After midterm Flashcards
(124 cards)
1
Q
French developments
A
George Cuvier and Alexander brongniart developed ideas of faunal succession
2
Q
Who was the first person to go beyond faunal succession and develop a modern concept of biostrigraphy?
A
Alcide dorbigny
3
Q
What did dorbigny study?
A
Studied the Jurassic fossils and strata in southern France
4
Q
Albert Oppel
A
Completed the modernization of bio stratigraphy
5
Q
What makes a good biostratigraphic indicator fossil?
A
Distinctive Abundant Widespread geological distribution Not facies specific Rapid evolution Short temporal range
6
Q
Reasons why local first and last appearance data isn’t globl
A
Biogeopgraphic: all species are geographic in origin, may immigrate to other places, suffer local extinction
Preservation
Facies specificity
Uncomformites: no rocks of that age in local sections
7
Q
Classification of grace fossils
A
Ethnologic or taxonomic
8
Q
Ethologic
A
Trace fossils are primarily evidence of animal behaviour
Seilacher established a small number of ethologic categories
9
Q
Categories of ethologics
A
Resting trace: cubichnia Locomotion trace: Repichnia Grazing trace: pascichnia Feeding traces: Fodinichnia Dwelling traces: domichnia Traps/farming traces: agrichnia Escape traces: Fugichnia Equilibrium traces: equilibrichnia Predation traces: praedichnia Nesting traces: calichnia Fixation/ anchoring traces: fixichnia Death traces: mortichnia
10
Q
Bio stratigraphy
A
The art and science of telling time from rocks
Based on faunal succession which was first discovered by William smith
11
Q
Ichnofacies
A
Trace fossil association that recurs throughout geologic time in response to a set of paleoenvironmental conditions
12
Q
Food resource paradigm
A
Limiting factor of distribution of trace making organisms in shallow marine water
13
Q
Brackish water trace fossil model
A
- Reduced diversity of trace fossils in many cases mono specific
- Reduced size of trace fossils compared to their fully marine counterparts
- Predominance of simple trace fossils
- Sparse bioturbation
14
Q
Ediacaran kimberella
A
In Russia probably a mollusk
15
Q
Graphic correlation
A
Quantitative method of biostratigraphy developed by Alan shaw. Works by correlating multiple stratigraphic sections
If correlation is 45 degrees then sections had identical fossil distribution and rock accumulation
If different then one section had sediment accumulating faster then the other section
16
Q
Biostratigraphic resolution
A
Ideally when using biostrigraphy for correlation we would like to do so with the greatest detail. Subdivide rocks into shorter zones this allows us to discriminate between events that happen closer together in time
17
Q
Precision
A
+ or - error of an age
18
Q
Dual biostratigraphy
A
Attempts to take in the spatial distribution of fossils as well as the temporal distribution
19
Q
Bio facies
A
Biotic stratigraphic unit of environmental significance. How these are identified is you look at the different genera in your fossil collection
20
Q
Paleoecology
A
Study of the interactions of fossils with each other and with the environment they lived in the geological past
21
Q
Paleoautecology
A
Relationships of individual organisms to their environment
22
Q
Palesynecology
A
Relationships of groups of organisms to each other and to their environment
23
Q
Information potential
A
Life habits of extinct organisms
Nature of ancient communities and ecosystems
Paleoenvironmental reconstruction
Sea level changes
24
Q
Pelagic
A
Live in the water column
Can be subdivided into plankton (floaters) and nekton (swimmers)
25
Plankton
Usually passive and goes where the current takes them
Plant plankton (diatoms) are called phytoplankton and are mostly microscopic
Animal plankton are called zooplankton and are mostly microscopic
Include foraminifera and jellyfish
26
Nekton
Mostly invertebrates like fish but can also be vertebrates like Cephalopods
27
Benthos
Epifauna (animals)
Epiflora (plants)
Infauna (living in and moving through the sediment)
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Sessile
Stay in one place
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Mobile
Move around or in the sea floor
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Primary producers
Autotrophs
Manufacture their own food
Consumed by primary consumers which are usually suspension feeders
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Secondary consumers
Consumer primary consumers so are predators
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Tertiary consumers
Consume secondary consumers
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Transformers and decomposers
Break down the dead that haven't been consumed into organic material that can be recycled
34
Tiering
Prominent in rain forests. Competition for suspension food leads suspension feeders to grow taller then their substrate
35
K strategists
Slow reproductive and growth rates
Large bodies
