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S193 - Fossils and the history of life
My main OU course this year is S260 geology, but I've also decided to do a short science course - 'S193 Fossils and the history of life' to give be some background in fossils before they are covered in my geology course. S193 was recommended by several people and looks really interesting. The course material includes two books - the course book and 'The Atlas of the Prehistoric World', a video, cdrom, and collection of fossil casts. There is also a dedicated FirstClass conference, where questions are answered by tutors and study advisors.
Understanding Fossils
Section one of the course book introduces the concept of fossils, their classification and naming conventions, geological time, and evolution and the fossil record. The suggested method of study is to stop where directed in the course book and read certain pages of the Atlas, but I'm finding this a little disjointed and prefer to read larger sections of the Atlas.
I found a useful Geological Time Scale bookmark for the course from Keele University School of Earth Science and Geography.
Types of fossil
Chemical fossils - chemicals that can only have been produced by life processes
Trace fossils - evidence of animal activity
Body fossils - remains of plants or animals
Classifying fossils
"A simple mnemonic for remembering taxonomy/naming/classifying fossils/organisms is People Can't Order Fossilised Giraffe Specimens. This equates with Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species."
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Early life on Earth
The general scientific consensus is that life began between 3.8 - 4 billion years ago. Early life was confined to the sea because of the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere. Stromatolites (photosynthetic bacteria) became abundant in arm shallow seas and started to increase the level of oxygen in the atmosphere. It took over 3.3 billion years before a sudden burst of evolution caused led to the Cambrian explosion and 'visible life'.
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Life in the Palaeozoic
The fossil record shows a huge diversity of animals suddenly appearing around 545 Ma ago. However, this is because their potential for fossilisation became greater as they increased in size, and had shells and teeth that readily fossilized - such as trilobites.
Mass extinctions, probably caused by asteroid or comet impact, volcanic eruptions, or changes in sea level led to whole groups of animals being wiped out, others thrived during the same periods.
Plants also started to evolve, starting with small ones such as Cooksonia. Competition for light caused plants to grow taller and bigger. The end of the Palaeozoic era was marked bit the biggest mass distinction ever, with around 70% of land animals, and 57% of marine families becoming extinct. Plants seemed unaffected.
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Life in the Mesozoic
Life in the Cenozoic
ECA
The end of course assessment (ECA) for S193 Fossils and the history of life, is a computer marked assignment (CMA). The CMA is a set of 26 multi-choice questions, where some of the options are very similar, so it's important to read the question thoroughly. As there is a lot of reading in S193 I've decided to do the questions as I go, rather than at the end. There are two separate cma's one for those who want to finish in April 04, and a second one for those who want to spread the course out until July 04. I've decided to do the first one with a cut-off date of 30 April 04.
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S193
Course description
Useful Bookmark
ROUTES
General Fossil sites
Discovering fossils
UK Fossils
Jurassic coast
Virtual fossil museum
Trilobite guide
Silerian reef
The Palaeontological Association
NHM Dinosaur data
NHM Paleobase
Astrobiology web
Dinodata
Palaeos
Books
