Dinosaurs Exam 1 Study Review PDF

Geo 100: Dinosaurs! EXAM I Study Guide 1.1 Chapter 1: Introduction to paleontology 1. Know the diagnostic characteristics of dinosaurs in terms of posture and unique skeletal characters (covered at the Museum of Paleontology). The diagnostic chara...

Geo 100: Dinosaurs! EXAM I Study Guide 1.1 Chapter 1: Introduction to paleontology 1. Know the diagnostic characteristics of dinosaurs in terms of posture and unique skeletal characters (covered at the Museum of Paleontology). The diagnostic characteristics of dinosaurs is they had upright posture, and had bird-like skeletal structures, and walk on their toes. 2. Know the word, Dinosauria; the year it was coined, who coined it, and what it means. The word dinosauria was termed in 1842 by Richard Owen and means terrible lizard/reptile. 3. Know when and where dinosaurs lived. Dinos first appeared about 225-230 million years ago, during the Mesozoic period. Dinosaurs live on every continent of the world. 4. Explain why many animals are mistaken for dinosaurs. Many people think dinosaurs are any large, extinct animal such as wooly mammoths. 5. Know the source of earth’s hydrocarbons (oil and natural gas). Decomposition remains of organisms mainly algae.  6. Know what paleontologists study. Scientists that study ancient life. 1.2 Chapter 2: Evolution, phylogeny, and classification a. Know what phylogeny is. An evolutionary family tree consisting of evolving organisms. b. Describe the diversity of organisms today; know about how many species live on Earth today, and how that diversity relates to the percentage of Earth’s species that are preserved in the fossil record. Between 10-30 million species alive on earth today Less than 1% of organisms in earth's past were preserved and fossilized c. Know the central ideas behind Darwinian evolution and how the environment and the concept of limited resources influenced the development of Darwin’s theory. (Darwin’s observations, natural selection, descent with modification, grade, and clade) Organisms adapt to the environment they live in so they are better able to cope with environmental changes. Limited resources affected evolution Natural selection is the driving force for change Descent w/ modification essentially means that all living things are related (evolution) Grade is a horizontal slice through a phylogeny Clade is a branch or bundle of branches with a common stem on a phylogeny d. Stratophenetic Method i. Describe this method – what are its basic assumptions?  It identifies ancestral taxa as those older than descendant that resemble their ancestors closely in one or more features. ii. Describe its pitfalls. It makes the assumption that the fossil record is complete (which its not complete) e. Know the preferred method of phylogeny and describe how it identifies taxa. Cladistics is the preferred method of phylogeny, it is based on evolutionary novelty similarities of taxa. f. Know convergence versus divergence Divergence is adaption in organisms with a common ancestor. Convergence is similar adaptations of organisms with no common ancestor. i. Give examples of each. Divergence: Hummingbird and Finch Convergence: Dragonfly and Bird ii. Explain why convergence can pose problems in cladistics (a.k.a. phylogenetic systematics). Two organisms can have similar characteristics b/c of environmental based factors, but share no common ancestor. iii. Explain the difference between homology and analogy in terms of organic structures and evolution. Give examples of each. Homology: shared derived structure, based on common ancestor. EX: arm of a dog and cat.  Analogy: similar, but originated independently, no similar origin. EX: wing of an insect and bird. g. Know the difference between cladistics and the Linnaean classification system. Linnaean system: hierarchy of organisms i. Know what model of organism relationships was followed by Lamarckism and other earlier ideas. Theory of inheritance of acquired characters (use and disuse) ii. Know the strengths of cladistics. It makes no assumptions based on the completeness of the fossil records h. Describe the rules for naming taxa according to the ICZN – International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (including Latinization, italicization, not naming after yourself, priority, and synonomy). Rules by which scientific names of animals are constructed: must have latin endings, genus and species names are always italicized, can’t name it after yourself, first correct proposed name has priority. i. Know what the Principle of Priority means. The oldest correctly proposed scientific name has priority over later names. i. Understand the concept of the Linnaean