双语教学课程双语教学课程
Bilingual teaching programBilingual teaching program
Lecture notes forLecture notes forPaleoecologyPaleoecology
Scientific MethodScientific Method
When solving problems scientifically we follow a series of steps to When solving problems scientifically we follow a series of steps to avoid wasting time, effort, and resources. These steps include:avoid wasting time, effort, and resources. These steps include:
1. Defining the ________ (may include research or observation)1. Defining the ________ (may include research or observation) 2. Stating a ____________ (explanation of observation; must be 2. Stating a ____________ (explanation of observation; must be
able to be tested)able to be tested) 3. _________ the hypothesis (involves measurement of one 3. _________ the hypothesis (involves measurement of one
variable at a time)variable at a time) 4. Analyzing the _________ (data organized in graphs, tables, 4. Analyzing the _________ (data organized in graphs, tables,
and charts)and charts) 5. Drawing _____________ (returning to step #2 as needed)5. Drawing _____________ (returning to step #2 as needed)
***This is not a rigid, step-by-step outline.******This is not a rigid, step-by-step outline.***
Schedule of TopicsSchedule of Topics
TopicTopic
Introduction
The Earth as a system
How Real is Global Warming?
Cultural Responses to Climate Change: What we have learnt from the Holocene
Gigantism & Dwarfism:
Thoeries about biogeography
The modern-Day Mass Extinction:
Lessons from the past
Invasive Species:
What’s the Problem
All things are not equally nice to eat:
Evolutionary Patterns
The Panda’s thumb:
Functional morphology
Trace Fossils :
Reconstructing Animal Behavior
Evolutionary Paleoecology
Examinations and Grading:
Grading: 1 tests at 70 points plus 1 presentations at 30 points
Presentation will be evaluated by the instructor and by the students:20 points By Instructor and 10 points by Average of student evaluations
Final examination:
Writing test for 3 hours;
Open to textbooks, dictionary and any other material.
Questions and answer are in English
Topic 1 Topic 1
IntroductionIntroduction
• 1. What is Paleoecology?
• 2. The data base in paleoecology2. The data base in paleoecology
• 3. The operational base in paleo3. The operational base in paleo
ecologyecology
• 4. The nature of the fossil record4. The nature of the fossil record
When? When did a particular fossil live?
Whence( 从何处来 ) and whither( 到何处去 )? in other words, what were the ancestors of a particular fossil and what were its descendants?
What? What are fossils?
How and where? How and where animals and plants lived in the past ?
Study of fossilsStudy of fossils
Stratigraphical paleontology
Evolutionary paleontology
Paleoecology
Morphological paleontology
化石
岩石地层学
古生物学
生物地层学
进化生物学
古环境学
古生态学
古生物钟
古生物地理学
地史学
地质年代学
生物化石在地质学科多方面的运用
1. 1. What is Paleoecology?What is Paleoecology?
EcologyEcology is the study of the interactions of
organisms with one another and with the p
hysical environment
PaleoecologyPaleoecology is the study of the environme
ntal relationships of organisms in the geol
ogical past
• ““ecology of the past”ecology of the past” where our understa
nding of the “present is the key to unders
tand the past”
• Theory Theory = paleoecology is the understandi
ng of relationships between past organis
m and the environment in which they live
d
• PracticePractice = paleoecology is the practice of
reconstruction of past environments
Two dominant subject areas in paleoTwo dominant subject areas in paleoecologyecology
●The study of organism-environment interactions
● The study of the more strictly biological attributes of the organisms —
their individual life histories,
their interactions with one another,
and their integration into communities( 群落 )
Levels of ecological organization and examples of the kinds of questions asked by ecologists working at each level
Individuals
Physiological ecology
Behavioral ecology
Population
• Study the factors influencing population structure and process
Adaptation
Extinction
Distribution
abundance
population growth
interaction
• Predation
• Parasitism
• competition
How do Ecology and Paleoecology differ
Can we observe the actual ecosystem?
Ecological study = yes, Paleoecological study = no
Can we select the organism and / or community for study?
Ecological study = yes, Paleoecological study = only sometimes
Are our observations based upon repeatable experiments?
Ecological study = yes, Paleoecological study = no
Do our studies operate within a defined timescale and space?
