EAE3552 Evolution of life through geological time

This unit investigates and explores the evolutionary patterns of life on planet Earth throughout 3.8 billion years of 'deep time' geologic history from its simple beginnings to advanced, multicellular life in the fossil record. How palaeontology developed as a discipline is presented as an overview of the global impacts of the discipline on science and the major players from its earliest origins in Medieval Europe to much later 19th Century researchers in Australia with associated discoveries of megafauna, dinosaurs, early fish, metazoans, and other major finds, that persist with active research to the present day. Significant milestones in the history of life covered include the early origin of life, metazoan origins in the late Precambrian, Cambrian 'explosion' of organisms with hard parts (both invertebrate and vertebrate), evolution and mass extinctions and their outcomes, biodiversity patterns through time, biologic effects from extraterrestrial impacts, biotic outcomes from volcanism, changing climate and geography (impact of developing aridity on biota, 'Snowball Earth' metazoan origins), the coevolution of plants and animals, the influences of the plant biosphere with the global environment, and the origin of major animal groups (e.g., molluscs, echinoderms, fish, marsupials). Emphasis on strengths/weaknesses of interpretive methods and how complex science can be presented to a wide audience is also explored. Palaeontology has developed from a more descriptive science of documenting ancient organic remains and their affinities to become also a significant applied field in the quest for global economic resources, such as petroleum (oil and gas), coal and even gold (e.g., graptolite fossils used to date rocks in the Lachlan Fold Belt and associated goldfields of Victoria). Furthermore, the fossil record has been shown to have remarkable explanatory power for global and regional environmental and ecological changes across a deep time perspective. As such, lectures and practical's will integrate fossil and many other types of geologic data sets to reinforce how palaeontology endeavours have become 'big picture' science. A field trip to study richly fossiliferous rocks aims to synthesise knowledge of the fossil record gained from the unit in a practical way to arrive at high level interpretations of ancient biotic communities and their geologic and biologic contexts.