A Natural History On-line Test I Review SheetThe 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” SmithWilliam Buckland Gideon & Mary Ann MantellJoseph Leidy Edward Drinker Cope & Othniel Charles Marsh Nicolas Steno & James HuttonMajor changes in our understanding of dinosaurs since the early 19th CenturyMajor 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 FossilsTaphonomy : burial, fossilization [unaltered, permineralized, replaced, carbonization, impressions]) Different preservational potentials in different types of organisms and different environmentsBasics 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, MagnetostratigraphyCombiningrelative 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 theRock Cycle?A Natural HistoryOn-line Test II Review SheetEXAM 2Major events in history of evolutionary biology, in particular the major contributions of: Carolus Linnaeus Charles Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace Willi HennigComparative Anatomy: Homology vs. AnalogyFunctions of the skeleton; how does the skeleton work and fit together? Anatomical directionsBefamiliar with major skull landmarks, skull bones, and postcranial bonesTaxonomy: know the basic rules, principles, and grammar of Linnaean taxonomy (esp. for genera and species); principle of priority; lumping vs. splittingSpecies: 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; biogeographyFixed vs. Changing views of the worldNatural Selection = Differential Survival and Reproduction of Variants in a Population Resultingin Net Change in the Phenotype of the DescendantDarwin & Wallace’s contributions: Common Ancestry, Individual Variation, Natural SelectionGenetics 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, NichePartitioning; Sexual Selection, Convergence, Co-evolution, Heterochrony (Paedomorphosis vs. Peramorphosis), Mass ExtinctionsSystematics: 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 determineminimum divergence timesColonization of Land and Life on Land Before the DinosaursHazards of living on land relative tothe water. Features exapted from marine animals for life on land: bony internalskeleton; limbs with wrists/ankles and digits to support weight; lungs to breath air; scales & mucous to prevent desiccationNew 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 archosaursJurassic – Cretaceous: DinosaursFeatures of each group that made them successful in their timePermo-Triassic Extinctions: Causes and effectsCarrier’s Constraint on breathing and locomotion,and how archosaurs (and within archosaurs, dinosauromorphs)got around it!Ornithodira: Dinosauromorpha: SilesauridaeElongate tibiae and metatarsi; bird-like necksParasagittal stance, digitigrade posture (striding locomotion) Dinosauria’s sister-taxon; herbivorous quadrupedsLife 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 DinosaursA Natural HistoryOnline Test III Review SheetEXAM 3 Features of each group that made them successful in their timePermo-Triassic ExtinctionsCarrier’s Constraint on breathing and locomotion, and how archosaurs (and within archosaurs, dinosauromorphs)got around it! Ornithodira:Dinosauromorpha: SilesauridaeElongate tibiae and metatarsi; bird-like necksParasagittal stance, digitigrade posture (striding locomotion) Dinosauria’s sister-taxon; herbivorous quadrupedsDiversity 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 andhands 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-likejaws 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