Paleoecology (from other Greek παλαιος (old) + οἶκος (dwelling, house) + λογία (teaching, science) ) is a section of paleontology that studies the conditions and environment , life and relationships of organisms of the geological past, as well as their changes in the process historical development [1] .
Content
The Founders of Paleoecology
The beginning of paleoecology as a science was largely laid by the work of the American paleontologist J. G. Simpson - Tempo and Mode in Evolution , which was also included in the so-called synthetic theory of evolution [2] [3] . The studies of the Belgian paleontologist L. Dollo , who called them ethological and paleontological, and the Austrian scientist O. Abel , who proposed the term "paleobiology", which only later was replaced by the term "Paleoecology" [1], played a significant role.
Among Russian scientists who have contributed to the development of paleoecology, there are such as paleontologist V.O. Kovalevsky , who showed examples of evolutionary and paleoecological analysis of extinct terrestrial vertebrates, geologist N.I. Andrusov , who studied fossils of marine and brackish-water invertebrates. A noticeable contribution was made by Russian geologists and paleontologists A. P. Karpinsky and N. N. Yakovlev [1] .
General information
The bulk of paleoecological research concerns the last two and a half million years, that is, the Quaternary . The Holocene and Pleistocene epochs dominate. This is explained by the fact that older information is presented in the paleontological chronology of evolution much worse [4] .
As a starting point, paleoecological studies use actualism - a methodological approach assuming that the same environmental laws acted in different geological periods. That is, the ecology of fossil organisms can be studied on the basis of accumulated data on related or similar modern species [5] .
The goal of paleoecology is to build a detailed model of the living conditions of ancient organisms that are presently in a fossil state. Reconstruction is carried out taking into account the complex interaction between environmental factors - the temperature of the atmosphere, the nutrient medium, the degree of sunlight, etc. Usually, most of this information is lost or distorted during petrification and diagenesis of the host sediments. However, it can in principle be reconstructed by statistical analysis of available data.
As part of paleontology, paleoecology in the course of research, restores the living conditions of fossil organisms and their lifestyle, which provides other related sections with valuable information. For example, in geology, this helps to correlate deposits of various facies and reconstructs the paleographic conditions for sedimentation and the formation of a number of minerals. In biology, the relationship of taxonomy with ecological diversity turned out to be interesting, that is, the relationship of the diversity of organisms and the niches that they occupy [6] .
In paleoecology, there are three subsections. This is [5] :
- Paleoautecology - studying the ecology of individual organisms of the geological past.
- Paleodemecology - dealing with populations of past geological eras by the method of paleoecological analysis.
- Paleosynecology is a study of biocenoses and biotopes of the past based on an analysis of oryctocenoses, that is, a collection of fossilized remains of fossil organisms in one location, and lithology of the host rocks.
- Paleodemecology - dealing with populations of past geological eras by the method of paleoecological analysis.
The international peer-reviewed scientific press reporting on paleoecology is the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology , published since 1965 by the Elsevier Publishing House.
Research Methods
Paleoecological studies are based on morphological and functional analysis, that is, a study of the structure of the skeletal remains of ancient organisms. At the same time, it is possible to partially restore both their lifestyle and their living conditions. A significant simplification of the problem occurs with the most complete study of all organisms belonging to a specific area using geological data [5] .
For this reason, the object of the study of paleoecology is the remains of organisms (for example, shells, teeth, seeds, etc.), questions of paleo-technology and other manifestations of vital activity ( molting , etc.), questions of taphonomy , and also the geological features of the rocks surrounding fossils. The composition of the rocks, their structure, texture and geochemical characteristics can restore many features of the living conditions of ancient organisms and death [5] .
The consequence of this state of affairs is the advisability of simultaneously conducting both paleoecological and lithological studies. This approach allows, for example, a comparative environmental analysis of the complete complexes of benthic organisms in space and time, with the identification of patterns of their distribution within entire sea basins. Of particular importance is the analysis in the study of Paleozoic and more ancient organisms, when the actualistic method is used with great limitations [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Gekker R.F., Osipova A.I. Paleoecology // Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978.
- ↑ Simpson GG Tempo and Mode in Evolution. New York: Columbia Univ. Press 1944.
- ↑ Fitch WM and Ayala FJ Tempo and Mode in Evolution: Genetics and Paleontology 50 Years After Simpson. New York: National Academies Press. 1995.
- ↑ Charles DF, Whitehead DR, Engstrom DR Paleoliminological evidence for recent acidification of Big Moose Lake, Adirondack Mountains, New-York (USA). 1987. Biogeochemistry, 3, 267-296, doi = 10.1007 / BF02185196.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 General paleoecology: Textbook / Ed. G. N. Kiseleva, A. V. Popova. —SPb .: St. Petersburg Publishing House. University, 2000.132 s. ISBN 5-288-02175-9
- ↑ Sahney S., Benton MJ and Ferry PA . Links between global taxonomic diversity, ecological diversity and the expansion of vertebrates on land // Biology Letters : journal. - Royal Society Publishing , 2010. - Vol. 6 , no. 4 . - P. 544-547 . - DOI : 10.1098 / rsbl.2009.1024 . - PMID 20106856 .
Literature
- Hecker R.F. Introduction to paleoecology, M., 1957., 128 pp., 5000 copies.
- Ivanova E. A. About the ways of development of paleoecology in the USSR, "Paleontological Journal", 1959, No. 2.
- Yakovlev N. N. Organism and the environment. Articles on the paleontology of invertebrates. 1913-1960, 2nd ed., M. - L., 1964., 148 p.
- Schäfer W. Aktuo-Paläontologienach Studien in der Nordsee, Fr./M., 1962.
- Ager DV Principles of paleoecology, NY, 1963.