binomen. Lowest rank in Linnaean hierarchy has two parts: genus followed by species. j. Explain the concepts of macroevolution and microevolution, and what Linnaean levels they pertain to. Microevolution: evolution of populations of organisms that results in the origination of new species. Macroevolution: evolution above the species level, origin of major adaptive features. k. Know the strengths and weaknesses of the dinosaur fossil record for studying evolution. The strengths of the dinosaur fossil record for studying evolution include providing solid evidence of past life forms. However, the fossil record also has weaknesses, such as being incomplete and subjective in interpretation. l. Know what rules govern what level of differences are required to recognize a new genus and species. Genus comes first, is capitalized, italicized Species second, is lowercase, italicized m. Be able to explain how individual variation, sexual dimorphism, crushing/distortion and incompleteness of bones and specimens make it difficult to determine what is and what is not a new species or genus. Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. For example, in some species, including many mammals, the male is larger than the female n. Construct a simple cladogram showing the diagnostic features (synapomorphies/evolutionary novelties) for several taxa, such as a crocodile, dinosaur, and bird and understand what the lines represent in terms of relationships.  i. Identify clade, sister taxa, outgroups, apomorphies (evolutionary novelties), stems, and branches in a cladogram. Clade: A clade is a grouping that includes a common ancestor and all the descendants Sister taxa: two clades that share a common ancestor Outgroups: a group of organisms closely related but not part of studied clade Apomorphies: a changed character for a clade Stems: a collection of extinct species part of a clade Branches: a new trait that distinguishes organisms in that branch from the rest of the clade ii. Know what monophyletic, paraphyletic, and polyphyletic groups are characterized by. Monophyletic- Natural group that includes all its descendents. Paraphyletic- Natural group that does not include all ancestors (you left something off, your wrong) Polyphyletic- Non-natural group that includes unrelated forms (very bad) o. Know how an aminote is defined within cladistics.  Amniota is defined as the most recent common ancestor of Reptilia and Mammalia, and all of that ancestor's descendants. 1.3. Chapter 3: Fossils, sedimentary environments, and geologic time a. Define fossil as given in class Remains or traces of life found in the geologic record, prehistoric in age >10,000 years old. b. Give examples of types of fossils that paleontologists study and collect. Body fossils and Trace fossils i. Know the differences between body fossils and trace fossils Body fossils: Organism itself Trace fossils: Traces of the organism ii. Give examples of each. Examples of body fossils are bones, feathers, shells, etc… Examples of trace fossils are tracks, burrows, nests, etc… c. Understand the five different types of fossilization (permineralization, replacement, carbonization, amber, freezing) and give examples for each. Permineralization: Matter decays and is replaced by minerals. Replacement: Material replaced by another material Carbonization: Volatile portions leave behind organic carbon Amber: Natural resin  Freezing: Frozen i. Describe the process of the predominant type of fossilization in dinosaur bones. Permineralization ii. Know the composition of bone and teeth and the relative percentages of organics and inorganics. Bone is 70% mineral (hydroxylapatite) and 30% organic (collagen) Teeth is 95% mineral (hydroxylapatite) and 5% organic (collagen) iii. Be able to explain why bone is considered a composite material and the advantages of composites. Composite materials are made up of mineral and it is brittle, it maintains it shape, and resists compression iv. Understand what fossil bones consist of. Mineral material and organic material d. Explain why/how cellular details are preserved in fossil bone and wood. Through permineralization, it happens because the original wood is preserved. If the wood had been replaced there would be no cellular detail. e. Understand what characteristics of organisms and parts of organisms usually determine if they are preserved in as fossils. The environment and the presence of hard parts (bone) Sedimentary rock preservation f. Define the principle of uniformitarianism as it applies to geology Current natural processes also occurred in the past. g. Know which type of rock dinosaurs are most often and least often preserved in. Most in sedimentary and