ESC3232

Vertebrate life on planet Earth ( 6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Professor Pat Vickers-Rich

Offered:
Clayton Second semester 2005 (Day)

Synopsis: This unit deals with major evolutionary patterns of vertebrate animals, emphasising Australia, for the past 500 million years. Special interest topics include the origin of the major groups (e.g. birds, marsupials and humans), major extinction events and their causes (e.g. extinction of the dinosaurs, extinction of the Australian megafauna), vertebrate evidence for climatic change, especially for the development of aridity on the Australian continent. Emphasis will be placed on the philosophy behind such interpretive methods as well as the biases and the limitations of the data available in Australia relative to the rest of the world.

Objectives: On completion of this unit students should know: some detail of the course of life on Earth from 3.8 billion years to present; the effect that tectonic plate movement and the waxing and waning of continents and ocean basins have had on the biosphere, climate and environments through time; the background to the formation of the modern biosphere of Australasia; that modern environments and climate in Australia are very atypical, and how this has impact on the future predictions of climatic and environmental change; how the fossil record can be used in the dating of rock sequences; how the biosphere interacts significantly with the physical environment; the history of research in palaeontology on the Australian continent; how to present a research paper at a scientific meeting, how to write a paper for a scientific journal, how to interpret scientific research to a public audience and deal with the media.

Assessment: Essay (2000 words): 20% + Examination (2 hour): 30% + Seminar: 20% + Laboratory work plus field report: 30%

Contact Hours: Two 1-hour lectures and one 4-hour practical per week, and one 1 or 2-day field excursion

Prohibitions: ESC2032