patterns in the fossil record

8/11/2019 Patterns in the Fossil Record

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Patterns in the fossil record

They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into

the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished

from among the congregationNumbers 16:33


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Fossils: remains or traces of once living organisms,

preserved in the rock record

Actual remains from the original organism(skeletal parts, organic matter)

Internal and external moulds of original

organism


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Fossils: remains or traces of once living organisms,

preserved in the rock record

Trace fossils (moving, feeding, resting)

Sediment bioturbation by

marine invertebrates

Dinosaur track


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Relevance of fossils

1) Document past forms of life and their ecology

Xiphactinus audax, Cretaceous


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Relevance of fossils

2) Give information on past environments

Orthoceras,paleocurrentsPaleoclimate

reconstructions, O

isotopes from foraminifertests


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Patterns1) Ordered distribution

What do we learn from the fossil record?

Geologic column: composite diagram showingsubdivisions of the rock record


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1) Ordered distributionLowest part of the column:

- Unicellular organisms, mostly prokaryotes

(bacteria, cyanobacteria) and some eukaryotes

(algae)

Eosphaera tyleri,

Gunflint Iron Formation,

Canada, 2 Ga.

cgc.rncan.gc.ca/paleoch

ron/05_e.php?p=1

Bacteria?,

Doushantuo

Formation, China,

600 Ma. Bailey et al.2007, Nature 445,

198-201

Meghystrichosphaeridum

chadianesis,

Doushantuo Formation,

China, 600 Ma. Peterson

& Butterfield 2005,

PNAS 102/27, 9547-

9552

Vandalosphaeridium

walcottii, Kwagunt

Formation, USA, 850

Ma.www.cushmanfoundatio

n.org/resources/slides/a

critarch.html


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1) Ediacara fauna -Soft-bodied-More than 100 species

-Up to several dm in size

-Wide geographic distribution

Spriggina sp., Ediacara, Australia

www.toyen.uio.no/palmus/galleri/montre/english/x498.htm

Mawsonites sp., Ediacara, Australia

www.toyen.uio.no/palmus/galleri/montre/english/x492.htm

Charniodiscus

arboreus

Dickinsonia costata

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Di

ckinsoniaCostataC.jpg


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1) Ordered distribution Upper PrecambrianLower Cambrian:

- First multicellular organisms:

1) Ediacara fauna

2) Small shelly fauna (some possibly

components of larger organisms)

Unicellular organisms

Ediacara fauna

Steiner et al., 2007, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimat. Palaeoecol.,

254/1-2, p. 67-99. Thin scale bar = 100 m, thick scale bar =

500 m


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1) Ordered distribution Upper PrecambrianLower Cambrian:

- First multicellular organisms:

1) Ediacara fauna

2) Small shelly fauna (some possibly

components of larger organisms)

3) Cambrian explosion


Ediacara fauna, small shelly fauna


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3) Cambrian explosion Representatives of most of thecurrent phyla (e.g.,

echinoderms, sponges,

molluscs, brachiopods,

arthropods)

Burgess Shale fauna: large

geographic distribution,

organism with unique

structural organization

Reconstruction ofAnomalocaris,

www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/Paleontolog

y/Paleozoology/EarlyPaleozoic/EarlyPaleozoic.htm

Anomalocaris feeding arm, Pioche Formation, USA

Reconstruction of Hallucigenia,

www.formsmostbeautiful.net/earlycambrian

fossils.htm

Hallucigenia, Chengjiang, China

paleobiology.si.edu/burgess/hallucigenia.htmlMarella,Burgess Shale, Canada,palaeo-

electronica.org/2002_1/fossils/fig2_4.htm


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1) Ordered distribution


Ediacara fauna, small shelly fauna, Cambrian explosion

Cambrian fauna: trilobites, inarticulate

brachiopods, echinoderms and

archaeocyathids

Acadoparadoxides briareus, a very large

trilobite, Jbel wawrmast Formation,

Morocco

Archaeocyathids, Fish Lake

Valley, USA,

www.accessexcellence.org/BF

/bf02/lipps/bf02c3.php


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Ordovician: dominated by bryozoans,

brachiopods, corals

Trilobites

Brachiopods and bryozoans from Waynesville Formation, Late Ordovician, USA


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Silurian - Devonian: variety of fish groups