least in metamorphic i. Explain why dinosaurs are not found in the other rock types. Because igneous and metamorphic rocks are formed by heat and pressure h. Understand the origin and types of sediments found in fluvial, lacustrine, and eolian environments. fluvial (river) environment, sediments are primarily composed of sand, gravel, and silt, originating from the erosion of upstream rocks and transported by flowing water. Floodplains, rivers/streams. lacustrine (lake) environment, finer sediments like silt and clay dominate due to slower water movement. Shoreline, shallow to deep water. eolian (wind) environment, the main sediment type is sand, often forming dunes, with finer dust particles also transported over long distances. Sand dunes, areas between dunes. i. Know what type of rocks result when the sediments of (1) mud, (2) sand, (3) gravel, and (4) organic matter are lithified. Sedimentary rocks mud (Pressure)=>mudstone, shale, silt/siltstone, clay/claystone sand (Pressure)=>sandstone gravel (Pressure)=>conglomerate organic matter (Pressure and Heat)=>oil/gas, coal j. Know which depositional environment(s) most commonly preserve dinosaur fossils. Mudstone and shale are most likely to preserve delicate structures such as skin and feathers Bones are often found in sandstone k. Explain what a paleosol is and what it can reveal about the environments in which dinosaurs lived. an ancient soil that has been preserved in the geologic record, and provides information about past climates and environments l. Know the two geologic time scales and describe how they are different. Relative and Absolute time scales. Relative is based on superposition and fossil succession Absolute is based on radiometric dating and actual ages. m. Define the principles of superposition and biostratigraphic correlation Superposition: sequence of sedimentary strata, youngest layer on top, oldest on bottom. Biostratigraphic correlation: Rocks that contain the same fossil types are the same age n. Know how superposition helps develop the relative time scale. It can show what fossils are older than others. o. Know why the relative geologic time scale was useful in spite of the lack of absolute ages. It can show what fossils are older relative to others. p. Know when the dinosaurs lived in terms of both the relative and numerical (or absolute) time scales. Mesozoic- Late Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous  225-230 million years ago q. Explain what the numerical (or absolute) time scale is based on and which rock types can be directly dated. It is based on radiometric dating, it uses half lives and only works for organic materials. Most accurate dates are found by igneous rocks. i. Explain what carbon 14 dating is, what it is used for, its half-life, and why it cannot be used for dinosaurs. Carbon 14 is produced by neutrons captured and induced by cosmic rays hitting the earth. Used to find date of materials Dinosaurs cannot be dated because carbon 14 half life is too short. (Dinos half life is too long) r. Understand why igneous rocks (specifically, the mineral crystals in igneous rocks) not the dinosaur bones or sedimentary rocks are used to determine absolute ages. Igneous rock crystals have long half lives. i. Explain why precise numerical ages (absolute ages) cannot be obtained for many fossils Bones and sediments containing fossils cannot be dated using radiometric dating. Because their half lives are too long compared to carbon 14’s. 1.4. Chapter 4: History and beginnings of dinosaurs a. Know the difference between anapsids, diapsids, synapsids, and euryapsids, and know which apply to dinosaurs. Anapsid: No opening behind eye (primitive) Diapsid: Two openings behind eye (dinosaurs) Synapsid: One upper opening behind eye (mammals) Euryapsid: One lower opening behind eye (marine reptiles) i. Know what the temporal fenestrae of dinosaurs held. Jaw muscle was attached to it. b. Know the two groups of diapsid reptiles. Lepidosaurs (lizards/snakes) and Arch c. Know the position of Dinosauria nested in the clade Archosauria, which in turn is nested in the Diapsida. i. Construct a cladogram that shows the relationship of Dinosauria, Archosauria, and Diapsida. ii. Explain how the ankle structures of archosaurs provide a key to their phylogenetic relationships. Crocodilian: hinge between ankle Avemtatarsalian: hinge below ankle d. Know the relationship of silesaurs to dinosaurs. Closest relative to dinosaurs, shared common ancestor. e. Know the diagnostic characteristics (evolutionary novelties) of the clade Dinosauria. Thecodonts (teeth in sockets) Two fenestrae (antorbital, mandibular) Muscle attached to humerus on elongate crest Hinge below