Paleontology Cheatsheet
Fossils
- Fossilization: The process by which organic material is replaced by minerals
- Types of fossils:
- Body fossils: Remains of an organism’s physical body
- Trace fossils: Traces of an organism’s activity (e.g. footprints, burrows, bite marks)
- Taphonomy: The study of how organisms become fossilized
Geological Time Scale
- Eras:
- Paleozoic
- Mesozoic
- Cenozoic
- Periods:
- Paleozoic: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian
- Mesozoic: Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous
- Cenozoic: Paleogene, Neogene, Quaternary
- Epochs:
- Cenozoic: Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene
Evolution
- Natural selection: The process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring
- Phylogeny: The evolutionary history of a group of organisms
- Cladistics: A method of determining the evolutionary relationships between organisms based on shared characteristics
- Extinction: The end of a species or group of organisms
Paleobiology
- Biomechanics: The study of the mechanical properties of living organisms
- Paleoecology: The study of ancient ecosystems and the interactions between organisms and their environment
- Paleoanthropology: The study of ancient human life and culture
- Micropaleontology: The study of microscopic fossils
- Macroevolution: The study of large-scale evolutionary patterns and processes
- Morphology: The study of the form and structure of organisms
Resources