Paleontology

Ohio's State Fossil

Isotelus

(actual size, 9.5 inches)

Fossilization

Factors Favoring Preservation

• mineralized skeleton
  
• organism dies in place (lack of transport)
  
• rapid burial
  

Types of Fossilization

• unaltered shells
  
• recrystallization
  

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• permineralization
  

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• replacement
  
• carbonization
  
• molds & casts
  

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• unusual types of fossilization (tar pits, amber, ice & frozen ground, bogs)
  

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Classification of Organisms

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Linnaean System

• binomial system
  
• Genus - Species
  
• Example:
  Canis lupus
  
  

Species

Modern Taxonomy

Biological vs Paleontological Taxonomy

Hierarchy

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(Table 5.1, p.119)

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Organic Evolution

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Lamarck's Theory of Evolution (1801-1815)

• Inheritance of acquired characteristics
  

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(Figure 5.3, p.104)

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Charles Darwin

• 1859 The Origin of Species
  
• Voyage of Beagle
  
• Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology
  
• Artificial Selection
  
  - animal & plant breeders
  
• Malthus's book on Population
  
  - more animals are born than reach maturity
  - the # of adults in a species remains constant
  

Darwin-Wallace Theory of Natural Selection

• all populations contain variations
  
• some variations are more favorable than others
  
• more offspring are produced than can be supported by the environment
  
• individuals with favorable variations are more reproductively successful
  

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(Figure 5.6, p.107)

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Mendel's Principles of Inheritance (1860)

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(Figure 5.7, p.108)

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last updated 2-22-01

All original material copyright (c) 1998 by Annabelle Foos. All rights reserved.