xi Luo (Carnegie), Douglas H. Erwin (Smithsonian), Samuel A. Bowring (MIT), Yugan Jin (NIGPAS) Ê
Coordinators of Subgroup Discussion Shuhai Xiao (Virginia Tech) for Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Transition Shuzhong Shen (Nanjing Institute) for Permian-Triassic Transition Zhe-Xi Luo (Carnegie Museum) for Evolution of Modern Biotas in Mesozoic Chris Beard (Carnegie Museum) for Cenozoic mammalian evolution, human cultural evolution and climate changes Arnold Miller (University of Cincinnati) for collaboration on database infrastructures
Ê
Technical and Logistic Assistance
Mark Klingler (A/V projectionist, programming, Carnegie)
Carlita Sanford (on-site coordination at NMNH-Paleobiology)
Website: Robert Hildebrand
Ê
US Participants
Name	Institution	Topic/Theme/Expertise
Beard, K. Christopher	Carnegie Museum of Natural History	Paleocene/Eocene transition & paleobiogeography
Carrasco, Marc	University of California at Berkeley	Miomap database project
Bowring, Samuel A.	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	High-precision geochronology & Earthtime initiative
Briggs, Derek	Yale University	taphonomy, geobiology & Cambrian radiation
Carrano, Matthew	National Museum of Natural History	Dinosaurs and Mesozoic vertebrates
Cervato, Cinzia	Iowa State University	Chronos database
Chen, Hai	University of Minnesota	Pleistocene climate change in Eastern Asia
Clark, James	George Washington University	Dinosaurs and Mesozoic vertebrate faunal evolution
Dilcher, David	University of Florida	Origins of angiosperm plants & Cretaceous floral evolution
Erwin, Douglas H.	National Museum of Natural History	Permo-Triassic Extinction and Recovery
Hinnov, Linda	The Johns Hopkins University	Ê
Koch, Paul	University of California - Santa Cruz	Paleocene/Eocene climate evolution
Luo, Zhe-Xi	Carnegie Museum of Natural History	Origins of modern mammals and Mesozoic faunal evolution
Meng, Jin	American Museum of Natural History	Eocene/Oligocene mammalian faunal evolution
Miller, Arnold	University of Cincinnati	Paleobiology database
Potts, Rick	National Museum of Natural History	Paleolithic archaeology and human cultural evolution of Asia
Rowe, Timothy	University of Texas - Austin	Digimorph.org database and CT imaging
Sadler, Peter	University of California - Riverside	Models and methods in high-precision biostratigraphy
Soreghan, Gerilyn	University of Oklahoma	Climate evolution and Geosystems database
Summons, Roger	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Biogeochemistry of Neoproterozoic
Sues, Hans-Dieter	National Museum of Natural History	Triassic/Jurassic Transition in terrestrial vertebrate faunas
Wing, Scott	National Museum of Natural History	Early Tertiary floral evolution
Xiao, Shuhai	Virginia Tech and State University	Early evolution of animals and Neoproterozoic algae
Ê
US Observers
Harold R. Lane	National Science Foundation (US) (EAR Program)	Program director, Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology, NSF
Nader, Richard	National Science Foundation (US) (OISE)	Program director, Office of International Science and Engineering, NSF
Herman Zimmerman	National Science Foundation (US)	Director, Division of Earth Sciences, NSF
Ê
Chinese Participants
Gao, Ke-Qin	Peking University	Mesozoic vertebrate faunas of China & early amphibian evolution
Ni, Xijun	Inst. Vert Paleo & Paleoanthropology	Early Tertiary primate evolution
Shen, Shuzhong	Nanjing Inst. Geology & Palaeontology	Late Paleozoic marine invertebrates
Sun, Ge	Jilin University	Origins of angiosperm plants & Cretaceous floral evolution
Tong, Jinnan	China University of Geoscience (Wuhan)	Geochemistry of Permo-Triassic transition
Wang, Xiangdong	Nanjing Inst. Geology & Palaeontology	Late Paleozoic marine invertebrates
Wang, Yue	Nanjing Inst. Geology & Palaeontology	Late Paleozoic invertebrate database (NIGPAS)
Yang, Qun	Nanjing Inst. Geology & Palaeontology	Application of molecular biology in studies of fossils & database
Yin, Chongyu	Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences	Neoproterozoic algal and animal evolution
Xing, Xu	Inst. Vert. Paleo. & Paleoanthropology	Theropod-avian evolution
Zhang, Xinliang	Northwest University	Early Cambrian Chengjiang Biota
Zhou, Zhonghe	Inst. Vert. Paleontology & Paleoanthropology	Early diversification of modern birds
Zhu, Maoyan	Nanjing Inst. Geology & Palaeontology	Neoproterozoic isotope and biogeochemistry
Ê	Ê	Ê
Chinese Observers
Liu, Yu	National Natural Science Foundation of China	Stratigraphy, Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, NSF-China
Lu, Zewei	National Natural Science Foundation of China	Deputy Director, Geoscience Department, NSF-China
Ê
Journalists
Sloan, Christopher	National Geographic Magazine	Journalist and editor
Stokstad, Erik	SCIENCE (AAAS)	Correspondent of science news

Subgroup discussion on Neoproterozoic-Cambrian: Bowing, Briggs, Summons, Xiao (coordinator), Zhu

Subgroup discussion on Permian-Triassic transition: Erwin, Tong, Shen (coordinator), X-D Wang

Subgroup discussion on Mesozoic biotic evolution: Carrano, Clark, Dilcher, Gao, Luo (coordinator), Sues, Sun, Xu, Zhou

Subgroup discussion on Cenozoic mammalian evolution, human evolution and climate changes: Beard (coordinator), Cheng, Meng, Ni, Potts, Soreghan, Wing

Subgroup discussion on database infrastructure collaboration: Carrasco, Cervato, Miller (coordinator), Rowe, Sadler, Y. Wang, Yang,