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Paleoecology
 
 
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Paleoecology uses data from fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
s and subfossils to reconstruct the ecosystem
Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
s of the past. It includes the study of fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
 organisms and their bromalite
Bromalite

Bromalites are the fossilised remains of material sourced from the digestive system of organisms. As such, they can be broadly considered to be trace fossils....
s and other trace fossils in terms of their life cycle
Biological life cycle

A life cycle is a period involving one generation of an organism through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction....
, their living interactions, their natural environment
Natural environment

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all life and non-living things occurring nature on Earth or some region thereof....
, their manner of death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
 and burial. Paleoecology's aim is therefore to build the most detailed model possible of the life environment
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
 of those living organisms
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
 found today as fossils; such reconstruction work involves complex interactions among environmental factors (temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
, food
Food

Food is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be Eating or Drinking by an animal or human for nutrition or pleasure....
 supplies, degree of solar illumination
Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
, etc.).






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Paleoecology uses data from fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
s and subfossils to reconstruct the ecosystem
Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
s of the past. It includes the study of fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
 organisms and their bromalite
Bromalite

Bromalites are the fossilised remains of material sourced from the digestive system of organisms. As such, they can be broadly considered to be trace fossils....
s and other trace fossils in terms of their life cycle
Biological life cycle

A life cycle is a period involving one generation of an organism through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction....
, their living interactions, their natural environment
Natural environment

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all life and non-living things occurring nature on Earth or some region thereof....
, their manner of death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
 and burial. Paleoecology's aim is therefore to build the most detailed model possible of the life environment
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
 of those living organisms
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
 found today as fossils; such reconstruction work involves complex interactions among environmental factors (temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
, food
Food

Food is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be Eating or Drinking by an animal or human for nutrition or pleasure....
 supplies, degree of solar illumination
Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
, etc.). Of course, much of this complex data has been distorted or destroyed by the post-mortem fossilization processes, adding another layer of complexity.

The environmental complexity factor is normally tackled through statistical
Statistics

Statistics is a Mathematics pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It also provides tools for prediction and forecasting based on data....
 analysis of the available numerical data (quantitative paleontology
Paleontology

File:Geological time spiral - sharper.pngPaleontology from Greek: pa?a??? "old, ancient", ??, ??t- "being, creature", and ????? "speech, thought" is the study of prehistory life, including organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments ....
 or paleostatistics
Paleostatistics

Paleontology often faces phenomena so vast and complex they can be described only through statistics.First applied to the study of a population in 1662 statistics is today a basic tool for natural sciences practitioners, and a solid acquaintance with methods and applications is essential for communication purposes within the scientific community....
), while the study of post-mortem processes is known as the field of taphonomy
Taphonomy

TaphonomyFrom greek Taphos; literally meaning 'study of the grave' is the research of decaying organisms over time and how they become fossilized ....
.

Much paleoecological research focuses on the last two million years (the Quaternary
Quaternary

The Quaternary Period is the Geologic Time Scale period after the Neogene Period, spanning 1.805 +/- 0.005 million years ago to the present. The Quaternary includes two geologic epochs: the Pleistocene and the Holocene epoch ....
 period) because older environments are less well-represented in the fossil timeline of evolution
Timeline of evolution

This timeline of the evolution of life outlines the major events in the development of life on the planet Earth . For a thorough explanatory context, see the history of Earth, and geologic time scale....
. Indeed, many studies concentrate on the Holocene
Holocene

The Holocene is a geological Epoch which began approximately 11,700 years ago . According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present....
 epoch (the last 11,000 years), or the last glacial stage of the Pleistocene
Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 1.8 million to 10,000 years Before Present covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
 epoch (the Wisconsin/Weichsel/Devensian/Würm glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation

The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the Quaternary glaciation, occurring in the Pleistocene epoch. It began about 110,000 years ago and ended between 10,000 and 15,000 Before Present....
 of the ice age
Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
, from 50,000 to 10,000 years ago). Such studies are useful for understanding the dynamics of ecosystem change and for reconstructing pre-industrialization ecosystems. Many public policy
Public policy

Public policy can be generally defined as the course of action or inaction taken by government entities with regard to a particular issue or set of issues....
 decision-makers have pointed to the importance of using paleoecological studies as a basis for choices made in conservation ecology.

See also

  • Palaeogeography
    Palaeogeography

    Palaeogeography is the study of what the geography was in times past. It is most often used about the physical landscape, although nothing excludes that the word also be used about the human or cultural environment....
  • Historical ecology
    Historical ecology

    Historical ecology is a research program that focuses on the intermingling of people and the environments in which they live. Rather than just looking at a quick snapshot, historical ecology involves studying and understanding this relationship in both time and space in order to gain a full picture of all of its accumulated effects....


External links

  • Fox, D. . Conservation in Practice 7(3):15-21.
  • Taylor, P.D. and Wilson, M.A., 2003. Palaeoecology and evolution of marine hard substrate communities. Earth-Science Reviews 62: 1-103.