PALEOECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Academic Year 2024/2025 - Teacher: Emanuela DI MARTINOExpected Learning Outcomes
1. Knowledge and understanding:
The student will learn fundamental concepts of paleoecology and develop the ability to observe and describe paleontological content in sedimentary sequences.
2. Applying knowledge and understanding:
The student will be able to apply the acquired knowledge to provide possible interpretations of the observed associations and their sequences (ecobiostratigraphy). They will be capable of reconstructing the main stages of basin evolution over time and space, with particular reference to identifying anomalies related to tectonic/sedimentation interactions. Additionally, they will use organisms and their fossils as indicators of environmental changes and imbalances, even on short time scales, with potential applications in the field of environmental conservation.
3. Making judgements:
The student will gain the ability to use fossils and their associations as archives for reconstructing paleoenvironments, employing interdisciplinary methods (e.g., isotopic analyses) when necessary, and will be encouraged to deepen their knowledge independently.
4. Communication skills:
Through attending classes and continuous interaction with the instructor, the student will learn to use the technical terminology of the discipline and will be able to communicate the acquired knowledge with clarity and precision.
5. Learning skills:
The student will acquire a broad overview and basic understanding of paleoecology and environmental conservation, also through bibliographic resources recommended by the instructor.
Course Structure
Lectures with the aid of PowerPoint presentations and diagrams, as well as possible video clips.
Laboratories involving the examination of fossils and fossiliferous rocks to learn how to recognize fossils and fossil associations of paleoecological interest for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. During the laboratory sessions, methods for data collection, processing, and presentation for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and the interpretation of fossil associations within lithological successions will be taught. Students will also be trained in online scientific research and support for learning.
Possible seminars conducted by other researchers from our university or from other institutions, including international ones, specializing in specific topics.
Field trip at the end of the course.
Upon request from interested students, topics of particular interest may be developed, potentially for thesis work leading to a degree.
To ensure equal opportunities and compliance with current laws, students with disabilities and/or specific learning disabilities (DSA) 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 DSA) coordinator of our Department, Prof. Giorgio De Guidi.
Required Prerequisites
Attendance of Lessons
Attendance is required for both the lecture and laboratory components, totaling at least 70% as stipulated by the educational regulations.
Attendance will be monitored directly by the instructor in the classroom.
Detailed Course Content
Ecology and Paleoecology. Main operational categories. Overview of trophic structures, material flows, and functioning.
Paleoecology in marine environments. Major physiographic and depositional units.
Biotic factors. Abiotic factors, their spatial-temporal variations, and their influence on organisms from different domains, with particular reference to the benthos. Benthic organisms and their relationship with the substrate. Morphological adaptations in relation to the living environment.
Marine benthic bionomy. The zonation of the Benthic Domain: systems, levels, and main biocenoses of interest in geological and environmental conservation contexts. Heterogeneous communities as indicators of tectonic and/or climatic instability.
Changes in benthic biocenoses during fossilization due to dissolution, transport, and accumulation. Reworking, bioturbation, and time averaging. Shell beds.
Types of fossil associations and paleoecological interpretations. Overview of taphonomic and ichnological analysis.
Sampling and study methodologies in the field and in the laboratory.
Interpretation of fossil associations and their succession in sedimentary series, and reconstruction of the evolution of depositional basins with integrated analysis. Recent sedimentary successions as reference archives for environmental conservation.
Textbook Information
Possible alternative texts:
Raffi S., Serpagli E. 1993. Introduzione alla Paleontologia. Utet ed. (relevant sections will be indicated during the course)
Cognetti G., Sarà M., Magazzù G. 1999. Biologia Marina. Calderoni, Bologna.
Margaleff, R. (Ed.) 1985. Key Environments: Western Mediterranean. Pergamon Press (selected chapters)
Kinne O. (Ed.) 1982. Marine Ecology: A Comprehensive, Integrated Treatise on Life in Oceans and Coastal Waters (selected chapters)
Briggs D.E. & Crowther P.R. (Eds.) 2001. Palaeobiology II: A Synthesis. Blackwell Science.