Trilobites Brachiopods, bryozoans, corals

Diplacanthussp, Lower Devonian

Achanarras Slate Quarry, Caithness,

Scotland

www.fossilmall.com/Science/FishFossils/Diplacanthus/Diplacanthus.htm

Two Devonian placoderm fish, Bothriolepis canadensisand Dunkleosteus


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Upper SilurianLower Devonian: variety of

land plants


Fish

Cooksonia, Silurian, New York, USA

http://eurypterids.net/SilurianPlants.html

Pertica, Lower Devonian,

www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/plants/trimerophytophyta/trimero.htm


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Upper Devonian: first tetrapods (limbed vertebrates)


Fish Land plants

Reconstruction of Ichtyostega, Upper Devonian tetrapod, Ahlberg et al.2005, Nature, 437, 137-140

Skull, hindlimb and detail of hindlimb of an Ichtyostega specimen, Upper Devonian, amphibian, part of the collection

of the Geological Museum, Copenhagen. www.tolweb.org/Ichthyostega


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Carboniferous (upper Mississippian-lower

Pennsylvanian): first reptiles


Fish Land plants

Dimetrodon, late Carboniferous - early Permian, Royal Tyrrel Museum, Canada, oak.ucc.nau.edu/dmb25/

Amphibians


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Mesozoic: remarkable variety of reptiles


Fish Land plantsAmphibians

Reptiles

Allosaurus and Stegosaurus, Denver Museum

of Natural History

Marine reptiles


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Reptiles of the Mesozoic

Dinosaurs

Flying reptiles

Pterodactylus kochi, Upper Jurassic, Solnhofen, Germany,

http://dinosaurier-news.blog.de/?s=gattungsname

Marine reptiles

Ichthyosaur, Lower Jurassic, Holzmaden, Germany, Zoologischen Museum in Hamburghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Ichthyosaur_fossil.jpg

Turtles

Manchurochelys, Early Cretaceous,

Liaoning,China,

http://www.gtlsys.com/TradeShow/Bo

oth/132/Desk.html

Crocodiles

Sarcosuchus imperator, Early

Cretaceous, Niger

http://animalpicturesarchive.com/view.php?tid=3&did=25856&lang=kr


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Mesozoic (Upper Triassic): first mammals



Reptiles

Dinosaurs,

reptilesPseudotribos robustus, Middle Jurassic,Jiulongshan Formation,

China.

www.scientificblogging.com/news_account/pseudotribos_robustus_

ancient_jurassic_mammal_with_new_type_of_teeth


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Mesozoic (Upper Jurassic): first birds



Reptiles

Dinosaurs,

reptilesArchaeopteryx siemensii, Upper Jurassic,Solnhofen

Limestones, Germany

http://www.conservapedia.com/Archaeopteryx

First

mammals


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Mesozoic (Lower Cretaceous): first

flowering plants



Reptiles

Dinosaurs,

reptiles

Archaefructus sinensis, Lower Cretaceous,Liaoning,

China, http://www.mnh.si.edu/museum/news/firstflower/

First

mammals

Birds


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Cenozoic: remarkable variety of

mammals



Reptiles

Dinosaurs,

reptiles Reconstruction ofDinohyus hollandi, a giant piglike animal from the Early MioceneHarrison Formation, USA, displayed at the Denver Museum of Natural History

First

mammals

Birds

Flowering

plants


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Patterns



2) Marine - Terrestrial


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545

498

441

413

357

290

251

201

144

65

55

34

24

5

1.8

542




Ediacara fauna, small

shelly fauna, Cambrian

explosion



Reptiles

Dinosaurs,

reptiles

First

mammals

Birds

Flowering

plants

Mammals

Humans

Exclusively

Marine

Marine +

Transitional

Marine +

Terrestrial


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Patterns




3) Increasing modernity


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3) Diversity from present: Increasing modernity

Comparison of numbers of

extinct and living bivalvefamilies (from Gibson 1996,

Origins 23/2, 68-99).

