BIOL 3600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cambrian Explosion, Plate Tectonics, Archean
Document Summary
Main points: fossil record is basis for historical studies of evolution, complements living studies of evolutionary biology, precambrian/cambrian transition can be viewed through many lenses. What is the cambrian explosion: a sudden appearance of preservable hard parts in the fossil record around 540 million years ago, explosion of animal phyla. Geological time scale: hadean archean proterozoic paleozoic mesozoic cenozoic, archean photosynthesis starts, end of proterozoic cambrian explosion. Fossils as history: sociological influence: mdodern expressions, geology: rocks preserve evidence of interest, understanding earth at time, taphonomy, bridges geology, paleontology and paleogeobiology, plate tectonics, three types of rocks. Finding precambrian evidence: less likely to find since they often did not have protection or were soft-shelled organisms. How do we use fossil record to infer genealogical relationships: close comparison of similarities and differences, similarities in simple inheritance: homology, case studies, burgess shale, contains some range of anatomical experiments.
