Jean-Bernard Caron is a French and Canadian

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

currently working as a curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Caron is also cross-appointed at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

as an associate professor in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Earth Sciences. He is known for his work on the

Burgess Shale The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fos ...

Education

Caron completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in natural history at the Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand in 1997 and his

Diplôme d'études approfondies A Master of Advanced Studies (MASt or MAS), or Master of Advanced Study, is a postgraduate degree awarded in various countries. Master of Advanced Studies programs may be non-consecutive programs tailored for "specific groups of working professio ...

palaeontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geo ...

sedimentology Sedimentology encompasses the study of modern sediments such as sand, silt, and clay, and the processes that result in their formation (erosion and weathering), transport, deposition and diagenesis. Sedimentologists apply their understanding of m ...

and

chronology Chronology (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , , ; and , ''wikt:-logia, -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the deter ...

from the University Claude-Bernard, Lyon in 1999. His thesis focused on the problematic

animal ''

Banffia constricta ''Banffia'' is a genus of animals described from Middle Cambrian fossils. The genus commemorates Banff, Alberta, near where the first fossil specimens were discovered. Its placement in higher taxa is controversial, with it mostly being considere ...

''. Jean-Bernard Caron volunteered as a field assistant at the

in 1998 and, in 1999 and 2000, participated in the last two seasons led by

Desmond Collins Desmond H. Collins is a Canadian paleontologist, associate professor of zoology at the University of Toronto and retired curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum. He is most renowned for his work on the Burgess Shale The ...

, then Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). He also spent several months at the ROM as a technical assistant, preparing Burgess Shale material. Caron completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

on the

taphonomy Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record. The term ''taphonomy'' (from Greek language, Greek , 'burial' and , 'law') was introduced to paleontology in 1940 by Soviet scientis ...

and

palaeoecology Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs ...

of the Burgess Shale at the University of Toronto in the winter of 2004; in 2005 he won an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship to work on the

Chengjiang Biota The Maotianshan Shales () are a series of Early Cambrian sedimentary deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation or Heilinpu Formation, famous for their '' Konservat Lagerstätten'', deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized orga ...

in order to compare it to the Burgess Shale biota.

Research and career

Caron is currently the curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum. He held the position of associate chair of invertebrate palaeontology from 2006 to 2010. His collaborative research program focuses mainly on the

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

, and

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

of Burgess Shale animals. The study material for his work comes mainly from the Royal Ontario Museum collections, the world's largest repository of Burgess Shale material, with over 150,000 specimens. Caron's work includes the description of new invertebrate species (''

Herpetogaster ''Herpetogaster'' is an extinct cambroernid genus of animal from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China, Blang Formation of China, Pioche Formation of Nevada and Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of Canada containing the species ''Herpetogaster ...

'', ''

Orthrozanclus ''Orthrozanclus'' (from Greek + ( + ), "dawn scythe") is a genus of sea creatures known from two species, ''O. reburrus'' from the Middle Cambrian (~) Burgess shale and ''O. elongata'' from Early Cambrian (~) Maotianshan Shales. Animals in this ...

'', ''

Siphusauctum ''Siphusauctum'' is an extinct genus of filter-feeding animals that lived during the Middle Cambrian about 510 million years ago. Description ''Siphusauctum'' was a sessile animal that was attached to the substrate by a holdfast. It had a tul ...

'', ''

Yawunik ''Yawunik'' is an extinct genus of Cambrian megacheiran ("Great appendage" arthropod) known from the Burgess Shale in Canada ( Marble Canyon locality). The type species has been named ''Yawunik kootenayi'' after the Kootenay, both a geographic ...

'', and
Surusicaris
') as well as poorly known invertebrate species (''

Hurdia ''Hurdia'' is an extinct genus of Hurdiidae, hurdiid radiodont that lived 505 million years ago during the Cambrian Period. Fossils have been found in North America, China, and the Czech Republic. Taxonomic history ''Hurdia'' was named in 1912 ...

'' and
Spartobranchus
'), and has also involved the redescription of ''

Pikaia ''Pikaia gracilens'' is an extinct, primitive chordate marine animal known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia. Described in 1911 by Charles Doolittle Walcott as an annelid, and in 1979 by Harry B. Whittington and Sim ...

'', a primitive chordate, and ''

Metaspriggina ''Metaspriggina'' is a genus of chordate initially known from two specimens in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale and 44 specimens found in 2012 at the Marble Canyon bed in Kootenay National Park. Whilst named after the Ediacaran organi ...

'', a primitive fish. Several animals–''

Odontogriphus ''Odontogriphus'' (from , 'tooth' and , 'riddle') is a genus of soft-bodied animals known from middle Cambrian Lagerstätte. Reaching as much as in length, ''Odontogriphus'' is a flat, oval bilaterian which apparently had a single muscular foo ...

'', ''

Wiwaxia ''Wiwaxia'' is a genus of soft-bodied animals that were covered in carbonaceous scales and spines that protected it from predators. ''Wiwaxia'' fossils—mainly isolated scales, but sometimes complete, articulated fossils—are known from early C ...

'', '' Nectocaris'', and ''

Hallucigenia ''Hallucigenia'' is a genus of lobopodian known from Cambrian aged fossils in Burgess Shale-type deposits in Canada and China, and from isolated spines around the world. The generic name reflects the type species' unusual appearance and eccen ...

''–had previously been regarded as new phyla by

Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould ( ; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American Paleontology, paleontologist, Evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, and History of science, historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely re ...

, but have now been reinterpreted as primitive members of known animal groups ( stem groups). Caron leads regular fieldwork activities in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

and discovered an important new Burgess Shale site nea
Marble Canyon
in

Kootenay National Park Kootenay National Park is a national park of Canada in southeastern British Columbia. The park consists of of the Canadian Rockies, including parts of the Kootenay and Park mountain ranges, the Kootenay River and the entirety of the Vermili ...

in 2012. In 2010, Caron received the ''

'' Award for outstanding contributions to Canadian research from the Palaeontology Division of the

Geological Association of Canada The Geological Association of Canada (GAC) is a learned society that promotes and develops the geological sciences in Canada. The organization holds conferences, meetings and exhibitions for the discussion of geological problems and the exchange o ...

. Caron also engages in outreach about the Burgess Shale. Notably, he spearheaded the production of the Virtual Museum of Canada's Burgess Shale site wit
Parks Canada
which won th
Golden Trilobite Award
from the

Palaeontological Association The Palaeontological Association (PalAss for short) is a charitable organisation based in the UK founded in 1957 for the promotion of the study of palaeontology and its allied sciences. Publications The Association publishes two main journals ...

and th
Award of Excellence in Publications
from the Ontario Museum Association.

Awards and honours

* 2010 – ''

'' Award,

* 2011 – Golden

Trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinction, extinct marine arthropods that form the class (biology), class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most succ ...

Award,

* 2012 – Award of Excellence in Publications,

Ontario Museum Association Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caron, Jean-Bernard Living people Canadian paleontologists Taphonomists 1974 births Academic staff of the University of Toronto