Paleo Enu

• FORMS OF INTERACTION/SYMBIOSIS

  1. Mutualism
  2. Commensalism
  3. Predation
  4. Parasitism
  5. Competition
• Complicating Factors of Fossil Assemblages

  1. Taphonomy
  2. Time- Averaging
  3. Habitat Mixing
• 2 COMMON ASSUMPTIONS

  1. Uniformitarianism
  2. Paleocommunity
• ABIOTIC FACTORS

  1. Temperature
  2. Water depth
  3. Precipitation
  4. Water salinity
• BIOTIC FACTORS

  1. Proportions of herbivores and predators
  2. Number of species in a fossil assemblage
• INFORMATION NEEDED TO RECONSTRUCT A PALEOENVIRONMENT

  1. Types of seds and features preserved in them
  2. Taphonomic factors
  3. Degree of disarticulation
  4. Climate Data
  5. Organisms in the assemblage
• PROCESSES THAT COULD LEAD TO DISARTICULATION

  • Marine: Wave Action
  • Land: Scavengers
  • Both: Erosion
• Variation in form within Species

  • Individual Variation
  • Geographic Variation
  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • Growth Stages
  • Ecophenotypic effects
• INTERPRETING THE FUNCTION OF FOSSILS

  • Comparison with modern analogs
  • Biomechanical Modeling
  • Circumstantial Evidence
• Factors involved in Background Extinction

  • Climate Change
  • Habitat Infiltration by Invasive Species
• Scientific Models

  1. Spontaneous Generation
  2. Inorganic Model
  3. Extraterrestrial origins
  4. Biochemical model
  5. Hydrothermal Model
• 5 BIG PHANEROZOIC MASS EXTINCTIONS

  1. End Ordovician
  2. Late Devonian
  3. End of Permian
  4. End of Triassic
  5. End of Cretaceous