A Natural History On line Test I Review Sheet The nature of Science empirically based hypothesis testing observation inference speculation role of publication and peer review falsification parsimony consilience Major events in history of paleontology evolutionary biology and geology in particular the major contributions of Georges Cuvier Richard OwenJohn OstromWilliam Strata Smith William Buckland Gideon Mary Ann MantellJoseph Leidy Edward Drinker Cope Othniel Charles Marsh Nicolas Steno James Hutton th Century Major changes in our understanding of dinosaurs since the early 19 Major groups of rocks with emphasis on sedimentary rocks biogenic chemical and detrital and how they form weathering transport deposition cementation Environments of deposition and sedimentary structures be able to reconstruct the environment from rock type and sedimentary structures high energy vs low energy sedimentary structures e g cross beds mudcracks ripple marks trough cross beds coal etc Body Fossils vs Trace Fossils Taphonomy burial fossilization unaltered permineralized replaced carbonization impressions Different preservational potentials in different types of organisms and different environments Basics of Stratigraphy Principles of Original Horizontality Superposition Cross Cutting Relationships Fossil Succession FormationsRelative vs Numerical AgesIndex fossils and correlation properties of a good index fossilRadiometric dating MagnetostratigraphyCombining relative and radiometric dating to find possible ages for fossilsThe Geologic Time Scale Eras Periods Epochs know the periods epochs of the Mesozoic Plate tectonics How does it affect the surface of the Earth How does plate tectonics result in the Rock Cycle A Natural HistoryOn line Test II Review SheetEXAM 2 Major events in history of evolutionary biology in particular the major contributions of Carolus Linnaeus Charles Darwin Alfred Russel Wallace Willi Hennig Comparative Anatomy Homology vs Analogy Functions of the skeleton how does the skeleton work and fit together Anatomical directionsBe familiar with major skull landmarks skull bones and postcranial bones Taxonomy know the basic rules principles and grammar of Linnaean taxonomy esp for genera and species principle of priority lumping vs splitting Species What are species What are some of the sources of variation that makes it difficult to distinguish species sexual ontogenetic geographic stratigraphic individual Evolution Descent with ModificationInitial evidence of evolution homologies adaptations vestigial organs the Linnean hierarchy natural hybrids transitional intermediate fossils embryology fossil succession biogeography Fixed vs Changing views of the world Natural Selection Differential Survival and Reproduction of Variants in a Population Resulting in Net Change in the Phenotype of the Descendant Darwin Wallace s contributions Common Ancestry Individual Variation Natural Selection Genetics and inheritance mutations The importance of geologic time environmental change and isolation for evolution What is fitness in the evolutionary sense Patterns of Evolution Divergence Correlated Progression Adaptive Radiations Niche Partitioning Sexual Selection Convergence Co evolution Heterochrony Paedomorphosis vs Peramorphosis Mass Extinctions Systematics Be able to read a cladogram Why cladograms are more secure than trying to reconstruct direct ancestor descendant treesHow are cladograms constructed How are they read Be able to recognize shared derived shared primitive unique convergence and reversed character states which are useful in phylogenetic analysis Using cladograms to recognize membership in higher taxa infer missing information and determine minimum divergence times Colonization of Land and Life on Land Before the DinosaursHazards of living on land relative to the water Features exapted from marine animals for life on land bony internal skeleton limbs with wrists ankles and digits to support weight lungs to breath air scales mucous to prevent desiccation New features necks claws amniotic egg Radiations of the Amniota Late Carboniferous Early Permian Middle Permian Early Triassic Middle Triassic Late Triassic Basal synapsids Therapsid synapsids Crurotarsan archosaurs Jurassic Cretaceous DinosaursFeatures of each group that made them successful in their time Permo Triassic Extinctions Causes and effectsCarrier s Constraint on breathing and locomotion and how archosaurs and within archosaurs dinosauromorphs got around it Ornithodira Dinosauromorpha Silesauridae Elongate tibiae and metatarsi bird like necksParasagittal stance digitigrade posture striding locomotion Dinosauria s sister taxon herbivorous quadrupeds Life on Land Before the Dinosaurs Radiations of the Amniota Late Carboniferous Early Permian Middle Permian Early Triassic Middle Triassic Late Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous Basal synapsids Therapsid synapsids Crurotarsan archosaurs Dinosaurs A Natural HistoryOnline Test III Review SheetEXAM 3 Features of each group that made them successful in their timePermo Triassic Extinctions Carrier s Constraint on breathing and locomotion and how archosaurs and within archosaurs dinosauromorphs got around it Ornithodira Dinosauromorpha Silesauridae Elongate tibiae and metatarsi bird like necksParasagittal stance digitigrade posture striding locomotion Dinosauria s sister taxon herbivorous quadrupeds Diversity of the DinosauriaBe familiar with the lifestyle major adaptations and their functions and relationships of the following groups The base of Dinosauria Small obligate bipeds of the Late Triassic with perforated acetabula and hands with semiopposable thumbs and reduced digits IV V possibly fuzz Divisions into Ornithischia and Saurischia Basal ornithischians Small obligate bipeds with specializations for herbivory predentary bone phyllodont teeth cheeks backwards pointing pubis after Pisanosaurus epaxial ossified tendons Early representatives include Pisanosaurus Heterodontosauridae with ornithopod like jaws and deep skulls and Eocursor all of these retained big grasping hands Later ornithischians divided into Thyreophora and the neornithischians small obligate bipeds that themselves evolved into Ornithopoda and Marginocephalia Thyreophora Ornithischians with osteoderms as protection as the dinosaurs became bigger and more heavily armored shifted to obligate quadrupedality Advanced thyreophorans split into Stegosauria and Ankylosauria Stegosaurs emphasized active defense with