Fortey R. 2002. Fossils: The Key to the Past. The Living Past Series. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paleoecology, ecology and main operational categories. Physiographic and depositional units of the marine environment. Biotic and abiotic factors. Seabed characteristics. | Chapters selected by Cognetti et al., or Raffi and Serpagli and teaching material |
| 2 | Hard and mobile substrates and their colonization by benthic organisms. Temperature: orizontal and vertical variations. Temperature variations over geological time and its consequences at a paleobiogeographical level. | Chapters selected from Cognetti et al. and educational material |
| 3 | Other main environmental factors: Carbon Dioxide; nutrients, limiting bioelements and their distribution in water masses. Influences on the distribution of marine organisms. Penetration of light and influence on the distribution of organisms; benthic zonation. Primary production, seasonality and plankton-benthos coupling. | Chapters selected from Cognetti et al. and/or Margaleff (chapters 4-5) and educational material |
| 4 | Salinity: variations at the surface and in depth. Density and structuring of water masses. Influence in shaping the distribution of organisms. Other main environmental factors: Dissolved oxygen and its variations. | Chapters selected from Cognetti and educational material |
| 5 | The movements of water masses: wave motion, tides and currents. Influence on the spatial and temporal distribution of organisms. Adaptations of organisms and especially of those living in coastal benthic habitats. | Chapters selected from Cognetti et al. and/or Margaleff and educational material |
| 6 | Hard and mobile substrates and their characteristics. Influence in shaping the distribution of benthic organisms. Functional morphology. Relationships between organisms: commensalism; symbiosis, competition; parasitism; predation. Possibility of fossil documentation. | Cognetti et al. and educational material |
| 7 | Benthic bionomy. Zoning of the benthic domain: systems, plans: limits and main characteristics. Sampling and methods to be employed in the field (sea, outcrops) and in the laboratory. | Essentially, educational material provided by the teacher, as well as information from various suggested texts. |
| 8 | Notes on the main marine biocoenoses of the Supralittoral and Mesolittoral zones and their characteristics. Marine biocoenoses of hard and mobile substrates of the infralittoral zone and their characteristics. | Kinne (chapters 8-9), Margaleff (chapter 8) or Cognetti et al. (selected chapters) and teaching material |
| 9 | The marine biocoenoses of hard and mobile substrates of the Circalittoral zone and their characteristics. Spatio-temporal transitions and vicariances in relation to changes in environmental parameters. Examples from the current Mediterranean and from selected successions of Sicily and southern Italy. | Kinne (chapters 8-9), Margaleff (chapter 8) or Cognetti et al. (selected chapters) and teaching material |
| 10 | Zone-independent biocoenoses: Benthic associations influenced by near bottom currents (SGCF) and by high rate sedimentation (Heterogeneous Populations: PE) and their importance in geological studies. | Kinne (chapters 8-9), Margaleff or Cognetti et al. (selected chapters) and teaching material |
| 11 | The preservation of benthic biocoenoses during fossilization. Reworking, bioturbation and time averaging. Paleobiocoenoses, paleocommunities and mixed assemblages: recognition and use in paleoenvironmental interpretations. The distribution of fossils and fossil associations in sedimentary layers. Notes on taphonomic analysis. | Essentially educational material as well as information from various textbooks |
| 12 | Bioconstructions and their meaning. Further carbonate factories. | Essentially educational material as well as information from various textbooks |
| 13 | The use of fossils as archives: other methods (including isotopic ones) for the reconstruction of environmental parameters. | Essentially teaching material as well as news from the various textbooks |
| 14 | Examples of interpretation of sedimentary successions and reconstruction of the evolution of sedimentary basins using paleontological content. Analysis of surface cores from selected environments for the reconstruction of recent environmental variations especially in relation to anthropic activity. Resolution of some practical problems and discussion. | Essentially teaching material as well as news from the various textbooks |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
The assessment will be conducted through an oral exam at the end of the course, according to the schedule posted on the course website.
The exam will also include solving simple exercises, such as interpreting eco-biostratigraphic successions.
An in-progress test may be conducted (to be arranged with the attending students) within the period selected by the LM74-79 study program for the suspension of teaching.
The in-progress test may consist of questions on the topics covered and/or a paleoecological interpretation exercise to be done in class using materials provided by the instructor. The results of this test must be submitted in the form of a brief written report. This test will help students assess their acquired skills in conducting a paleoecological investigation.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
1. The Benthic Domain
2. The Circalittoral Zone
3. The White Coral Biocenosis
4. Current Circulation in the Mediterranean and Its Role in Organism Distribution
5. The Role of Temperature in Water Mass Structuring and Organism Distribution
6. Modes of Preservation of Benthic Associations in the Fossil Record
7. Interpretation of a Fossil Community
8. Succession of Associations in Relation to Increased Sedimentation Rates
9. The Record of Climatic Variations in Quaternary Successions
10. Paleoenvironmental Conservation