Paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of the developing history of life on
Earth, including ancient
plants and
animals, based on their
fossil record . This includes the study of body
fossils, tracks , burrows, cast-off parts, fossilized
feces , palynomorphs and chemical residues.
See also paleoanthropology.
Encyclopedia
Paleontology or
palaeontology is the study of the developing history of life on
Earth, including ancient
plants and
animals, based on their
fossil record . This includes the study of body
fossils, tracks , burrows, cast-off parts, fossilized
feces , palynomorphs and chemical residues.
See also paleoanthropology.
Overview
Modern paleontology sets ancient life in its contexts by studying how long-term physical changes of global geography and climate have affected the
evolution of life, how ecosystems have responded to these changes and have changed the planetary environment in turn and how these mutual responses have affected today's patterns of
biodiversity. Hence, paleontology overlaps with
geology as well as with
botany,
biology,
zoology and
ecology – fields concerned with
life forms and how they interact.
The major subdivisions of paleontology include paleozoology ,
paleobotany and micropaleontology . Paleozoologists may specialize in invertebrate paleontology, which deals with animals without backbones or in
vertebrate paleontology, dealing with fossils of animals with backbones, including fossil hominids . Micropaleontologists study microscopic fossils, including organic-walled microfossils whose study is called
palynology.
There are many developing specialties such as paleobiology, paleoecology, ichnology and taphonomy . Major areas of study include the correlation of
rock strata with their
geologic ages and the study of
evolution of lifeforms.
Paleontology utilizes the same classic binomial nomenclature scheme, devised for the biology of living things by the mid-
18th century Swedish biologist
Carolus Linnaeus and increasingly sets these species in a genealogical framework, showing their degrees of interrelatedness using the still somewhat controversial technique of '
cladistics'.
The primary economic importance of paleontology lies in the use of fossils to determine the age and nature of the rocks that contain them or the layers above or below. This information is vital to the
mining industry and especially the
petroleum industry. Simply looking at the fossils contained in a rock remains one of the fastest and most accurate means of telling how old that rock is.
Fossils were known by primitive humans and were sometimes identified correctly as the remains of ancient lifeforms. The organized study of paleontology dates from the late 18th century.
Notable paleontologists
History includes a number of prominent paleontologists.
Charles Darwin collected fossils of South American mammals during his trip on the Beagle and examined petrified forests in Patagonia.
Mary Anning was a notable early paleontologist. She found several landmark fossils, in her home town of
Lyme Regis. Although self-taught, she collected and described them in a very systematic way.
William Buckland,
Richard Owen, Gideon Mantell,
Georges Cuvier and
Thomas Huxley were important early pioneers, in the field of paleontology.
Thomas Jefferson took a keen interest in mammoth bones. Besides looking at mammal teeth and unearthing
penguin skeletons, George Gaylord Simpson played a crucial role in bringing together ideas from biology, paleontology and genetics, to help create the 'Modern Synthesis' of evolutionary biology. His book "
Tempo and Mode" is a classic in the field. Prominent names in invertebrate paleontology include Steven Stanley,
Stephen Jay Gould, David Raup and Jack Sepkoski, who have done much to expand our understanding of long-term patterns in the
evolution of life on earth. Large names in the field of paleoanthropology include Louis, Mary and
Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson. In recent times,
Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold has done much to expand our understanding of
dinosaur and
bird evolution.
See also
- Timeline of geography, paleontology, biology
- Important publications in paleontology
- Synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy
External links
- the free dinosaur zine .
- Website about insect evolution and fossil record.
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