Since last week was short, we’ll begin this week with a discussion of taxonomic principles followed by a basic outline of paleoecology. Our goal is to define some basic terms for living environments and life modes. This framework will prove useful later when we begin to slot the organisms we study into their particular ancient ecosystems.
Now our main topic: Microfossils are gorgeous little creatures. Berkeley has a good summary of our main group, the Foraminifera. They also have a cool microfossil type collection to dip into for the wonderful images. Wikipedia also has a good page at our level introducing the Foraminifera, our most important microfossils. The Tree of Life page on diatoms is very good. The Micropaleontological Reference Center for the Ocean Drilling Program is a good example of a well-organized site designed to make paleontological data available to anyone who wants it. The Cushman Foundation, publishers of the Journal of Foraminiferal Research, has a good webpage with lots of subsidiary links. You’ll also want to visit the University College of London MIRACLE website (standing for “Microfossil Image Recovery And Circulation for Learning and Education — they worked hard for that acronym). This may be the best general microfossil site on the web for simple access to information and images. Here is a nice set of SEM images of foraminiferans from Isfjord, Spitsbergen, Norway — a place I visited in 2009. (Ah, good memories!) By the end of the week you should be able to identify the informal groups to which these taxa belong.
Here is a Foraminifera Identification Website found by Sarah McGrath.
Triticites sp. (a fusulinid) from the Plattsmouth Chert, Red Oak, Iowa; Permian.
Geology in the News –
A nice little baby bird was found encased in Cretaceous amber in Burma. The detail of preservation is amazing, even including indications of original colors.
Dodos aren’t quite fossils, since they lived into historical times, but they are extinct and can only be studied indirectly though their bones and remains of eggs and nests. New ideas are emerging from investigations of these funny birds.
Warmer conditions are encouraging algae to grow on the surfaces of Greenland’s ice sheets. This darkens the ice, which causes it to absorb more radiation from sunlight, and thus melts even more ice. More evidence, if you need it, of global climate change.