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Scott Evans

Assistant Professor

Earth-Life Interactions

Florida State University

Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

Phone:

603-340-8714

Email:

sdevans@fsu.edu

Office: EOAS 3021

Work Experience and Education

January 2021 - December 2022

September 2019 - December 2021

July 2015 - August 2019

September 2013 - June 2015

August 2009 - May 2013

January 2023

Assistant Professor of Earth-Life interactions in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science at Florida State Univeristy 

Agouron Geobiology Postdoctoral fellow under the advisement of Dr. Shuhai Xiao at Virginia Tech investigating  potential causes of Ediacaran Biotic turnover

Peter Buck Postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History working with Dr. Douglas Erwin on the developmental biology of the Ediacara Biota

PhD at the University of California, Riverside with Dr. Mary Droser on "The Biological Characteristics, Ecological Role and Evolutionary Significance of Dickinsonia and Other Modular Organisms of the Ediacara Biota" 

MS at the University of California, Riverside with Dr. Mary Droser in the Earth Sciences department 

BA at the State University of New York, Geneseo double majoring in Geology and Mathematics

Publications

[20] Evans S.D., Hunt, G., Gehling, J.G., Sperling, E.A., and Droser, M.L. 2023. Species of Dickinsonia Sprigg from the Ediacaran of South Australia. Palaeontology, e12635. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12635. 

 

[19] Droser, M.L., Evans, S.D., Trahan, L.G., Surprenant, R.L., Hughes, I.V., Hughes, E.B., and Gehling, J.G. 2022. What happens between depositional events, stays between depositional events: The significance of Organic Mat Surfaces in the capture of Ediacara communities and the sedimentary rocks that preserve them. Frontiers in Earth Science, v. 10, 826353. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.826353.

 

[18] Evans S.D., Tu, C., Rizzo, A., Surprenant, R.L., Boan, P.C., McCandless, H., Marshall, N., Xiao, S., and Droser,

M. L. 2022. Environmental drivers of the first major animal extinction across the Ediacaran White Sea-Nama transition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, v.119, e2207475119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2207475119

 

[17] Mitchell, E.G., Evans, S.D., Chen, Z., and Xiao, S., 2022. A new approach for investigating spatial relationships of ichnofossils: A case study of Ediacaran-Cambrian animal traces. Paleobiology, v.48, 557-575. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.81762.

 

[16] Evans, S.D., Gehling, J.G., Erwin D.H., and Droser, M.L., 2021. Ediacara growing pains: Modular addition and development in Dickinsonia costata. Paleobiology, v. 48, 83-98. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2021.31.

 

[15] Evans, S.D., Droser, M.L., and Erwin, D.H., 2021. Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Biology, v. 288, 20203055. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055

 

[14] Boyer, D.L., Martinez, A.M., Evans, S.D., Cohen, P.A., Hadaad, E.E., Pippenger, K.H., Love, G.D., and Droser, M.L., 2021. Living on the Edge: The impact of protracted oxygen stress on life in the late Devonian. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 566, 110226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110226

 

[13] Droser, M.L., Tarhan, L.G., Evans, S.D., Surprenant, R.L., and Gehling, J.G., 2020. Biostratinomy of the Ediacara Member (Rawnsley Quartzite, South Australia): Implications for Depositional Environments, Ecology and Biology of Ediacara Organisms. Interface Focus, v. 10, 20190100. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2019.0100

 

[12] Evans, S.D., Hughes, I.V., Gehling, J.G., and Droser, M.L., 2020. Discovery of the oldest bilaterian fossil from the Ediacaran of South Australia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v. 117, 78445-7850. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2001045117

 

[11] Xiao, S., Gehling, J.G., Evans, S.D., Hughes, I.V., and Droser, M.L., 2020. Probable benthic macroalgae from the Ediacara Member, South Australia. Precambrian Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105903

​

[10] Droser, M.L., Evans, S.D., Dzaugis, P.W., Hughes, E.B., and Gehling, J.G., 2019. Attenborites janeae: A new enigmatic organism from the Ediacara Member (Rawnsley Quartzite), South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 66, 915-921.  https://doi.org/10.1080/08120099.2018.1495668

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[3] Geeza, T.J., Gillikin, D.P., Goodwin, D.H., Evans, S.D., Watters, T., and Warner, N.R., 2018. Controls on magnesium, manganese, strontium, and barium concentrations recorded in freshwater mussel shells from Ohio. Chemical Geology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.01.001

 

[2] Evans, S.D., Droser, M.L., and Gehling, J.G., 2017. Highly regulated growth and development of the Ediacara macrofossil Dickinsonia. PLoS ONE, v. 12(5), e0176874. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176874

 

[1] Evans, S.D., Droser, M.L., and Gehling, J.G., 2015. Dickinsonia lift off: Evidence of current derived morphologies. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 434, 28-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.02.006

​

 

[9] Dzaugis, P.W., Evans, S.D., Droser, M.L., Gehling, J.G, and Hughes, I.V., 2019. Stuck in the Mat: Obamus coronatus, A new benthic organism from the Ediacara Member, Rawnsley Quartzite, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 66, 897-903. https://doi.org/10.1080/08120099.2018.1479306

 

[8] Evans, S.D., Dzaugis, P.W., Droser, M.L., and Gehling, J.G., 2019. You can get anything you want from Alice’s Restaurant Bed: Exceptional preservation and an unusual fossil assemblage from a newly excavated bed (Ediacara Member, Nilpena, South Australia). Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 66, 873-883. https://doi.org/10.1080/08120099.2018.1470110

 

[7] Evans, S.D., Gehling, J.G., and Droser, M.L., 2019. Slime travelers: Early evidence of animal mobility and feeding in an organic mat world. Geobiology, v.17(5), 490-509. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12351

 

[6] Evans, S.D., Huang, W., Gehling, J.G., Kisailus, D., and Droser, M.L., 2019. Stretched, mangled and torn: Responses of the Ediacaran fossil Dickinsonia to variable forces. Geology, v. 47(11), 1049-1053. https://doi.org/10.1130/G46574.1

​

[5] Droser, M.L., Gehling, J.G., Tarhan, L.G., Evans, S.D., Hall, C.M.S., Hughes, I.V., Hughes, E.B., Dzaugis, M.E., Dzaugis, M.P., Dzaugis, P.W. and Rice, D., 2018. Piecing together the puzzle of the Ediacara Biota: Excavation and reconstruction at the Ediacara National Heritage site Nilpena (South Australia): Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 513, 132-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.09.007

 

[4] Evans, S.D., Diamond, S.W., Droser, M.L., and Lyons, T.W., 2018. Dynamic oxygen and coupled biological and ecological innovation during the second wave of the Ediacara Biota. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences, ETLS20170148. https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20170148

​

Teaching 

INSTRUCTOR

University of California, Riverside:

  • “History of Life” GEO 003/BIO 010 (Summer 2015, 2016, 2017) 

  • “Advanced topics in Invertebrate Paleontology” GEO 251 (Winter 2021) 

 

TEACHING ASSISTANT

University of California, Riverside:

  • “At Home in the Universe” (Winter 2016, 2017)

  • “Headlines in the History of Life” (Spring 2014, 2015, 2016)

  • “Principles of Invertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoecology” (Fall 2014)

  • “Earth Resources and Sustainability” (Winter 2014)

​

State University of New York at Geneseo:

  • “Our Geological Environment” (Spring 2013)

  • “Geologic History of Life” (Fall 2012)

  • “Invertebrate Paleontology” (Spring 2012)

 

GUEST LECTURER

Virginia Tech:

  • “Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Paleontology” (Graduate course, Spring 2021, virtual)

 

Union College:

  • “Paleontology, Paleobiology and Paleoecology” (Undergraduate course, Spring 2020, virtual)

 

INTERNSHIP MENTOR

Smithsonian NMNH Virtual Internship:

  • “Examining growth patterns and variability in fossils of Earth’s oldest animals” (Summer 2020)

 

University of California, Riverside:

  • “Growth patterns of Dickinsonia and Spriggina” (Spring, Fall 2016).

 

TUTOR

State University of New York at Geneseo: Geology Learning Center (2012-2013)

Research Funding

  • Co-Investigator, NASA Exobiology (2021, 2018)

  • Geobiology Fellowship, Agouron Institute (2021)

  • Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian NMNH (2019)

  • NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (2017-2019)

  • American Museum of Natural History Theodore Roosevelt Research Grant (2016) 
    Geological Society of America Student Research Grant (2016)

  • Evolving Earth Foundation Student Research Grant (2015)

  • The Paleontological Society Student Research Grant (2014, 2015)

  • NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes Fellowship (2014)

  • Geological Society of America Student Research Grant (2014)

  • SEPM Student Research Grant (2014)

  • Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology (2014)

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