Paleontology Research Paper

Major #1

Research

Study of Paleontology/What is it? p.1

Paleontology is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene Epoch (roughly 11,700 years before the present). It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments. Their identity, their origin, and what they can tell us about life on Earth was like. But to most people (especially kids), it's just the study of dinosaurs in a nutshell.

Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology, but differs from archaeology because that is the study of modern humans. When dealing with evidence about human remands, archaeologists and paleontologists may work together in some cases. An example would be paleontologists might find an animal or plant in an archeological site to find out what the humans that lived there would eat. For historical reasons paleontology is part of the geology departments of many universities because geology departments found their evidence important for estimating the ages of rocks.

Including biochemistry, mathematics, and engineering. With paleontologist using these techniques, they have been able to much more of the history of life, dating all the way back to when Earth was able to produce life, about 3,800 million years ago. Geochemical signatures from rocks can help discover when life first started on Earth. Carbon isotope ratios can help identify climate changes in the area and major transitions on the planet. Techniques in engineering have helped us estimate how an extinct animal would behave, like how fast was the T-rex or how strong was its