Chapter 1-7: Introduction to Paleontology and History of the Field

Flashcards covering key vocabulary from the lecture on the introduction to paleontology, scientific communication, and the early history of the field, including important figures and concepts.

Plachinosaurus canii

A newly identified eusauropod (long-necked dinosaur) discussed at the start of the lecture.

Eusauropod

A more derived sauropod, meaning it has more specialized features.

Communicating Science

The essential final step in the scientific process, where findings are shared with others, including the public.

Wicked Problems

Complex real-world issues (economic, political, environmental) that require public engagement and knowledgeable solutions.

Pseudoscience

Information presented as scientific but lacking empirical data or scientific rigor, often seen in popular media.

Land-grant institution

An institution, like Virginia Tech, with a duty to provide education and information to the public, as part of its mission statement 'ut prosim'.

Publication

The main way scientists share new findings, typically by publishing in a scientific journal.

Peer Review

A process where other scientists in the field evaluate a scientific paper to determine if the research was conducted properly and is worthy of publication.

Repeatability

The ability for other scientists to replicate an experiment or observation and obtain similar results, supporting the original findings.

Falsifiability

A key aspect of science where hypotheses are presented in a way that allows them to be disproven by evidence.

Negative Result

A research outcome that does not support the initial hypothesis, which is still a valuable part of scientific progress.

Paleontology

The study of past life as preserved in the geological record, encompassing both bony and other forms of life.

Historical Sciences

Sciences, like paleontology, that study events and phenomena that have already happened, acting like 'detective work'.

Open Access

A publication model where scientific papers are freely available online without paywalls, often requiring a fee from the scientists to enable this.

Fossil

The remains or evidence of past life preserved in rock formations.

Worldview

An individual's or culture's philosophy or viewpoint on how things could be, influencing the understanding and handling of fossils.

Leonardo da Vinci

One of the first people to recognize that fossils were evidence of ancient life, noting them in his notebooks.

Nicholas Steno

A Dutch scientist from the 1600s who studied rocks and fossils, recognizing triangular fossils as shark teeth and proposing laws of rock deposition.

Steno's Laws

Principles stating that rocks are deposited horizontally, with older layers at the bottom and younger layers at the top, and can be traced continuously across landscapes.

Comparative Anatomy

The field of studying similarities and differences among animal structures to understand relationships and identify unknown specimens.

Georges Cuvier

Known as the 'Father of Comparative Anatomy' and 'Father of Vertebrate Paleontology', a French aristocrat who linked fossils to living animals and proposed the idea of 'vanished worlds'.

Mary Anning

An early woman paleontologist from Lyme Regis, England, famous for collecting and identifying marine reptile fossils like Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, and the first Pterosaur.

Dodo

An extinct bird (by 1681) whose disappearance helped illustrate the concept of extinction during the early modern understanding of fossils.

Passenger Pigeon

A North American bird that went extinct more recently (Martha was the last known) demonstrating that extinction is an ongoing process.

Revolutions of Nature

Georges Cuvier's idea proposing that Earth's history involved 'vanished worlds' with recurring extinctions and appearances of new life forms, contrasting with uniformitarianism.