Recognizing Fossils and Ferns

Recognizing Fossils: Why can recognizing fossils be difficult?

Some fossils do not closely resemble modern organisms and some inorganic structures appear organic

Recognizing Fossils: Why do many fossils resemble living organisms?

Modern organisms descended from fossil ancestors and retain ancestral features

Recognizing Fossils: What happens to resemblance as fossils get older?

The farther back in time, the less fossils resemble modern descendants

Recognizing Fossils: Why do some fossils have no modern equivalent?

Some fossil groups became completely extinct and left no descendants

Recognizing Fossils: What can complicate fossil identification?

Inorganic structures can sometimes look organic

Ferns: What are ferns?

Primitive plants without flowers or true seeds

Ferns: Why are ferns important in the fossil record?

They are among the earliest land plants in Earth's history

Ferns: What role did ancient ferns play in ecosystems?

They were dominant plants and many grew tall like trees

Ferns: How are modern ferns different from ancient ferns?

Modern ferns are small understory plants rather than dominant tree-like plants

Ferns: What replaced ferns as dominant terrestrial plants?

Flowering plants