Paleontology

Modern paleontology sets ancient life in its contexts, by studying how long-term physical changes of global geography ("paleogeography") and climate ("paleoclimate") 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. So paleontology overlaps with geology, the study of rocks and rock formations, and with botany, biology, zoology, and ecology, fields concerned with living creatures and how they interact. Palynology is the study of pollens, whether modern or geological.

Two major subdivisions of paleontology are paleozoology (animals) and paleobotany (plants).Paleozoologists may specialize in invertebrate paleontology, which deals with animals without backbones, or in vertebrate paleontology, dealing with fossils of animals with backbones.

There are many developing specialties such as paleoecology, paleobotany, ichnology (the study of tracks and burrows) and taphonomy, the study what happens to organisms after they expire.

Major areas of study include the corelation 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 very important to the mining industries and especially to the petroleum industry.

Fossils were known by primitive man and were sometimes identified correctly as the remains of ancient lifeforms. The organized study of paleontology dates from the late 18th century.

Notable paleontologists

Paleontologists are among the more colorful and eccentric figures in the history of science. Important figures include the Englishman William Smith who first noted that similar fossil sequences were found regionally and Georges Cuvier who initiated the study of ancient animals based on living animals. Legendary American figures include Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Marsh, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Louis Agassiz and Charles Walcott.

Other paleontologits include Yves Coppens. More modern figures in paleontology include Bob Bakker and Jack Horner.

The swashbuckling movie character Indiana Jones is said to be based loosely on the early 20th century paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews.

See also

• Timeline of geography, paleontology

External links

• Smithsonian's Paleobiology website: a good introduction

Referenced By