PALEOBIOLOGY

Catalog description

Crosslisted as BIOL 3241. Paleobiology involves the use of fossils in the interpretation of geologic time, ancient environmental reconstruction, and the evolutionary history of life. The course will cover the nature of fossils, the use of fossils for relative age dating, the origin and history of life, extinction and its causes, fossils as environmental indicators, the use of fossils in phylogenetic reconstruction, paleoecology, paleobiogeography, functional morphology, etc. Examples will be drawn from all aspects of the fossil record. Weekly laboratories and occasional field trips are included.