ankle bone Upright posture Hip socket is a hole f. Know the definition of dinosaurs as discussed in lecture and at the museum. Clade that contains Triceratops + Birds and their most immediate common ancestor. g. Explain how dinosaur posture is beneficial. Fast Running, Energy efficient, Hunting efficient, and Feeding efficient. i. Know which clade(s) outside of dinosaurs have the same posture as dinosaurs. Mammals h. Know which clade has a unidirectional lung and know its function. Diapsids Air enters on part of lung and exits without backtracking (more efficient) i. Explain why do cladists prefer to use the term Archosauria in discussing dinosaurs and avoid using the terms reptiles and thecodonts. Archosauria is monophyletic j. Know the distinguishing characteristics of Archosaurs. Diapsids, fenestra on lower jaw and in front of eyes, serrated teeth, and unidirectional lungs k. Know the two clades of Archosaurs. Crocodilia and Avemetatarsalia i. Know the ankle structures that distinguish them. Crocodilia: Crurotarsal ankle Avemetatarsalia: Advanced mesotarsal ankle l. Know the two clades of Dinosauria and know the pelvic structures that distinguish them, especially the position of the pubis. Saurischia: Pubis and ischium in perpendicular directions Ornithischia: Pubis and ischium in same direction “two branches” m. Compare and contrast saurischian and ornithischian dinosaurs Ornithischians have a predentary bone on the jaw, ossified tendons in tail Saurischians have air filled bones like birds n. Summarize the “when”, “where” and “from what” of dinosaur origins. Late Triassic Every continent Dinosauromorphs o. Explain the significance of dinosaurs in the Late Triassic compared to the overall vertebrate fauna. (Were they rare, common, or abundant?) Dinosaurs were generally rare in the triassic compared to other tetrapods. p. Describe the nature of large non-dinosaurian members of the Late Triassic fauna such as dicynodonts, aetosaurs, phytosaurs, etc. Dicynodonts: cow sized herbivores Aetosaurs: armored reptile Phytosaurs: similar to crocodilians q. Know what other major clades of non-dinosaurian vertebrates had their origins in the late Triassic. Pterosaurs, mammals, plesiosaurs, crocodiles, turtles r. Explain how and when dinosaurs became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates and the “event” that may have enabled dinosaur dominance. During the Jurrassic Triassic-Jurassic Extinction s. Describe the arrangement of Earth’s tectonic plates at the time of the origin of dinosaurs and the influence this arrangement had on the diversity of dinosaurs through time. When dinosaurs originated all the continents were connected (pangea) then they split causing dinosaurs to be separated into different continents  t. Know the dominant climate during the Triassic when all continents were together (during Pangea). Dry and hot in summer cold in winter monsoon rains along coasts moderate climates at the poles no ice caps u. Describe how the climate changed throughout the Mesozoic Era More water Greenhouse effect 2. 1.5. Chapter 11: History of dinosaurian paleontology a. Be able to explain the nature and condition of the first three dinosaurs that were described. Megalosaurus- probably covered in down feathers Iguanodon- had teeth like modern iguanas Hylaeosaurus- had extensive armor i. Know when and where the study of dinosaurs began. 1820s ii. Know the contributions of Richard Owen, William Buckland, and Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkings. Richard Owen coined the word Dinosauria meaning terrible lizard in 1842 William Buckland named and described first dinosaur, Megalosaurus in 1824  Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkings artist and sculptor that collaborated with owen to created reptilian image of dinosaurs iii. Know the significance of the discovery of Hadrosaurus. In 1868 Joseph Leidy discovered the most complete skeleton of a dinosaur yet, the Hadrosaurus. iv. Know why Iguanodon was so named. Teeth resembled modern iguana’s teeth b. Know the word, Dinosauria; who coined it, and what it means. “Terrible lizard” Richard Owen 1842 c. Describe the Owen-Hawkins portrayal of dinosaurs in first restorations in the 1850’s and the issues with these reflections. Describe dinosaurs as reptilian-like, dinosaurs are more bird-like d. Know what the "great dinosaur rush" was, who was involved, and when it took place. Between 1870 and 1900, in western North America, Cope and Marsh updated the scientific understanding of dinosaurs in a dinosaur expedition rivalry. i. Know how it influenced scientific understanding of dinosaurs. It benefited paleontology by fueling the discovery of many new fossils, but