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PALEOECOLOGY

PALEOECOLOGY. Study of ecology of past life/environs. Not so much about species as about roles. Why? Not to demonstrate that “ecology works.” Better understand extinct organisms. Better understand how environment/life habit affects evolution.

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PALEOECOLOGY

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  1. PALEOECOLOGY Study of ecology of past life/environs. Not so much about species as about roles. Why? Not to demonstrate that “ecology works.” Better understand extinct organisms. Better understand how environment/life habit affects evolution. Examine ecological processes that take long time. Autecology – ecology of a species Synecology – ecology of an assemblage of species

  2. NICHE Factors that affect organisms: Food, temperature, oxygen, water, salinity, sunlight, turbidity, predation, competition, living space, mate proximity, turbulence, substrate, etc. Eltonian NICHE – An N-dimensional hyperspace defined by an organism’s minimal and maximal requirements in all these factors. Leibig’s Law of Minimum – that resource closest to a species limiting requirement will control its distribution. Life Habit – how an organism makes a living: sessile vs. vagrant, infauna vs. epifauna, benthic vs planktic vs nektonik, carnivore vs herbivore, autotroph vs heterotroph, suspension feeder vs deposit feeder, warm-blooded vs cold-blooded, etc. Much emphasis on trophic (food) relationships – obvious synecological significance.

  3. COMMUNITIES Organismal communities are groups of organisms that lived in the same place at the same time, with possible ecological interaction. Only significant if some pattern present is repeated in other places and other times. For example: similar trophic webs, patterns of life habit, etc. Trophic amensalism – bioturbators vs suspension feeders Trophic rank abundances – Most abundant species have different life habits “Mangroves” – all look alike but are not related Reef structure – framework, bafflers, binders, debris-producers, encrusters

  4. Trophic webs – based on roles rather than on species.

  5. Trophic Tiering

  6. SUCCESSION Progressive change in community composition over ecologic time. Can be driven by differential reproduction, organismal change, physical environmental change, etc. Classic example – Dunes to Forest Walker and Laporte – Fossil reef succession Soft bottom community succession driven by substrate. Succession may help us understand fossil assemblage formation, impact of key organisms, evolution

  7. Reef Succession Example from Silurian of Michigan basin

  8. FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY Study of how structures on organisms functioned. Requires an intimate knowledge of organism’s life habits and ecology Archaeocyathids – passive filter-feeders

  9. Evolutionary Paleoecology How does an organism’s ecology interact with its evolution, how do communities change as the component species evolve? Includes the evolution of species diversity.

  10. Valentine Raup Sepkoski

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