PALEONTOLOGIA CON LABORATORIO

Module MODULO DI PALEONTOLOGIA

The teaching will be conducted as follows:

1. Lectures with the aid of PowerPoint presentations, diagrams, and possible videos.

2. Laboratory sessions involving the examination and study of fossils and fossiliferous rocks to learn how to observe, describe, and identify fossils and the rocks that contain them. During these sessions, students will also learn methods for collecting, processing, and presenting simple data to describe individual taxa and document and value fossil heritage. Students will also receive training in conducting online scientific research to support their learning. When available, the computer lab may be used.

3. Possible seminars conducted by researchers from Italian and/or foreign universities, specialists in specific topics.

4. Field excursions, with timing to be defined, possibly at the end of the second semester.

To ensure equal opportunities and in accordance with current laws, students with disabilities and/or specific learning difficulties can request a personal meeting to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures based on educational objectives and specific needs. Students may also contact the CInAP (Center for Active and Participatory Integration - Services for Disabilities and/or Specific Learning Difficulties) coordinator of our Department, Prof. Giorgio De Guidi.

Upon request from interested students, topics of particular interest (or related topics) may be developed for final reports required for degree completion.

Mandatory.

To fulfill the attendance requirement, students must attend at least 70% of the lectures, as stipulated by the academic regulations for all subjects in the study program.

Attendance will be monitored directly by the instructor.

Definition of Paleontology: history, branches, and applications. Concept of fossils.

Paleontological systematics: concept of species (biological and paleontological, morphospecies, chronospecies, intraspecific variability). Nomenclature: Linnaean species and binomial nomenclature. The International Code of Nomenclature. The classification of organisms. Parataxonomy.

Taphonomy: mineralized and non-mineralized parts; organism death. Biostratinomic processes: necrolysis, bioerosion, dissolution, transport. Burial, incorporation, encrustation. Fossilization: organic matter; mineralized parts.

Types of fossil deposits; exceptional fossilizations; oriented distributions and fossil concentrations: their interpretation and use. Lithogenetic significance of fossils.

Fossils in outcrops and laboratories: main methods of observation, collection, and study.

Fossils and evolution: overview of evolutionary theories, microevolution, macroevolution. Overview of the history of life on Earth.

Fossils and stratigraphy: index fossils, relative dating, correlations. Overview of trace fossils: formation, preservation, classification, and their relevance in paleontology.

Overview of paleoecology: the distribution of organisms as a key to paleoenvironmental, paleobiogeographic, and paleogeographic interpretation.

Global changes: fossils as climate indicators, with an example from the recent history of the Mediterranean.

AAVV a cura della Società Paleontologica Italiana. Manuale di Paleontologia. Fondamenti. Applicazioni. Idelson Gnocchi, 2020.

Benton M. & Harper D. 2020. Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record. Wiley-Blackwell

Raffi S. e Serpagli E. 1993. Introduzione alla Paleontologia. Utet ed.

Doyle P. 1996. Understanding fossils. An introduction to invertebrate paleontology. Wiley & sons.

Briggs D.E.G. & Crowter P.R. 1990. Palaeobiology: a synthesis. Blackwell Scientific Publications.

Ziegler B. 1983. Introduction to Palaeobiology. General Palaeontology. Donovan ed.

Allasinaz A. 1985. Paleontologia generale. Ecig ed.

Allasinaz A. 1991. Paleontologia generale e sistematica degli invertebrati. ECIG.

Allasinaz A. 1999. Invertebrati fossili. Utet.

Fortey R. 2002. Fossils: the key to the past. The Living Past Series. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

Learning will be assessed through an oral exam at the end of the course, according to the scheduled calendar, which will be appropriately published on the study program's website.

The exam will also include the identification of fossils and fossiliferous rocks, as well as the possible completion of simple exercises.

A mid-term exam is scheduled, to be held on a date agreed upon with attending students, within the period specifically defined by the L34 Study Program for the suspension of regular teaching activities.

In the mid-term exam, students will be required to describe and identify at least one fossil (provided by the instructor) and answer a few questions, some of which will be multiple-choice and others brief open-ended questions.

1. What different types of fossils do you know?

2. What are body fossils?

3. What are trace fossils? How are they produced? How are they preserved in the geological record?

4. What is taphonomy? What are its stages?

5. What are biostratinomic processes?

6. What is meant by a fossil deposit? What types do you know?

7. Stratigraphic distribution of species: examples from different eras.

8. What is macroevolution?

9. What is speciation?

10. What does preadaptation consist of?

11. What are mass extinctions? Which ones do you know?

12. What fossils do you know that document key moments in the history of the Mediterranean?