because of the rivalry much of their research was published hastily with mistakes. e. Explain why the turn of the century image of dinosaurs persisted until the 1970’s despite great discoveries. Artistic license was taken with little understanding of dinosaurs and so the world thought dinosaurs were slow-moving reptile-like creatures until the 1970s when huge discoveries were made. i. Know what the image of dinosaurs was in the 1970’s. Fast, active, agile, bird-like creatures. f. Know the paleontologists who began the Dinosaur renaissance and the key that revived the dinosaur-bird hypothesis. John Ostrom and Robert Bakker Discovery of the Deinonychus a small bird-like dinosaur g. Describe the 20th century concept of dinosaurs and the major discoveries/expeditions which sparked this change in image. Slow and reptile-like Central Asiatic Expedition German East Africa Tendaguru Expedition Polish Mongolian Paleontological Expeditions h. Know the age of the Morrison formation, where it occurs, and why it is world renowned for its dinosaur fauna. Late Jurassic (145-166 million years ago) in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming areas, lots of dinosaurs were found i. Know the significance of Megalosaurus. First coined dinosaur  j. Know the principal purpose of the Central Asiatic Expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History Discovering ancient man, but instead found dinosaurs k. Know which part of the world is currently popular in dinosaur excavation and paleontological research. China, Mongolia (Asiatic places) 1.6. Online Reading: Science as a Storytelling a. Know the “rules” of science. Reproducibility Predictive power Prospects for improvement Naturalism Uniformitarianism Simplicity Harmony b. Understand why the supernatural cannot be invoked in science. Goes against naturalism rule c. Know why hypotheses must be testable. So you can test your predictions  d. Know how science goes beyond collecting “facts” and observations. You have to test the observations and continue to experiment and research e. Explain the difference between Science and Scientism. Science: method to obtain knowledge Scientism: science alone can yield all truth 1.8. Science and Religion Online Readings: The debate around and compatibility between science and the Church a. Know the LDS Church’s official stance on evolution and who is authorized to issue such statements. No official stance b. Know the nature of Man and his relationship to God in terms of spirit vs body. Man is the literal offspring of God c. Know the past and present general attitude of the LDS Church toward science. Church leaders have generally had a positive attitude of science d. Explain why some church members are adamantly opposed to evolution and the idea that Earth is billions of years, while others believe that evolution may be how God created life’s diversity. We do not know how God created mankind, and because of that people have their agency to make assumptions and ideas. e. Explain 1) why most churches perceive materialism as anti-God and 2) why the LDS church could be considered the most materialistic of all religions. Materialism is to put value on material items over other things, maybe even God. Because of tithing f. Know who stated that most religions limit the realm of their God, and that there is a need for a religion with a great God – one that would have created countless worlds over vast stretches of the universe. Carl Sagan g. Understand the difference between dogma, doctrine, and policy in the Church. Dogma- What the church says, is true Doctrine- Teachings of gospel. Can’t change Policy- Can change h. Know the scientific definition of a theory as opposed to the lay-person’s concept of the same term. Scientific: Most reliable model of how nature works Lay-persons: Wild guess i. Understand the relationship between law, hypothesis, theory, and facts. Law explains how something happens Hypothesis is a testable explanation Theory is most reliable explanation Facts are known/ proven to be true 1.7. Museum of Paleontology Field Trip: Curation, preparation, and exhibits a. Know the definition of a dinosaur Clade that contains Triceratops + Birds and their most immediate common ancestor. b. Explain the diagnostic characters of dinosaurs in terms of posture and unique skeletal characters. Thecodonts (teeth in sockets) Two fenestrae (antorbital, mandibular) Muscle attached to humerus on elongate crest Hinge below ankle bone Upright posture Hip socket is a hole c. Know the skull type of humans and mammal-like reptiles (anapsid, synapsid, diapsid, or euryapsid) Synapsids d. Know what is involved in curation. Curation conserves information for future