Long lived
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R strategists
Fast reproductive and growth rates
Small bodies
Short life spans
37
Limiting factors in species distribution
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Light
Food supply
Oxygen
Salinity
Energy
Temperature
Substrate
Water depth
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38
Light
Promotes photosynthesis
| Limiting factor in deep sea
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Food supply
Food greatest at photic zone or near shorelines
| Limiting factor in deep marine environments
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Oxygen
Increase in need of oxygen with increase in size almost all metazoans need oxygen
Limiting factor on continental slope and in stagnant zones in the deep ocean
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Salinity
Lower diversity with higher salinity
| Limiting factor in hypersaline and brackish environments
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Energy
High energy conditions promote suspension feeders because the wave currents keep organic material suspended within the water
Limiting factor in subtidal and coastal areas
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Temperature
Most fish don't regulate their body temperature but are the same temperature as the water
Limiting factor for nearshore environments where the water is subject to seasonal changes in temp
44
Substrate
Composition, mobility, and degree of consolidation play a major role in benthic Faunas
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Water depth
Effects experienced through increase in hydrostatic pressure
Limiting factor in deep marine environments
46
How do trace fossils differ from body fossils
1. Trace fossils usually represent evidence of behaviour
2. The same organism may produce more then one ichnotaxon
3. Same ichnotaxon may be produced by more then one organism
4. Multiple arichtects may produce a single structure
5. Producers are usually soft bodied animals that don't preserve as well
6. Trace fossils are commonly preserved in rock units that are otherwise unfossiliferous
7. The same biogenic structure may be differentially preserved in various substrates
8. Trace fossils commonly have long stratigraphic ranges
9. Trace fossils commonly have narrow environmental ranges
10. Trace fossils are rarely transported
47
Ichnology
Study of traces produced by organisms on or within a substrate
48
Cambrian explosion
Raid diversification
Origin of many body plans
Fauna: Arthropods trilobites
But also echinoderms brachiopods and molluscs
49
Cambrian explosion simple artifact or real event?
Physical changes in the environment
Biological changes
Reflecting intrinsic evolutionary change
50
Physical changes in the environment
Increase in oxygen levels
Widespread transgression
Aftermath of snowball earth
51
Biological changes in the environment
Biotic feedbacks that caused or aided the explosion
Evolutionary changes underway in the ediacaran
Coupling of benthos and plankton
52
Ordivician radiation
Diversification of early bryozoans, brachiopods and stalked Crinoids
As well as bivalves and Gastropods
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4 major taxonomic components of ordivician
Bryozoans
Brachiopods
Corals
Echinoderms
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Timing of ordivician radiation
Even lasted 25 myr
Maintained global diversification characteristic of the Cambrian
Diversification of Paleozoic started in the late arenig
Ordivician radiation seems to have slowed down by the llanvirn
55
Alpha diversity
Refers to the richness of taxa within a habitat
Increased during ordivician radiation
Example brachiopods went from having 10 genera within a community in the late Cambrian to 30 by the late ordivician
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Beta diversity
Refers to taxonomic differentiation within among habitats
| Also increased during ordivician
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Gamma diversity
Records the total (alpha plus beta) for a landscape
| Alpha and beta increased so the overall diversity increased
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Tiering in ordivian
Was an increase in this during this time
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Carbonate dominated facies (ordivician)
Dominated by articulate brachiopods and sponges
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Siliclastic dominated facies
Dominated by trilobites and molluscs
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Ordivician vs Cambrian
Cambrian was more for body plans
| Whereas ordivian diversified within groups and families
62
Carboniferous world
```
Ice world
Continents were all one mass
Large forests source of coal
Tropics were wet and warm where the coal swamps were
No flowering plants
```
63
What tree dominated most in the coal swamps of the carboniferious?
