3 hours. 2 hours lecture and 3 hours lab per week.
Life and Ecologies of the Past
Course Description
Principles of paleobiology, including biostratigraphy,
paleoecology, taphonomy, and macroevolutionary dynamics.
Athena Title
Life and Ecologies of the Past
Prerequisite
(GEOL 1122 and GEOL 1122L) or GEOL 1260-1260L or GEOL 1122H
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to Explain scientific concepts in Earth's history that tie fossils to time, climate and environmental assessments that form the Geologic Time Scale and Earth's history.
Students will be able to apply their knowledge to evaluate and provide analysis for climatic and environmental issues.
Students will be able to cogently debate current science articles and critique them.
Students will be able to actively engage in their own scientific hypothesis testing for field and lab projects, data collection and analysis, with a final report and presentation in front of their peers.
Topical Outline
I. The Nature of the Fossil Record: Overview
II. Biases in the Fossil Recod: Taphonomy
III. Techniques that Paleontologist Use to Examine the Fossil Record
III. Origin of Life Controversies
IV. Endosymbiosis and Diversification of Eukaryotes
V. Was Their a Cambrian Explosion of Life Forms? Debate
VI. The Great Paleozoic Radiation
VII. End-Paleozoic Mass Extinction
VIII. Mesozoic Ecological Revolution: Escalation or Status Quo?
VIII. Cretaceous/Tertiary Mass Extinction
IX. Cenozoic Revolution in Invertebrates
X. Paleoecology and Recognition of Major Invertebrate Fossils
XI. Environmental Analysis (Facies) and Fossils
XII. Macroevolutionary Dynamics including extinction and radiation
One field trip to coastal Georgia to examine modern traces and modern organisms in
relation to sedimentary environments, and another field trip to northwest Georgia to
apply knowledge of fossils in the interpretation of environments and time.
