Paleobiology

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As paleobiology , sub-areas, methods and concepts within paleontology are summarized that are dedicated to the biological research of extinct organisms - in contrast to applied paleontology , which deals with fossils as a source of information for the investigation of geoscientific issues, e.g. B. for the temporal classification of sedimentary rocks ( biostratigraphy ) and for the characterization of geological formation areas ( biofacies analysis ). In some cases, issues of biofacies analysis, fossilization theory and biostratigraphy are also addressed in the context of paleobiology.

In addition to fossils, the subject of investigation in paleobiology is molecular biological data on organisms living today and recently extinct ("Molecular Paleobiology") as well as comparative organisms living today, whose biology is based on the principle of phylogenetic brackets ("Extant Phylogenetic Bracket") or statements on biology based on conclusions by analogy of extinct organisms ( Actuopalaeontology ).

Analogous to biology, paleobiology can be systematically subdivided into paleozoology and paleobotany (and further). Insofar as they include data on extinct groups and / or seek to make statements about these, many research directions in the biology of living organisms today ("neonatology") can also be part of paleobiology. This applies to comparative anatomy , systematics , phylogenetics , functional morphology , ecology and biogeography as classic fields of paleontological research. Since the 1980s in particular, other areas such as physiology , pathology , skeletal histology , sclerochronology , developmental biology , behavioral biology , biomechanics , molecular biology and biochemistry have often been the subject of paleobiological research.

The Viennese Othenio Abel is considered to be the founder of this research direction .

Extant Phylogenetic Bracket

In order to make hypothetical statements about the soft body anatomy or other characteristics of extinct creatures that cannot be preserved, paleobiologists use the principle of the phylogenetic bracket (Extant Phylogenetic Bracket): characteristics that are found in both the closest and the second closest related group living today occur in an extinct group can - possibly - also be assumed to be given for this extinct group.

   

Group A, recent, has characteristic x


   

Group B, extinct, inferred presence of trait x


   

Group C, recent, has characteristic x




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literature

  • Derek EG Briggs, Peter R. Crowther: Palaeobiology - a synthesis. Blackwell, Oxford, 1990, 583 pp., ISBN 0632033118 .
  • Arno H. Müller: Textbook of paleozoology. Vol. 1. General principles. 5th edition Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1992, 514 pp., ISBN 3334603784 .
  • Kevin J. Peterson, Roger E. Summons, Philip CJ Donoghue: Molecular Palaeobiology. Palaeontology 50 (4), 2007, pp. 775-809.
  • Laurence M. Witmer: The Extant Phylogenetic Bracket and the importance of reconstructing soft tissues in fossils. In: Jeff J. Thomason (ed.), Functional morphology in vertebrate paleontology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995, pp. 19-33, ISBN 0521629217 .