2000

Palaeontology and the major groups of fossils. Fossils, fossilization and biostratigraphy. Biominerals, morphology, biomechanics and functional morphology. Taphonomy: biostratinomy, diagenesis, completeness and time averaging. Palaeobiology, palaeoecology and palaeoenvironment. Palaeoclimate and palaeobiogeography. Evolution. Evolution, speciation and dispersal. Extinction, mass extinction, phylogeny and cladistics. Cladistics and palaeontological data analysis. Precambrian and early Cambrian life. Invasion of land: plants and animals. Life on land: dinosaurs and the cycle of life. Fossils and economics, summary and overview.

Introduction to fossils. Modes of preservation. Recording data and reconstruction of 3-D morphology. Biominerals and taphonomy. Functional morphololgy. Palaeonenvironmental reconstruction. Reconstructing ancient ecologies. Trace fossils and determination of water depth. Cladistics: data collection. Cladistics: data analysis. Organisms through time: diversification, evolution and extinction. Morphometric analysis. Precambrian life. Plants, wood and ancient ecologies. Stratigraphic palaeontology.