Lycopods were over 30 m tall possibly 50 m
They dominated because they were mostly pole like for their lives and grew their branches last so it allowed them to grow taller then other plants
64
First plants in carboniferious to make an appearance
Seed plants- earliest type was a group called seed ferns
| First conifers
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Carboniferous environment
All of the trees would have led to decreased levels of co2 in the environment
This would have led to global cooling
Would have led to relative increase in oxygen
About 50% higher then it was today
66
Arthropds in the carboniferious
Arthropods in the carboniferious were very large
Largest terrestrial Arthropods ever known
Why this happened has long been a question
Some think it is due to the increase in oxygen levels
Or the absence of predators could have attributed to the size
67
Arthropleura
Large millipedes probably 2.5 m long.
Trace fossils are found more then their body fossils
Found in eastern North America and Scotland
Carboniferious
68
Meganeura
Largest insect ever
Wing spans of 65 cm
carnivores ate insects and possibly small amphibians
Carboniferious
69
Amphibians
Large increase in the terrestrial vertebrates
Early carboniferious they were pretty diverse and ranged in size from small mouses to pretty large
Late carboniferious there was another great radiation. Some became large predators that looked like crocodiles
70
Evolution of amniotes
Group of amphibians known as reptilomorphs
| Evolved the ability to lay eggs
71
Earliest known amniotes
Hylonomus from Nova Scotia
| Ammoniotes started in the carboniferious but don't start appearing in great numbers until the Permian
72
Mazon creek
Upper carboniferious
| Illinois
73
Mazon creek fossilization
Fossils preserved in siderite concretions
Fossils are small
When these are broken open see 3d moulds
The fact that the fossils are 3d and the surrounding siltstone is compressed suggest early formation of the concretions
Also since the concretions mirror the shape of the organism suggests the organism played a role in the concretion formation
74
MaZon creek biota
Northern (braidwood biota) terrestrial and freshwater in composition and dominated by plants
Southern (Essex biota) fully marine in composition and dominated by invertebrates
75
Terrestrial and aquatic animals for Mazon creek
Terrestrial: Arthropods, insects, arachnids, mryiapods
Aquatic: bivalves, jellyfish, tully monster swimming invertebrate predators
76
Joggins
Nova Scotia
Incredible tides expose more and more fossils
Trees in upright positions
77
Plants and fauna of joggins
Plants: lycopods and spore trees like that in the coal swamp
Fauna: hylonomus found in stumps of trees
Many amphibians: crocodile sizes predators
Arthropods: horse shoe crab traces, whip spiders
78
Permian
Synapsids became the most dominant
| Synapsids broken up into paraphyletic pelycosaur and therapsids later
79
Sails
Spines were connected by tough layering of skins and that there were many blood vessels in the sails
Been suggested that these were used for thermoreagulation by giving them an advantage in cool mornings, and also needing to cool down later in the day
80
Cynodonts
In the Triassic became more and more mammal like
81
What is one of the key evolutionary transitions for mammal like synapsids?
The reduction of the number of bones in the lower jaw and their migration to the inner ear
82
Mesosaurs
First fully aquatic amniotes
| Teeth suggest they ate fish or Arthropods
83
Protolophonids
Late Permian to late Triassic anapids
| Either herbivores or insectivores
84
Triassic beginning vs end
Beginning was Dominanted by synapsids but by the end was dominated by diapsids most popular of which are archosaurs
85
Archosaurs
Group of dilapidated amniotes which include non avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, birds and crocodiles
86
Two divisions of archosaurs
Crurotarsi- lead to crocodiles and their ancestors
| Avemetatarsalia- lead to dinosaurs and birds
87
Permo triassic mass extinction
83% of all genera disappeared
Marine invertebrates suffered the most losses
Terrestrial plants see reorganization
88
Why were the basal archosaurs so successful?