Ecological study = yes, Paleoecological study = no
BiotaPhysicalenvironment
Rock facies
Diagenesis
Biogeography Evolution
Ecosystem
Palaeoecosystem
Causal relationships in biology and geology pertinent to ecology and paleoecology
Causal influence
One of the major limitations of the study of paleoecology:
Not all species are preserved as fossils
The Biocoenosis (life assemblage) does not equal the Thanatocoenosis (death assemblage)
What are some problems inherent in paleoecology reconstruction?
(1) What we don't see may be as important as what we do: Not every creature was fossilized
(2)Fossil beds are composites of fossils
(3)The older the material, the more likely it was modified, or destroyed by geological events or biological intrusions
(4)At best you are sampling just a portion of what existed
A lot of assumptions must be made giA lot of assumptions must be made gi
ven the paucityven the paucity(( 缺乏缺乏 )) of data availabl of data availabl
e in order for paleoecologists to genere in order for paleoecologists to gener
ate ecosystems of the past. They musate ecosystems of the past. They mus
t assume:t assume:
The ecological relationships we use today to describe system dynamics are those that held in the past
Trophic dynamics
energy flow transfers
competition & predation
parasitism and so on
where common controlling determinants of ecosystem functioning
We have no real reason to doubt this at this time
That animal, plants & microbes
had more or less the same envi
ronmental habitats and to an ex
tent niches as those today - fis
h live in water etc
Since all that is left generally is the morphology of bones, pollen ， wood etc. that these morphological adaptations to environment fit the pattern existent today
what is the importance of paleoecolowhat is the importance of paleoecolo
gical study for ecologists?gical study for ecologists?
ItIt tells us how we got to where we are todayIt It shows us the range of natural variation of communities and climatesIt It gives us hints of where we might be headed in the future, especially during a period of potentially rapidly changing climate
• 1. What is Paleoecology?
• 2. The data base in paleoecology2. The data base in paleoecology
• 3. The operational base in paleoecol3. The operational base in paleoecol
ogyogy
• 4. The nature of the fossil record4. The nature of the fossil record
Paleoenvironmental reconstruction depen
ds on three ingredientsthree ingredients:
a well-established stratigraphic framew
ork
good taxonomy
a comprehensive ecologic background
● The stratigraphic setting provides the spatial and temporal relationships( 时空关系 ) for the comparison of fossils within geologic history
● The basic data of paleoecology are the fossils, adequately identified and correctly positioned within the stratigraphic framework
The necessary ecology （常规生态学） consists of an understanding of
the ways in which living organisms function within their ecosystem;
how their morphology and physiology is adaptive to their conditions of life;
the ways in which they may interact with one another;
and the ways in which they may modify their life history to fit the environment
At one end of the spectrum general ecologic "laws" developed inductively from the living world are applied deductively to the fossil record
At the other end of the spectrum the present day significance of a particular species or morphologic feature is applied to the same species or biotic characteristic in the fossil record
• 1. What is Paleoecology?
• 2. The data base in paleoecology2. The data base in paleoecology
• 3. The operational base in paleo3. The operational base in paleo
ecologyecology
• 4. The nature of the fossil record4. The nature of the fossil record
The operational base in paleoecologyThe operational base in paleoecology
uniformitarianism( 均变论 )
analogy( 同功原理 )
simplicity( 简化法 ) or Parsimony
Hutton (1726-1797) Lyell (1797-1875)
• James Hutton, Scottish farmer, physician, and geologist; father of geology; published “The Theory of the Earth” (1785)
• Charles Lyell, English geologist, published “Principles of Geology” (1830-1833)
• “The past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now”
• “The present is the key to the past” (Sir Archibald Geike, 1835-1924)
• Giving enough time, modern Earth processes were capable of having produced the record of the past
• Implies deep time
Uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism can be classified as either substantive or methodological (Gould, 1965).
