GEO 108 - The Geobiology of Dinosaurs & Their Relatives

5 Credits

This class presents scientific research describing how we know what we know about dinosaurs and some of their non-dinosaurian relatives. Biologic topics cover a wide range from physiology, behavior, and comparative anatomy to paleoecology, evolution, and extinction. Geologic topics include fossilization processes, geologic time, sedimentology, and paleo-tectonics. By focusing on dinosaurs, students will experience a deeper engagement in the scientific method and learn to apply critical thinking skills, construct and test hypotheses, and come to logical conclusions based on fossil and other types of data.

FeesScience Lab Support Fee

Quarters Typically Offered
Fall Online
Spring Online

Designed to Serve Students needing a science course to meet Natural Science Distribution requirements
Active Date 20240322T08:51:42

Grading Basis Decimal Grade
Class Limit 28
Contact Hours: Lecture 55
Total Contact Hours 55
Degree Distributions:
AA

Natural Science
Science

Course Outline

The nature of science and the field of geobiology/paleontology
- The anatomy of scientific investigation
- What is paleontology, how does it fit into science, and why study it?
Geologic Time
- Formation of Earth, planetary structure and plate tectonics
- Types of rocks, classification and sedimentary environments
- Absolute dating, relative dating and the geologic timescale
Evolution and evolutionary mechanisms
- Tenets of evolution and modes of natural selection
- Changes in populations over time
- Variation and selection as drivers of evolution
- Speciation, micro- and macroevolution
- Gradualism versus punctuated equilibrium
The origin of life and evolution of the biosphere
- Hypotheses and evidence for the origin of life
- Evolution from early multicellular life through end Paleozoic Era
The Mesozoic Era: Age of the Dinosaurs
Systematics and phylogenetic relationships
- Taxonomic classification, key characters and cladistic analyses
- Comparative anatomy with living animals
Classification: What is a dinosaur?
- Diagnosing and defining the group
- Ornithischian dinosaurs
- Saurischian dinosaurs
- Non-dinosaurian relatives: pterosaurs, marine reptiles, mammals
The fossil record and fossilization processes
- Burial laws and the loss of information during preservation
- Death to burial and post-burial changes
- Types of fossils
- Using taphonomic data to fill in some gaps in the record
Ecology of Dinosaurs
- Relationship of dinosaurs to their physical and biological environments
- Functional morphology of dinosaurs
- Direct and indirect evidence for diets
- Behavior, reproduction, physiology and metabolism
Extinctions
- Are dinosaurs really extinct? Relationship to birds
- Causes and different types of extinctions
- Mass extinctions: The Big Five and sixth current?
- End of the Mesozoic and beginning of the Mammal reign in the Cenozoic

Student Learning Outcomes
Apply general knowledge of the three types of rocks and the principles of geologic dating to describe their relationship to the geologic timescale.

Formulate a position on scientific theories, including plate tectonics, evolution, and the origin of life, incorporating credible research.

Communicate logical conclusions on classification, biology, and phylogenetic relationships using observations of taxonomic characters and preservation states of dinosaur fossils.

Explain the reasoning underlying scientific reconstructions of past environments and the behavior, reproduction, physiology, and functional morphology of fossil organisms.

Discuss the validity of dinosaurs as depicted over time in popular culture, applying scientific theories to observations of fossils and their preservation states.

Articulate the relevance of the fossil record and past extinctions to everyday life today using broad-scale biologic and geologic processes as applied to dinosaurs.

Use quantitative information to describe, interpret, and effectively synthesize the student’s own and others’ scientific investigations.