EEB362H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Sedimentary Rock, Majungasaurus, Macroevolution
10 Dec 2016
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Paleontology: study of prehistoric life, study fossils to determine organism(cid:495)s evolution + ecology, broken down into 2 classes: Also paleobotany: focuses on study of fossil plants, focus on fossilized spores and pollen. Fundamental data used by paleontologists to study biodiversity and ecology through geologic. )n latin = (cid:498)to be dug up(cid:499) time. 2 main types of fossils: (1) body fossils. Anything that constitutes the tissue remains of an organism. Ex: teeth, pollen, bones, fossil wood, exoskeletons, leaves, seeds: (2) trace fossils. Geologic remains that constitutes biological activity, not actually tissue. Authingenic preservation: have a form of an organism, skin impression of footprint (rather than a fossilized skin or foot) Borings and burrows: traces of movement or living spaces of animals, some bivalves even drill into rocks. Coprolite: fossilized animal excrement, can also tell by size of the poo. Important because find trace bone fragments of what the animal ate. Gnawings: rodent gnaw marks, sometimes antlers have gnaw marks.
