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How can fossils give information about past environmental conditions?
Fossils that provide indirect (proxy) information on past environmental conditions are called paleo-indicators. The presence of fossils representative of these organisms can tell us a great deal about the environments of the past; what the climate was like, and what sorts of plants and animals inhabited the landscape.
What fossils provide information?
Fossils give us a useful insight into the history of life on Earth. They can teach us where life and humans came from, show us how the Earth and our environment have changed through geological time, and how continents, now widely separated, were once connected.
What type of fossils provide evidence of the activities of ancient organisms?
Trace fossils provide evidence of the activities of ancient organisms. Fossil footprints, trails, and burrows are examples of trace fossils.
What information do fossils provide to paleontologists?
Paleontologists use fossil remains to understand different aspects of extinct and living organisms. Individual fossils may contain information about an organism’s life and environment. Much like the rings of a tree, for example, each ring on the surface of an oyster shell denotes one year of its life.
Why are fossils important to us today?
Fossils give us information about how animals and plants lived in the past. Once people began to recognise that some fossils looked like living animals and plants, they gradually began to understand what they were. They realised they were actually the ancestors of today’s plants and animals.
How do fossils provide evidence of past ecosystems?
fossils provide clues about both abiotic and biotic factors of past ecosystems. fossils provide evidence about the changes in climate and temperature of past ecosystems. fossils can give us clues about how organisms interacted with one another.
What can we learn from the fossil record?
Again, by looking at the fossils, we can find the answers to these questions. A new predator would have its fossils mixed in with the same remains, while a change in water could result in a decreased amount of plant remains at the same level. The presence of disease would result in smaller, weaker animals.
How do paleontologists recover fossils from the pits?
When paleontologists recover fossils from the pits, they often find animals that were very obviously trying to escape the tar. In fact, they often find predators and prey locked together in a fight not only with each other but also with the tar.