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Paleoecology is the study of extinct organisms or groups of organisms in relation to their environments by means of their fossil records. Through these records we can discover how ancient plants and animals lived, fed, bred, and died. By studying them, we can relate their environments to ours, and try to understand how the world changes with time. Modern paleoecology is a branch of paleontology, the study of fossils. The study of fossils begins with asking four basic questions about fossils: What are fossils? In what time frame did this fossil live? From what organisms did this fossil descend from, and what organisms did it give rise to? Who originally discovered this fossil? Paleoecology begins by asking all of the above questions plus two more: How did the animal originate, and where did it originate? Paleoecology seeks answers to these two most important questions. Thus, paleoecology is the study of the habits and habitats of living organisms from the time they first appeared on earth.
Uniformitarianism is one of the main methods and basis of geological reasoning used by paleoecology. The basis of uniformitarianism is a simple one: study the present environment and its organisms, establish a relationship between them, and then deduce the environment of the past by studying organisms living at that time. We can make educated guesses about ancient environments by studying environments of similar present-day organisms. For example, we know that modern day tropical waters support reef corals within a very restricted range of tolerances, so we can safely assume that ancient reef corals lived under similar conditions in the past, also taking into account the change in lifestyle of reef corals with the passage of time. We can also apply uniformitarianism to the fossil’s organic associates. Organic associates can provide a great deal of information about an organism like its eating habits and the type of weather it thrived in.
While uniformitarianism is a powerful tool in paleoecology, it does not apply when no comparisons are available between ancient organisms and modern-day life forms. This is when we make deductions based upon morphology (shape) of the fossil. In other words, when we come across fossils of extinct organisms like trilobites, we have to examine their shapes to make deductions of their lifestyles and their environments.
Another simple but useful tool to study ancient environments is to observe the orientation of fossils as they are found in rock or soil. We are immediately faced with three questions: Is this the natural position of the organism as it walked in life? Is this the natural position of the organism as it lay on the ground or sea floor upon dying? Is it the position in which the dead body of the organism fell? By studying such orientations, we can find out whether the animal lived under water or on land.
Bibliography:
- V. Ager, Principles of Paleoecology: An Introduction to the Study of How and Where Animals and Plants Lived in the Past (McGraw-Hill, 1963).
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