B.ED. SCIENCE WITH SPECIALISATION IN BIOLOGY
Table of Contents
The Burgess Shale Fauna 3
Introduction 3
History of Discovery 3
Preservation Bias 4
Major Fossils 4
Concluding remarks: 7
References: 8
The Burgess Shale Fauna
Introduction
The Burgess Shale Fauna is a fauna that was constructed based on a group of fossils that were initially found, in the Burgess Shale area in the Canadian Rockies (Gould, 1989). They are a very important group of fossils as “modern multicellular animals make their first unprotected appearance in the fossil record some 570 million years ago” through this group (Gould, 1989, pp. 24). Moreover the Burgess Shales are known to have preserved the soft parts of animals enabling us to get a better understanding of life at the time.
History of Discovery
“For decades ‘Burgess-Shale life’ was synonymous with ‘Cambrian life’” (Collins, 2009). This is since Cambrian life was only known from this place. According to Collins (2009) the first descriptions of Burgess Fauna were made by Joseph Whiteaves, a chief paleontologist who made the initial descriptions of Burgess Shale trilobites and unusual specimens which he called Anomalocaris (Collins, 2009). In 1907 Charles Dolittle Walcott, who is known to have discovered the Burgess Shale fauna visited the Canadian Rockies for the first time. His interest in fossils arose from a paper written by Henry Woodward where the author claimed that Cambrian fossils were probably found on Mount Field (in the Canadian Rockies) (Collins 2009). This led Walcott and his family to go to the place.
An incident with his wife’s horse led Walcott to make his first discovery of a common Burgess Shale fossil known as Marella. At the time he did not realise the ...
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.... (2011). A New Arthropod Jugatacaris agilis n. gen. n. sp. from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Biota, South China. Journal of Paleonotology, 85(3), 567-586. doi:10.1666/09-173.1
Gould, S. J. (1989). Wonderful life: The burgess shale and the nature of history. New York, USA: W.W Norton& Company Inc.
Han, J., Zhang, Z. F., & Liu, J. N. (2008). A preliminary note on the dispersal of the Cambrian Burgess Shale-type faunas. Gondwana Research, (1), 269-276. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2007.09.001
Morris, S. C. (2009). Walcott, the Burgess Shale and rumours of a post-Darwinian world. Department of Earth Sciences University of Cambridge, 19(20). Retrieved from DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.08.046
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (2014). Burgess Shale Fossil Specimens. Retrieved May 2014, from http://paleobiology.si.edu/burgess/burgessSpecimens.html
Van Staal, C.R., Whalen, J.B., Valverde-Vaquero, P., Zagorevski, A., and Rogers, N. (2009) Pre-Carboniferous, Episodic Accretion-Related, Orogenesis along the Laurentian Margin of the Northern Appalachians. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, vol. 327, p. 271-316.
Recently in an article from Elasmo.com, recognition for Mike Everhart’s discoveries has been noticed. Paleontologists and Archeologists in Western Kansas “have been finding sources of some of the best Cretaceous marine fossils that have ever been found anywhere in the world.” (Everhart, #1). These fossils, though interesting and vast, have pointed a lot of questions to how and when Kansas was under sea level. From my research, I have found that the only explanations to these issues and debates are the discoveries found consisting of both the archaic sharks and plesiosaurs.
"Sedimentary Rocks." Backyard Nature with Jim Conrad. N.p., 18 May 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
It explained that changes that happened in the past, were happening in the present, and will happen in the future. Lyell’s book was later published in three volumes from 1830-1833. After the publication, it gave him credentials as an important geological theorist. His book later influenced a young Charles Darwin. Lyell’s influential book led Darwin to follow his principles, and they later became friends.
Thomas, David Hurst. "American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA thomasd@ amnh. Org For the past eight years, the phrase ‘Kennewick Man’has been close to the lips of most American archaeologists and." (2004). Web. http://www4.waspress.co.uk/journals/beforefarming/journal_20042/news/20042_08.pdf
Pianka, E. and Hodges, W. 1995. Horned Lizards. University of Texas. Web. Accessed at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~varanus/phryno.html
The Cambrian explosion is challenging for biologists to interpret because it poses a problem that it seems to be inconsistent with the understood gradual pace of evolutionary change. Even though there is this major difference from this occurrence compared to the ‘normal’ evolutionary model, it doesn’t mean it cannot happen. There has been o...
Snelling, D. (1999). Dating Dilemma: Fossil Wood in “Ancient” Sandstone. [online] Answers in Genesis. Available at: https://answersingenesis.org/fossils/dating-dilemma-fossil-wood-in-ancient-sandstone/ [Accessed 7 Aug.
Krajick, Kevin. "Tracking Myth to Geological Reality." American Association for the Advancement of Science. 310.5749 (2005): 762. Print. .
They ruled the world before the time of the dinosaurs, from the Cambrian Period to the
The debate of whether dinosaurs were cold blooded or warm blooded has been ongoing since the beginning of the century. At the turn of the century scientists believed that dinosaurs had long limbs and were fairly slim, supporting the idea of a cold blooded reptile. Recently, however, the bone structure, number or predators to prey, and limb position have suggested a warm blooded species. In addition, the recent discovery of a fossilized dinosaur heart has supported the idea that dinosaurs were a warm blooded species. In this essay, I am going to give supporting evidence of dinosaurs being both warm and cold blooded. I will provide background information on the dinosaur that was discovered and what information it provides scientists.
...nder, C., Tsai, C., Wu, P., Speer, B. R., Rieboldt, S., & Smith, D. (1998/1999/2002). The permian period. Informally published manuscript, Biology 1B project for Section 115, University of California Museum of Paleontology, CA, Retrieved from http://www.ucmp.berkely.edu/permian/permian.php
On every continent we find fossils of sea creatures in rock layers that today are high above sea level. For example, most of the rock layers in the walls of the Grand Canyon contain marine fossils. This includes the Kaibab Limestone at the top of the strata sequence and exposed at the rim of the canyon, which today is 7,000–8,000 feet above sea level.2 This limestone was therefore deposited beneath lime sediment-charged ocean waters, which swept over northern Arizona (and beyond). Other rock layers of the Grand Canyon also contain large numbers of marine fossils. The best example is the Redwall Limestone, which commonly contains fossil brachiopods (a type of clam), corals, bryozoans (lace corals), crinoids (sea-lilies), bivalves (other types
There are several theories about how the Cambrian Explosion started. There were major changes in marine environments and chemistry from the late Precambrian into the Cambrian, and these also may have impacted the rise of mineralized skeletons among previously soft-bodied organisms. One theory as to what happened is that oxygen in the atmosphere, with the contribution of photosy...
Salisbury says that these fossils could represent evidence of a unique group of sauropods (Huge Dinosaur 2001). It was thought that these remains belonged to a group that was spread throughout Gondwana, however now it could be a unique set of sauropods centered in Australia. Elliot belongs to a group of sauropods that were long-necked herbivores, and could grow up to 21 meters in length. These dinosaurs had small heads and legs that could be the size of tree trunks (Huge Dinosaur 2001).