Is to discover the nature and implications of fossils of animal and plant life that existed in remote geological times (from 600 million years ago to 2 million years ago).

What can we learn about the development of plant and animal life by studying the fossil remains of animal and plant life from 600 million years ago to 2 million years ago? What is the life cycle, distribution, and evolutionary history of this or that particular plant or animal species?

are of and from the actual remains of living organisms preserved and protected from decay by enclosure in the crust of the earth through fossilization (ancient plants and animals embedded in mineral deposits). Paleontologists rely on basic information from geology and biology in conducting their investigations.

are made regarding the ancient evolution of plant and life forms. It is in general inferred that life in the sea evolved from primitive multicellular free-floating forms to advanced groups capable of life on land (from fossil remains in rock strata of the Paleozoic era) and that each group of animals begins with simple types, that gradually more complex and specialized forms appear, and that frequently decadence sets in with great suddenness, resulting in extinction or the reduction of the group to relative unimportance.

ancient life form, paleozoic life forms, plant, animal, fossil, petrification, organic material, inorganic material, natural mold, carbon print, sedimentary deposit, geological deposit, fossil animal droppings, Cambrian period (600 million years ago), vertebrates, primitive forms of crustacean, mollusks, Ordovician period (500 million years ago), graptolites, colonial coelenterates, primitive fish, flora, fauna, Silurian period
(430 million years ago), fish, scorpion, vacular plants, corals, Devonian period (395 million years ago) amphibians, Carboniferous period (345 million years ago) lizards and sharks, Permian period (280 million years ago) early reptiles, Mesozoic life, age of reptiles (begins 225 million years ago) Triassic period (225 millionyears ago) dinosaurs, Jurassic period (195 million years ago) dinosaurs, Cretaceous period (136 million years ago) horned dinosaurs, Cenozoic life, age of mammals (begins 65 million years ago), Eocene epoch (54 million years ago), Oligocene epoch (38 million years ago), Miocene epoch (26 million years ago), and Pleistocene epoch (12 million years ago).

That plant and life forms originated on earth, that this evolution took place over some 600 million years; that paleontology can be understood through studying fossil remains from distinctive periods of time in that 600 million years; that paleontology gives a true but incomplete record of the development of existing life forms; and that throughout geological time successive plants and animals have tended to become more complex.

The huge growth in knowledge and understanding of the evolution of the plant and animal world as a result of advances in Paleontology carries with it important implications for understanding the basis for human evolution. Paleontology has also made a significant contribution to our understanding of ecosystems and their fragility. Certain fossils are so characteristic of the different periods, epochs, or formations of rocks that they serve as index fossils enabling the geologist to fix the geological age of the rocks from which they come.

Paleontologists see the development of plants and animals occurring over millions of years and the study of this evolutionary process as an ongoing, dynamic process.