generations. When there is a cast made out of a bone, an extremely accurate replica is made. Bones are fraile, so replicas are made. Replicas are also made to share with other scientists for information. e. Understand the basics of collecting dinosaur bones: probing for size, channeling around, binding with consolidant, protective paper layer, plaster and burlap field jacket/cast, and know why each is necessary. Collection process: Find bone, probe around carefully to not wreck it. About this long and this wide. Dig around and leave most of the rock on it to keep it intact. (Almost make a moat around the bone.) Make a burlap plaster case to protect the  bone. Flip whole thing over carefully, hopefully everything is held together. Back at lab, you carefully take off plaster and then chip away rock from bone slowly. f. Know what factors lead paleontologists to search for bones in specific areas and how searches are conducted. Dinosaurs lived on every continent of the world, but fossils of them can only be found in specific and certain types of environments and mesozoic rocks. g. Explain why paleontologists don’t collect every dinosaur they find. The dinosaur may not be significant because it is common and already well-studied. The dinosaur may also be too poorly preserved, or difficult to collect. The dinosaur may not be related to their current research. h. Understand why it is important for paleontologist to network with amateurs and rockhounds. they can provide valuable access to fossil discoveries and sometimes possess specialized knowledge about specific fossil-rich locations i. Know why it is important to map bone locations in an excavation. It allows the archaeologist to create a precise map to record the exact location of all the features and artifacts on the site j. Understand why bones are replicated (molded and cast) for exhibits and study. The replicas are so accurate you can study the structure as if you were studying the real bones. Fossils casts of dinosaurs are more durable than the original bones. Osteology Know these bones… Dentary Premaxilla Maxilla Nasal Know these openings (holes)... Lateral temporal fenestra Supratemporal fenestra Orbit Antorbital fenestra Nostril Mandibular fenestra A dinosaurs mandible is not fused together like a humans A dinosaurs teeth don't touch, they slide beside each other Teeth Carnivore dinosaurs have serrated teeth Herbivore dinosaurs don't have serrated teeth Backbones Neck vertebrate are called Cervical Back vertebrate are called Dorsal Hip vertebrate are called Sacral Tail vertebrate are called Caudal There are vertebrate underneath the tail called Chevrons Kahoot! Review 1. Dinosaurs have not been found in Antarctica False 2. The Principle of Priority is the first name proposed for a new species has precedence 3. In the 1970s, Robert Bakker challenged the view of dinosaurs by arguing they were agile, warm-blooded, and bird-like 4. The term “dinosaur” coined by Richard Owen in 1842 is based on the Greek roots meaning terrible lizard 5. Descent with modification is Darwin’s description of evolution through natural selection 6. Behavioral similarities of animals across the world is what led Darwin to think species changed over time. 7. Paleontologists make can make errors in cladistic phylogenies and novelties that are thought to unite taxa actually do not are issues convergence creates. 8. Dinosaurs are not used for studies of microevolution true 9. The cause for evolutionary convergence is unrelated species evolve to adapt in similar environments. 10. Cladistic groups that are identified by the sharing of evolutionary novelties/common ancestor is monophyletic 11. The arm of a humans the the flippers of a whale are examples of divergence and homology 12. Paleontologists favor cladistics over other models because it unites taxa based on their shared evolutionary traits 13. A and B are taxa in a sister group 14. You would find a derived character of A, B, and C in the line segment beneath the A and C node 15. Tracks and coprolites are examples of trace fossils 16. The best definition of a fossil is objects over 10,000 years old and evidence of ancient life 17. The principle that allows geologists to know what environments various sedimentary rocks represent is uniformitarianism 18. Superposition helps us determine the relative ages of rocks true 19. Majority of fossils are found in sedimentary rocks 20. Most dinosaur fossils are found in the depositional environment fluvial 21. Most dinosaur bones are preserved by permineralization 22. 