Substantive uniformitarianism （实质均变论） implies that the materials, conditions, and rates of processes during earth history have remained constant
Methodological uniformitarianism ( 方法均变论 ) implies that the laws of nature (such as gravity, the properties of fluid flow, and thermodynamics) have been constant in their operation through geologic time
Four Meanings of Uniformitarianism
• Methodological– Uniformity of Law: Foundation of historical s
cience– Uniformity of Process: Actualism( 现实主义 )
• Substantive– Uniformity of Rate and magnitude: Gradualism
(Things do change, but at constant rate)– Uniformity of Condition: nondirectionism
(Things do not change; or the Earth system has been maintaining the same equilibrium state)
Catastrophism
Cuvier (1769-1832) Brongniart (1770-1847)
• Baron Georges Leopold Cuvier (1769-1832) and Alexander Brongniart (1770-1847)
• Studied fossils in the Paris Basin• Dramatic changes in successive fossil assemblages• Believed that these changes were caused by total extinction resulted f
rom catastrophes akin to the Noachian Deluge, followed by successive creations of new species
• We now know that these abrupt changes are largely due to unconformities or missing record
• Catastrophism has not been totally abandoned; it is particularly instructive in later studies on mass extinctions
Analogy (or actuopaleontology（实证古生物学） ) involves the application of modern organismic features to ancient organisms.
This principle may be applied to :
individuals (with regard to form and function)
community structure (species diversity, organizational and trophic structure （营养结构）
and population dynamics (response to time-independent environmental factors),
and is inferred to represent response to time-independent environmental forces
Whenever we find, in two forms of life that are unrelated to each other, a similarity of form or of behavior patterns which relates to more than a few minor details, we assume it to be caused by parallel adaptation to the same life-preserving function
章鱼人类
Principle of simplicity: everything else being equal,
the best explanation is the simplest one
Simplicity in this sense is that the most probable ex
planation is generally the one with the fewest steps f
rom cause through intermediate causes and effects t
o the final result
Simplicity or Parsimony
Ockham's Razor
This simplifying procedure should be valid in paleoecology because it is exactly that used in ecology, and in science in general
It saves us from the despair of attempting to derive from the limited paleontologic data an explanation incorporating the myriad of environmental parameters
• 1. What is Paleoecology?
• 2. The data base in paleoecology2. The data base in paleoecology
• 3. The operational base in paleoecolo3. The operational base in paleoecolo
gygy
• 4. The nature of the fossil record4. The nature of the fossil record
A fossil assemblage may be only a small and biased representation of the original community
Destruction by various processes after death of the organism, a potential fossil may not be preserved
Taphonomy Taphonomy
(1) It helps in understanding the relationship of the fossil assemblage to the original community and thus allows to some extent the reconstruction of the community
(2) Recognition of taphonomic processes that have formed the fossil assemblage provides insight into the depositional and postdepositional environment
Subsidiary topics within taphonomy are necrolysis（尸积学） , which deals with the decomposition of the organism upon death,
biostratinomy （化石产生学） , which deals with the sedimentational history of the fossil, and fossil diagenesis, which deals with chemical and mechanical alteration of the fossil between the time of its burial and collection
During each of these stages of the
post-mortem history, mechanical,
chemical, and biological processes
are reshaping the original community
Two opposing views on processes that form from the original community the assemblage of fossils
One is that a fossil assemblage accumulates slowly through the year-by-year preservation of some fraction of the community
Thus the assemblage represents a time-averaged sampling of a sequence of communities over a period of years and of perhaps a considerable range of environments (Fürsich, 1978)
The opposing view is that preservation is in general so poor, the fossil record is much more likely the result of occasional chance preservation of an individual community
Thus an assemblage may be a fairly reasonable representation of the community existing during a short interval rather than the accumulation of meager sampling during a longer time interval
• 1. What is Paleoecology?
• 2. The data base in paleoecology
• 3. The operational base in paleoecol
ogy
• 4. The nature of the fossil record
Text books and references:
陈源仁 ,1992. 生态地层学原理 . 北京 : 地质出版社
孙 儒泳，李 博等 , 1993. 普通生态学 . 北京 : 高等教育出版社 .
杨式溥 , 1983. 古生态学及遗迹化石学 . 武汉地质学院古生物教研室 .
殷鸿福等 ,1988. 中国古生物地理学 . 武汉 : 中国地质大学出版社
Boucot, A.J., 1981, Principles of Benthic Marine paleocology, Academic Press.
Dodd, J.R. and Stanton, R.J., 1981, Paleoecology, Concepts and Applications. John Wiley and Sons.
Allmon W. D., Bottjer D. J.,2001. Evolutionary paleoecology- The ecological context of macroevolutionary change.New York: Columbia University Press.
