FOSSILS, PALAEOECOLOGY AND LIFE EVOLUTION
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- RENATO POSENATO
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- GEO/01
Training objectives
- The main skills learned by the student in the course of Fossils, Paleoecology and Life Evolution concern the physical and chemical processes that led to the origin of the fossils, the use of fossil in paleoenvironmental reconstructions, dating of the sedimentary successions, biological evolution and paleobiogeography.
The knowledge attained in the course will allow the student to choose and apply the most appropriate paleontological methodologies for the observation and analysis of geological processes and in the study and interpretation of the sedimentary successions. It will also evaluate the role and importance of the fossil record in the physical and biological evolution on Earth and as environmental and cultural heritage. Prerequisites
- Basic knowledge of biology, chemistry and geology of high school
Course programme
- Fossils, Paleoecology and Life Evolution (60 hours, 24 hours of lessons + 36 hours of laboratory).
- INTRODUCTION. Evolution of the fossil concept and history of Paleontology; basic knowledge on the Life on the Earth (6 hours total).
- TAPHONOMY. Incompleteness of the paleontological record, composition of the skeletons in living organisms, causes of death, pre-diagenetic dissolution, disarticulation and transport of skeletals, biostratinomy and diagenesis, fossilization of organic matter and mineralized parts, carbonification and carbonization, coal and charcoal, mineralization with pyrite, calcite, quartz; carbonization, mineralization for impregnation and replacement, mould and cast, classification of fossil deposits and examples (Burgess, Hunsruck, Besano-Monte San Giorgio, Holzmaden, Solnhofen, Bolca, Grube Messel, Baltic Amber, Racho Brea), biostratinomic applications in paleoecology (24 hours total).
- Marine PALEOECOLOGY, mode of life and trophic classification of aquatic organisms, environmental limiting factors (light, temperature, oxygenation, salinity, substrate, nutrients), morphofunctional analysis, paleosinecological analysis (6 hours total).
- ICHNOLOGY, classification of trace fossils and their use in paleoenvironmental reconstructions (2 hours total).
Laboratory: recognition of biostratinomical signature, fossilization processes and elementary aspects of paleoecology (I written partial exam).
- Elements of BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION, concepts of systematics, taxonomy and nomenclature, the species problem in paleontology and intraspecific variability (4 hours total).
- BIOSTRATIGRAPHY, biozone, assemblage, range, acme and interval zones, index fossils, biostratigraphic correlation, resolutive power of biozones. Chronostratigraphy and geochronology, chronostratigraphic and geochronological units, the global stratigraphic scale (8 hours total).
- EVOLUTION and evolutionary theories, Lamarckism, Darwinism, microevolution, macroevolution, Neo-Darwinism, punctuated equilibria, adaptive convergence, living and index fossils, adaptive radiations, mass extinctions, major events in the evolution of life on Earth (8 hours total).
- Elements of PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY, dispersion and vicariance models; classic examples of paleobiogeography (2 hours total).
Individual pratical activities: use of biostratigraphic methods in the dating of sedimentary sequences (II written partial exam). Didactic methods
- Teaching is organized as follows:
- Lectures on all subjects of the course;
- Practical recognition of fossilization processes and paleoecology;
- Individual exercises of biostratigraphy. Learning assessment procedures
- One written optional and partial exam on the first part of the program, with about 10 questions with open answers and a taphonomic analysis of a fossil. The written test is evaluated with the max score of 30 with laude. If test is insufficient or the student is absent, he will be evaluated during the oral exam. In the final oral exam, the student is tested, with at least three questions, in those topics not still objected of evaluation.
Reference texts
- Materials used during lessons is made available on the course's site. It must be integrated with notes taken by the student in class.
Textbooks useful for the study:
Manuale di Paleontologia, Fondamenti-Applicazioni, 2020, Edizioni Idelson-Gnocchi.
BENTON M.J., HARPER D.A., Introduction to paleobiology and the fossil record. Wiley-Blackwell.
RAFFI S., SERPAGLI E., Introduzione alla Paleontologia, UTET.