Posture: moving from a sprawling position to an upright stance
Uris acid rather then urea: different mechanisms for excretion of ammonia favored by diapsids during the Triassic
89
Archosaurs posture
Having an erect posture is metabolically expensive and requires more energy
Suggests that they had higher metabolism and higher body temperatures and would need more food and oxygen
90
Waste removal
Triassic was arid compared to the Permian
| Archosaurs had a different mechanisms for excreting ammonia (uric acid) rather then synapsids (urea)
91
After permo Triassic extinction
Archosaurs diversified after this, and took over niches that were formerly occupied by synapsids
Archosaurs were probably endothermic, meaning crocodiles reverted back to ectothermy
Birds retain endothermy
92
Ophiacodon
Synapsids
Permian
First large amniote
Carnivore
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Caseids
Synapsid
Largest herbivore
Permian
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Sailed back two division
Edaphasuarids: herbivores
Sphenacodonids: carnivores
92
Dinocpehalians
Permian
Therapsids
Herbivores and carnivores
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Dicynodonts
Herbivores
| Therapsids
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Gorgonopsians
Therapsids
| Carnivores
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Phytosaurs
Archosaurs: crurotarsi
| Mid late Triassic
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Postosuchus
Erect gait
Largest of Triassic
Archosaurs: crurotarsi
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Sphenosuchus
Archosaurs: crurotarsi
| Late Triassic
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Crocodiles
Jurassic to Cretaceous
98
Pterosaurs
Archosaurs: avemetatarsalia
| Earliest known vertebrates to have evolved flight
99
Lagosuchus
Dinosauromorphs
Middle Triassic
Sister taxa to dinosaurs
Share many characteristic with them
100
Dinosauria
First arose in the late Triassic and dominated until the Cretaceous
Became successful in the Jurassic and Cretaceous before Going extinct at the Cretaceous/tertiary boundary 65 mya
101
Dinosaurs
Generally described as archosaurs with limbs held erect beneath the body
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Ceratopsidae
Upper Cretaceous
Quadrupedal herbivores
Characterized by horns frills shearing teeth
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Hadrosauridae
Known for duck bill
| Skeleton adapt for running not swimming
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Auditory signalling
Hadrosauridae
| Resonating chambers to produce sound
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Sexual signalling
Significant differences between males and females of the same species
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Stegosauridae
Jurassic to Cretaceous
Characterized by plates on their back
Probably slow moving because their front legs were dramatically shorter then their back
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Sauropods
Jurassic to Cretaceous
Neck elongated
Achieved size through air sacs and hollowing of bones
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Theropods
Bipedal carnivorous dinosaurs
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tyrannosaurids
```
Jurassic to Cretaceous
Only found in asia and North America
Alex predators
Fastest of the large theropods
Coelurosaurs
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110
dromaesauridae
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Raptors
Travelled in packs
Active fast predators
Theropods
Coelurosaurs
```
111
avialae
Containing their only representative: birds
Defined as all dinosaurs possessing feathers used in flapping flight
Coelurosaurs
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Ornithischians
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Hadrosaurs
Ceratopsians
Stegosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Pachycephalsaurus
```
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Saurischians
Sauropods and theropods
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Who used brooding? And what was it
Hadrosaurs, ceratopsians and theropods are to have cared for their young
115
Turtles
Triassic to recent
Bony shell
In diapsids
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Turtles divided into two groups based on what
Necks
Cryptodires
Pleurodires
117
Plesiosaurs
```
Jurassic to Cretaceous
Evolved from crocodile like ancestor
Retained limbs that were modified into flippers
Sauropterygia
Reptiles
```
118
Ichthyosaurs
Triassic to Cretaceous
Air breathing, fast swimmers
Dolphin like body
Example of convergent evolution
119
Squamates
Lizards and snakes
Evolving in the Permian
Mobility
Venom
120
Mesosaurs
Cretaceous
Evolved form semi aquatic squamates
Apex predator outcompeting ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs
