GEOL 1066 Lecture : Geology 1066 Notes Week 1
Document Summary
What is paleontology: the scientific study of life existent prior to, but sometimes including the start of the holocene epoch (~12k years ago) It includes the study of fossils, biochemistry, mathematics, and engineering: fossils are the primary focus. Fossils: remnant or trace of past life, naturally preserved in the earth"s crust, body fossil: fossil that represents the actual remains of the organism, trace fossils (ichnofossils): nests, gastroliths, burrows, footprints, coprolites. What can paleontology tell us: reconstruct earth"s history/ plate tectonics, climate and diversity. Interactions: nest, physiology, behavior, communities, who were the herbivores and who were the predators. Climate change: climate change can dictate the size of certain animals. 250 mya permian: 11 species only one still extant. What else can fossils tell us: evolution- within and across groups with shared characters (cladistics, diversification- commonness, first appearance, biogeography of groups historical distributions, extinction- date extinction events and study faunal turnover.
