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Paleontology is the study of the developing history of life on earth,
of ancient plants and animals based on the
fossil record, evidence of their existence preserved in rocks. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks, burrows, cast off parts, fossilized feces ("coprolites"), and chemical residues.
Overview
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 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
industries 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 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. Legendary European paleontologists include the
Swedish-speaking Finn Björn Kurtén.
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.
Thomas Jefferson took a keen interest in mammoth bones. Besides
looking at mammal teeth and digging up penguins, 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, Geerat Vermeij, and Jack Sepkoski who have done much to
expand our understanding of long-term patterns in the evolution of life on earth.
Other paleontologists include Yves
Coppens. More modern figures in paleontology include John Ostrom, Bob Bakker and Jack Horner.
Research
The work done in paleontology can be divided into field work, collections
management, fossil preparation and systematic description of new species.
See also
External links
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