Admission requirements
This course is intended for MSc Biology students. Exchange students who wish to take this course must have a BSc Biology or equivalent degree.
Description
The biodiversity of extant organisms is a result of millions of years of evolution, documented in the fossil record. In this course an overview of paleobiology, the science studying fossils, and its importance for biology will be given. The origin of life and its evolution will be seen in context of geological processes forming sediments preserving fossils, changes of the environment and the geography on Earth. We will discuss the geological and paleontological history of the Netherlands as an example. Taphonomic processes restricting the fossil record and difficulties interpreting earliest records of life will be discussed. The evolution of organisms in deep time and characteristic fossils will be studied in examples in the classroom, at Naturalis and in the streets of Leiden. Paleobiological techniques will be taught (3D visualization, phylogenies, database analyses, etc.) and applied on science data in group projects. A major emphasis is on invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology with hands-on experience. We will discuss how the fossil record can help us to understand extant biodiversity and biodiversity changes and how the evolution of the Earth and life on Earth are interconnected.
Course objectives
After completion of the course, students are able to:
Provide an overview of the evolutionary history of the Earth and its biodiversity
Understand the principals of paleobiology and the importance for biology
Apply methods of geology, sedimentology and paleobiology research
Analyse and evaluate biodiversity and evolutionary patterns in deep time
Create a report on the macroevolution of invertebrates and vertebrates using palaeobiology data
Schedule
The timetables are available through MyTimetable (see the button in the upper right corner). See Brightspace for a detailed schedule.
Teaching method
Lectures, practicals, museum visit, tour in Leiden and workgroups
Assesment method
The final grade consists of the following partial grades:
Written exam (1/3)
Group presentation (1/3)
Group report (1/3)
The final mark for the course is established by (i) determination of the weighted average of the partial grades combined with (ii) a minimum assessment of 5.5 for each partial grade.
Resit, review & feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest.
Reading list
n.a.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap (button in upper right corner) is mandatory. General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
Coordinator: Dr. M. Rücklin
Email: martin.rucklin@naturalis.nl
Remarks
A maximum of 40 students can follow this course.
Software
De faculteit Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen werkt met het software distributieplatform Academic Software. Via het platform kun je toegang krijgen tot de software die je nodig hebt voor bepaalde vakken in je studie. Voor sommige software moet je laptop aan bepaalde systeemeisen voldoen. Dit staat aangegeven bij de software. Belangrijk is dat je de software installeert voor de start van het vak. Meer informatie over het laptopprofiel vind je op de studentenwebsite.