50% of bone material is collagen fiber and the other 50% is hydroxylapetite 23. Absolute/numeric time scales are based off numbers 24. Tyrannosaurus lived 67 million years ago is an example of absolute age 25. We know the numerical/absolute age of the T-Rex because of radiometric dating of igneous rocks nearby and estimation based on the closest layer with a numeric age 26. Sedimentary rocks generally can not be radiometrically dated 27. Dinosaurs are diapsids 28. The temporal fenestrae of dinosaurs held the jaw muscles 29. The silesaurus is the closest relative to dinosaurs 30. The event that most likely likely allowed for dinosaurs to become the dominant terrestrial animals is the triassic-jurassic extinction 31. The two Archosaurian clades are crocodilians and birds 32. Unique to dinosaurs is a muscle attachment on the humerus 33. Dinosaur diagnostic characteristics are mainly related to posture 34. Paleontologist prevent further breakage of bones during collection by using plaster and burlap to make jackets  35. The process of storing and caring for specimens and related data is curation 36. Most museum displays are casts 37. A dimetrodon and a humans share a synapsid skull 38. Complexity is not a rule of science 39. The is an official stance on evolution for the Church of Jesus Christ false 40. Theory is a conclusion about nature that is verified through science 41. This hip structure belongs to ornithischia Fossil is anything dug up. Fossil record is incomplete, less than 1% of earth's organisms have been preserved as a fossil. Best way to be preserved as a fossil is to be buried quickly, skeletons are most likely to be preserved. Bone is made out of mineral and protein, teeth have more mineral matter than a normal bone. Bones are composites. Richard Owen defined dinos as: great/terrible reptile/lizard. Dinosaurs lived on every continent of the world, but fossils of them can only be found in specific and certain types of environments and mesozoic rocks. Dinosaurs lived on every continent on earth, but not in the ocean. Paleontologists study any ancient life. Oil/natural gas comes mainly from algae, not from dinosaurs. Natural gas can make plastic and other things we use in day to day life. At the museum we learned about curation, curation conserves information for future generations. When there is a cast made out of a bone, an extremely accurate replica is made. Bones are fraile, so replicas are made. Replicas are also made to share with other scientists for information. Collection process: Find bone, probe around carefully to not wreck it. About this long and this wide. Dig around and leave most of the rock on it to keep it intact. (Almost make a moat around the bone.) Make a burlap plaster case to protect the bone. Flip whole thing over carefully, hopefully everything is held together. Back at lab, you carefully take off plaster and then chip away rock from bone slowly. Museum: Dinosaur is everything between a triceratops and modern birds. Dinosaur had upright posture, and a hole in there hip socket. Dinosaurs are active, and similar to birds. Major Expeditions: Marsh v Cope 1800’s in the west. Competitors that ruined each other's lives but found lots of dinosaurs. Tendaguru German East Africa Found huge dinosaurs, lots of dinosaurs from late Jurassic Central Asiatic Expeditions, used camels to carry supplies across vast lands, found triceratops, nests of small theropods, early mammals Polish Mongolian Expeditions, found fighting velociraptor fossils. These Expeditions changed our view and knowledge of dinosaurs Right now there are more people working on dinosaurs than ever (way too many.) Major places that are hot spots for paleontology are asiatic places and south american and middle east. Study of dinosaurs happened around the industrial revolution, early 1800’s Environment drives evolution according to darwin. Change in environments causes and forces species and organisms to adapt and change. Plate tectonics move and continents divide. Scientists want to know why there is such diversity in life, because of evolution. Convergence v Divergence. Relationships of organisms is called cladistics. Cladistics: phylogenetic trees using statistical programs. Cluster analysis. Relationships are deduced based on evolutionary novelties. What unites these things together. Evolutionary novelties are different things of an organism because of adaptations. Lamarckism is the use or disuse of physical characteristics that change the individual organism and is passed onto offspring. Not accurate because of heredity genetics. Sedimentary. Ancient environments are based on their rocks. You can essential read the rocks and they will tell you about the environment. Relative and Absolute time: Absolute is based off of numbers, Relative time is based off of superposition and fossil succession.