Deep-time Ecology Group

Photo of Ediacaran fossils

We work on understanding how ecology impacts evolution through deep-time from the origins of animals to the present. 

The first animal communities are found in the Ediacaran time period, around 580 million years ago.  The oldest of these communities consisted of sessile benthic organisms that lived in the deep-sea.  Therefore, to understand how eco-evolutionary dynamics through deep-time, we study a wide range of different benthic communities from the fossil record and in the modern oceans. 

Using statistical and theoretical models we reconstruct how species interacted with each other and their environment and explore how these relationships influence macro-evolutionary patterns over the last 580 million years.

Current research topics include:

  • Ecology and evolution of of early animals
  • Marine ecology through deep-time
  • Benthic ecology and ecosystem resilience
  • The evolution of life in the Universe

Key publications

Stephenson NP, Delahooke KM, Kenchington CG, Waitaiti J, Ball AA, Bonito VE, Manica A & Mitchell EG. 2025.Depth affects the population dynamics on a soft coral-dominated reef on the Great White Wall, Fiji.Coral Reefs. 

Khan T, Griffiths HJ, Stephenson NP, Whittle RJ, Purser A, Manica A, Mitchell EG. 2025.Competition drives the dispersal dynamics of two cup coral morphs in populations on the Powell Basin slopes, Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Scientific Reports -7

Stephenson NP, Delahooke KM, Barnes N, Rideout BWT, Kenchington CG, Manica A, Mitchell EG. 2024Morphology shapes community dynamics in early animal ecosystems Nature Ecology and Evolution 

Khan TM, Whittle RJ, Witts JD, Griffiths HJ, Manica A, Mitchell EG. 2025. Metacommunity structural changes of Antarctic benthic invertebrates over the late MaastrichtianPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Eden R, Manica A, Mitchell EG. 2022.Metacommunity analyses show an increase in ecological specialisation throughout the Ediacaran period. PLoS Biology 

Mitchell, EG., Whittle RJ, and Griffiths HJ. 2020 Benthic ecosystem cascade effects in Antarctica using Bayesian network inference. Communications biology 3: 1-7.

Mitchell, EG, Kenchington, CG, Liu, G, CG, Harris, S and Wilby, PR. 2019 The relative influence of niche versus neutral processes on Ediacaran organisms.Ecology Letters

Mitchell, EG, and Kenchington, CG. 2018 The utility of height for Ediacaran organisms, Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(8),1218-1222.

Mitchell, EG, Kenchington, CG, Liu, G, Matthews, JJ and Butterfield, NJ. 2015 Reconstructing the reproductive mode of an Ediacaran macro-organism. Nature (524) 343–346