fossil record

(noun)

All discovered and undiscovered fossils and their placement in rock formations and sedimentary layers.

Related Terms

  • biomarker
  • trace fossil
  • strata
  • fossiliferous

Examples of fossil record in the following topics:

  • Gaps in the Fossil Record

    • Because not all animals have bodies which fossilize easily, the fossil record is considered incomplete.
    • The number of species known about through the fossil record is less than 5% of the number of species alive today.
    • The fossil record is very uneven and is mostly comprised of fossils of organisms with hard body parts, leaving most groups of soft-bodied organisms with little to no fossil record.
    • Groups considered to have a good fossil record, including transitional fossils between these groups, are the vertebrates, the echinoderms, the brachiopods, and some groups of arthropods.
    • Romer's gap is an example of an apparent gap in the tetrapod fossil record used in the study of evolutionary biology.
  • The Fossil Record as Evidence for Evolution

    • The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous (fossil-containing) rock formations and sedimentary layers (strata) is known as the fossil record.
    • Fossils, along with the comparative anatomy of present-day organisms, constitute the morphological, or anatomical, record.
    • The resulting fossil record tells the story of the past and shows the evolution of form over millions of years.
    • Footprints are examples of trace fossils, which contribute to the fossil record.
    • Synthesize the contributions of the fossil record to our understanding of evolution
  • The Fossil Record and the Evolution of the Modern Horse

    • The detailed fossil record of horses has provided insight into their evolutionary progress.
    • The resulting fossil record tells the story of the past and shows the evolution of forms over millions of years.
    • Highly detailed fossil records have been recovered for sequences in the evolution of modern horses.
    • The fossil record of horses in North America is especially rich and contains transition fossils: fossils that show intermediate stages between earlier and later forms.
    • The fossil record shows several adaptive radiations in the horse lineage, which is now much reduced to only one genus, Equus, with several species.
  • Evidence of Evolution

    • Evidence for evolution has been obtained through fossil records, embryology, geography, and molecular biology.
    • The resulting fossil record tells the story of the past and shows the evolution of form over millions of years.
    • For example, scientists have recovered highly-detailed records showing the evolution of humans and horses .
    • (a) In this display, fossil hominids are arranged from oldest (bottom) to newest (top).
    • Explain how the fossil record has aided in the development of the theory of evolution
  • Biodiversity Change through Geological Time

    • Paleontologists have identified five strata in the fossil record that appear to show sudden and dramatic losses in biodiversity known as mass extinctions.
    • The fossil record of the mass extinctions was the basis for defining periods of geological history, so they typically occur at the transition point between geological periods.
    • The Ordovician-Silurian extinction event is the first-recorded mass extinction and the second largest.
    • The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary marked the disappearance of the dinosaurs in fossils, as well as many other taxa.
    • Extinction occurrences, as reflected in the fossil record, have fluctuated throughout earth's history.
  • Evolution of Viruses

    • The evolution of viruses is speculative as they do not fossilize; biochemical and genetic information is used to create virus histories.
    • When exploring the evolutionary history of most organisms, scientists can look at fossil records and similar historic evidence.
    • However, viruses do not fossilize, so researchers must conjecture by investigating how today's viruses evolve and by using biochemical and genetic information to create speculative virus histories.
    • Finding a common ancestor for viruses has proven to be far more difficult, especially since they do not fossilize.
  • Early Human Evolution

    • Evidence from the fossil record and from a comparison of human and chimpanzee DNA suggests that humans and chimpanzees diverged from a common hominoid ancestor approximately 6 million years ago.
    • In the past several years, however, many new fossils have been found.
    • The fossil, informally called "Toumai," is a mosaic of primitive and evolved characteristics.
    • To date, it is unclear how this fossil fits with the picture given by molecular data.
    • The scientists who discovered the first fossil found that some other scientists did not believe the organism to be a biped (thus, it would not be considered a hominid).
  • Characteristics and Evolution of Amphibians

    • The fossil record provides evidence of the first tetrapods: now-extinct amphibian species dating to nearly 400 million years ago.
    • Acanthostega was aquatic; fossils show that it had gills similar to fishes.
    • In 2006, researchers published news of their discovery of a fossil of a "tetrapod-like fish," Tiktaalik roseae, which seems to be an intermediate form between fishes having fins and tetrapods having limbs .
    • The recent fossil discovery of Tiktaalik roseae suggests evidence for an animal intermediate to finned fish and legged tetrapods.
  • Environmental Problems Associated with Fossil Fuel Use

    • One of the major environmental problems associated with fossil fuel use is global warming.
    • One of the biggest environmental problems associated with fossil fuel use is global warming, which is the rise in the average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th century.
    • This warning of the climate system is unequivocal, and scientists are now more than 90% certain that it is primarily caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.
    • It shows a steady decrease over time; the September 2010 extent was the third lowest in the satellite record.
  • Carbon Dating and Estimating Fossil Age

    • A substantial hurdle is the difficulty of working out fossil ages.
    • Paleontologists rely on stratigraphy to date fossils.
    • Stratigraphy is the science of understanding the strata, or layers, that form the sedimentary record.
    • If a fossil is found between two layers of rock whose ages are known, the fossil's age is thought to be between those two known ages.
    • Misleading results can occur if the index fossils are incorrectly dated.
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