19. The Fossil Record and Life's History

Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (EEB 122) The fossil record holds a lot of evolutionary information that can't be seen on shorter time scales, although the more recent fossil record is more complete. Among other things, the fossil record demonstrates that extinctions can open up ecological space for new speciation and radiation, and that life forms tend to begin small and evolve to be bigger over time. 00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction 04:18 - Chapter 2. Cambrian Animal Radiation 14:52 - Chapter 3. Plant Radiation and Vertebrates Coming Ashore 24:39 - Chapter 4. Patterns in Radiation of Life 31:46 - Chapter 5. Vanished Communities of Life 40:21 - Chapter 6. Stasis 46:57 - Chapter 7. Summary This course was recorded in Spring 2009.