Taphonomy & Preservation
These are the two most common examples of unaltered hard parts that are mineralized during relatively quick burial.
What are shells (calcium carbonate) and bones (calcium phosphate)?
This term describes the study of the physical shape or form of an organism.
What is morphology?
This is the mnemonic used to remember the taxonomic hierarchy of Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.
What is "Donkey Kong Picks Clovers Out For Galaxy Stars"?
Known as "The Great Dying," this mass extinction involved the eruption of the Siberian Traps and resulted in the loss of 95% of all species.
What is the End-Permian Mass Extinction?
These microorganisms are responsible for forming the first fossil evidence of life, appearing as sheets of bacteria that resist UV waves.
What are stromatolites?
This preservation process involves minerals, such as silica in petrified wood, being deposited into the pore spaces of a skeleton.
What is permineralization?
This phenomenon occurs when an organism exhibits growth or size variation without any change in its overall shape.
What is isometry?
These are defined as groups that had a single origin and include all the descendants of that common ancestor.
What are clades (or monophyletic groups)?
This effect describes how a sudden extinction can appear gradual in the rock record because the very last individual of a species is rarely found.
What is the Signor-Lipps effect?
This "Central Dogma" describes the one-way flow of genetic information within a cell.
What is DNA > RNA > Protein?
This diagenetic process replicates soft tissues in great detail, sometimes within hours of death, and requires a low rate of burial and high organic content.
What is phosphatization?
According to the biological scaling principle, this type of object has a large Surface Area to Volume ratio, causing its rate of heat loss and diffusion to be fast.
What is a small object?
This character trait is a derived (new) trait shared by two or more lineages in a clade, which indicates they share a common ancestry.
What is a synapomorphy?
This mass extinction (~445 Ma) was caused by Gondwana drifting over the South Pole, leading to vast ice sheets and a dramatic drop in sea level.
What is the End-Ordovician Mass Extinction?
These single-celled organisms have tests (shells) whose carbon and oxygen chemistry can be used to reconstruct past ocean temperatures.
What are foraminifera?
When fossils are preserved in carbonate, this specific mineral is deposited if the salinity levels in the sediment are low.
What is siderite?
This evolutionary mechanism is defined as a shift in the timing or rate of developmental processes in descendants compared to their ancestors.
What is heterochrony?
This evolutionary theory, proposed by Van Valen, suggests species must constantly evolve and adapt to survive against co-evolving competitors and predators.
What is the Red Queen hypothesis?
The Late Devonian Mass Extinction is associated with the diversification of these, which caused oceanic anoxia (loss of oxygen on the seabed).
What are land plants?
This event, occurring approximately 2.4 billion years ago, was caused by photosynthesis and led to major changes in oceanic chemistry.
What is the Great Oxidation Event?
In the standard taphonomic pathway, this is the final outcome (Step 4) following decay, disarticulation, and breakage or alteration.
What are bone fragments?
This specific field explores how developmental processes, known as ontogeny, influence evolutionary change, known as phylogeny.
What is Evo Devo?
This term describes the evolution of a species over time into a new form within a single, non-branching lineage, where the original species is "replaced."
What is anagenesis?
The End-Triassic Mass Extinction involved global warming and oceanic acidification following these massive volcanic events.
What are flood basalt eruptions?
These microscopic photosynthetic algae, responsible for "red tide" blooms, have been present from the late Proterozoic to the present.
What are dinoflagellates?