What is Paleontology?

Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth as based on fossils. Fossils are the remains of plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and single-celled living things that have been replaced by rock material or impressions of organisms preserved in rock.

Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth as based on fossils. Fossils are the remains of plants, animals, fungibacteria, and single-celled living things that have been replaced by rock material or impressions of organisms preserved in rock. Paleontology use fossil remains to understand different aspects of extinct and living organisms. Individual fossils may contain information about an organism’s life and environment. Much like the rings of a tree, for example, each ring on the surface of an oyster shell denotes one year of its life. Studying oyster fossils can help paleontology discover how long the oyster lived, and in what conditions. If the climate was favorable for the oyster, the oyster probably grew more quickly and the rings would be thicker. If the oyster struggled for survival, the rings would be thinner. Thinner rings would indicate an environment not favorable to organisms like the oyster—too warm or too cold for the oyster, for example, or lacking nutrients necessary for them to grow.

Paleontology study the fossils of ancient plants. These fossils can be impressions of plants left on rock surfaces, or they can be parts of the plants themselves, such as leaves and seeds, that have been preserved by rock material. These fossils help us understand the evolution and diversity of plants, in addition to being a key part of the reconstruction of ancient environments and climates, subdisciplines known as paleoecology (the study of ancient environments) and paleoclimatology (the study of ancient climates). 

Paleontology


Paleontology is a rich field, imbued with a long and interesting past and an even more intriguing and hopeful future. Many people think paleontology is the study of fossils. In fact, paleontology is much more.
Paleontology is traditionally divided into various subdisciplines:

    Micropaleontology: Study of generally microscopic fossils, regardless of the group to which they belong. Paleobotany: Study of fossil plants; traditionally includes the study of fossil algae and fungi in addition to land plants.
    Palynology: Study of pollen and spores, both living and fossil, produced by land plants and protists.
    Invertebrate Paleontology: Study of invertebrate animal fossils, such as mollusks, echinoderms, and others.
    Vertebrate Paleontology: Study of vertebrate fossils, from primitive fishes to mammals.
    Human Paleontology (Paleoanthropology): The study of prehistoric human and proto-human fossils.
    Taphonomy: Study of the processes of decay, preservation, and the formation of fossils in general.
    Ichnology: Study of fossil tracks, trails, and footprints.
    Paleoecology: Study of the ecology and climate of the past, as revealed both by fossils and by other methods.

 More About Paleontology

In short, paleontology is the study of what fossils tell us about the ecologies of the past, about evolution, and about our place, as humans, in the world. Paleontology incorporates knowledge from biology, geology, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, and even computer science to understand the processes that have led to the origination and eventual destruction of the different types of organisms since life arose. The exhibits that we have set up here are created by paleontologists. More than just an overview of the diversity that has existed through time on this planet, the exhibits also highlight some of the research that paleontologists are conducting at the Museum of Paleontology.

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Micropaleontologists study shells from deep-sea microorganisms in order to understand how Earth’s climate has changed. Shells accumulate on the ocean floor after the organisms die. Because the organisms draw the elements for their shells from the ocean water around them, Paleontology composition of the shells reflects the current composition of the ocean.By chemically analyzing the shells, paleontologists can determine the amount of oxygen, carbon, and other life-sustaining nutrients in the ocean when the shells developed. They can then compare shells from one period of time to another, or from one geographic area to another. Differences in the chemical composition of the ocean can be good indicators of differences in climate.

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