Gabriela Mángano got her PhD at the University of Buenos Aires. Since 2004, she is with the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), where she is a Professor. Gabriela's research interests are in the field of animal substrate interactions (Ichnology) and their significance in evolutionary paleoecology. During the last years, she has been particularly interested on the trace fossils associated with Burgess Shale-type deposits, having done research in Burgess Shale and Sirius Passet, among other sites. She is the author of three books, has edited three special publications and is the author of approximately 170 scientific papers. She is at the Editorial Board of a number of journals, such as Journal of Paleontology, Palaios, Paleontologia Electronica and Ameghiniana.

Luis Buatois obtained his PhD at the University of Buenos Aires and is a Professor at the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) since 2004, specializing in paleoenvironmental, stratigraphic, and evolutionaryaspects of ichnology. He has been Vice-President of the International Palaeontological Association and President of the International Ichnological Association. Luis has published five books, edited three journal special issues, and is the author of over 200 scientific papers. He is also a member of the editorial board of a number of journals, including Lethaia, Sedimentary Geology, Marine and Petroleum Geology, Ichnos, Ameghiniana, Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis and Spanish Journal of Paleontology.

Reviews the main framework and toolkit of ichnology

Explains how ichnology reveals key information to understand the changing ecology of organism-substrate interactions through the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary

Opens a new window for our understanding of the Cambrian explosion and the Great Ordovician biodiversification event

Assesses the importance of the end-Permian mass extinction

Provides a detailed integrative review of the terrestrialization process during the Paleozoic

1. The conceptual and methodological tools of ichnology.- 2. Ediacaran ecosystems and the dawn of animals.- 3. The Cambrian explosion.- 4. The Great Ordovician Biodiversification event.- 5. The prelude to terrestrial invasion.- 6. The establishment of continental ecosystems.- 7. The end-Permian mass extinction.