PALEONTOLOGIA

The main skills learned by the student in the course of Paleontology concern the physical and chemical processes that led to the origin of the fossils, the use of fossil in paleoenvironmental and stratigraphical analyses.

The knowledge attained in the course will allow the student to choose and apply the most appropriate paleontological methodologies for the observation and analysis of geological processes and in the study and interpretation of the sedimentary succession. It will also evaluate the role and importance of the fossil record in the physical and biological evolution on Earth and as environmental and cultural heritage.

In the Laboratory of Palaeontology, the student learns the basic systematic knowledge of the most common organisms of the fossil record, mainly represented by protists, invertebrates and vertebrates.

The knowledge attained allow the student to recognize in laboratory and in the field the most common systematic groups of the fossil record, to assess their chronological value and paleoecological meaning.

Frontal lessons and laboratory activities.

At least one field-trip is planned, at the end of the course.

At least a couple of seminars on paleontological topics of particular interest held by Italian or foreign specialists.

Ongoing tests during the course: optional.

Final examination.

Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

Brief History of Palaeontology. What is Palaeontology: different branches and applications. Concept of fossil.

Elements of biological classification, concepts of systematics, taxonomy and nomenclature, the species problem in paleontology and intraspecific variability. Fundamentals of systematic palaeontology, stratigraphic distribution and palaeoecological meaning of the following taxa: Monera (cianobacteria). Protista (diatoms, radiolarians, foraminifers, coccolithophorids). Planta (corallinaceaous algae). Animalia (Invertebrates: sponges, cnidarians, molluscs, brachiopods, echinoderms, arthropods; Vertebrates: agnates, placoderms, cartilaginous fishes, bonefishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals).

Incompleteness of the paleontological record, composition of the skeletons in living organisms. Taphonomic processes: biostratinomy (death, pre-diagenetic dissolution, disarticulation and transport of skeletal, erosion and fragmentation, encrustation) and diagenesis (fossilization of organic matter and mineralized parts, carbonification and carbonization; mineralization and replacement, impregnation, mould and cast, deformation). Classification of fossil deposits and examples.

Classification of fossil traces and their use in paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

Marine palaeoecology, mode of life and trophic classification of marine organisms, environmental limiting factors, morphofunctional analysis.

Fossils and evolution. Evolutionary theories. filetic speciation and speciation sensu stricto, punctuated equilibria, adaptive convergence, living fossils, extinctions, adaptive radiations, major events in the evolution of life on Earth.

Index fossils and biostratigraphic correlation, resolutive power of biozones. Chronostratigraphic and geochronological scale.

Laboratory: recognition of systematical and taphonomical signature, and elementary aspects of palaeoecology.

Materials used during lessons is made available to student.
Textbooks useful for the study:

AA. VARI 2020. Manuale di Paleontologia. Fondamenti-Applicazioni. Idelson Gnocchi Ed. a cura della Società Paleontologica Italiana.

ALLASINAZ A. 1999. Invertebrati fossili. Utet.

RAFFI S. & SERPAGLI E. 1993. Introduzione alla Paleontologia. Utet ed.

DOYLE P. 1996. Understanding fossils. An introduction to invertebrate paleontology. Wiley & sons

ZIEGLER B. 1983. Introduction to Palaeobiology. General Palaeontology. Donovan ed

BRIGGS D.E.G. &CROWTER P.R. 1990. Palaeobiology: a synthesis. Blackwell Scientific Publications

DOMENEC R. & MARTINELL J. 1996. Introducion a los fosiles (plantas, invertebrata, vertebrata) 288 pp. Masson, S.A..