Percentage of extant species of

bivalves and gastropods plotted

against time (from Stanley et al.,

1980, Geology 8, 422-426).


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Patterns





4) Coordinated disappearance (extinction)

End-Permian: more


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4) Cooordinated disappearance (extinction)

http://universe-review.ca/R10-19-animals.htm

than 60% of animal

families

Trilobites

K-T: 40-76% of

species

Dinosaurs

Ammonoids

Wh t d l f th f il d?


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Patterns






5) Radiation

f


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5) Radiation: appearance of multiple groups in a restricted interval

Cambrian explosion

Barton et al., 2007, Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

P tt i th f il d


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Cambrian explosion

D. Dilcher 2000, PNAS 97, 7030-7036545

498

441

413

357

290

251

201

144

65

55

34

24

5

1.8

542

Cretaceous radiation of Angiosperms

P tt i th f il d


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Cambrian explosion

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/VIIBDiversityclades.shtml

545

498

441

413

357

290

251

201

144

65

55

34

24

5

1.8

542

Lower Cenozoic radiation of mammals


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P tt i th f il d


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6) Stasis: minimum morphological change for a species in its whole

stratigraphic interval

Ovicell of Metrarabdotos lacrimosum,

http://eusmilia.geology.uiowa.edu/datab

ase/bryozoa/systemat/metrar.htm

Stasis in species of

MetrarabdotosCheetam 2001, in Palaeobiology II, pp.137-142

P tt i th f il d


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6) Gradual morphological change for a species in its stratigraphic interval

http://home.entouch.net/dmd/

micro.htm

Cheetam 2001, in Palaeobiology II, pp.137-142

Gradual morphological change in foraminifers

Wh t d l f th f il d?


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Patterns






5) Radiation6) Stasis and gradual change

7) Intermediate forms between major groups



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7) Often difficult to connect higher taxa, scarcity of intermediates

Kemp 1999, Fossils and Evolution

Echinoderm

phylogeny

Sea urchin,

http://www.arkive.org/sad

souvenirs.html



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7) Often difficult to connect higher taxa, scarcity of intermediates

Phylogeny of

mammals

http://www.mun.ca/biology/scarr/Mammalian_Adaptive_Radiation.htm



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7) Some intermediate forms documented

Ahlberg & Clack, 2006,Nature 440, p. 747-749

Fish and Tetrapods

Dinosaurs and birds

Reptiles and mammals

However:

-Problem of incongruent

distribution of characters

(mosaic forms)

-Sister group vsactual

lineage

-Arranged according to

morphology and not

always to stratigraphy

H d d l ith th tt f th f il d?


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Biblical-creationist model

Problems:Ordered distribution

Suggestions:- Ecological Zonation Theory

- Mobility-Behavior-Ecology

- Taphonomic processes

Pre-floodFlood-time -

Post-flood world (within

group evolution)

How do we deal with the patterns of the fossil record?

H d d l ith th tt f th f il d?


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How do we deal with the patterns of the fossil record?

Biblical-creationist model

Problems: Suggestions:

Increasing modernity -Pre-flood/Post-flood world (within-group

evolution)

Gradual change -Post-flood microevolution/speciation

Intermediates between major

groups

-Not phylogenetically related

-Mosaic characters

-Within group evolution

Compatible:

- Marine to terrestrial

- Lack of intermediates

- Stasis


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patterns in the fossil record

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