Abstract
The principles of ecology are extended to paleontological records to decipher the paleoecology of fossil assemblages. Ecology and paleoecology are also the basis for paleoenvironmental interpretation. The fundamental approach to paleoecology is uniformitarian in nature. There can, however, be several lines of evidence in paleoecology, including genetics, taphonomy, paleobiogeochemistry and stable isotopes. The various ecologic aspects of oceanic environment are given and the major environmental factors controlling the distribution of organisms are explained in this chapter. It also introduces quantitative methods for expressing species’ richness, diversity and equitability of samples for ecological/paleoecological interpretation. A flow chart explains how microfossil-based “transfer functions” are developed to estimate sea-surface temperatures and sea level changes that have contributed significantly to quantifying paleoclimate.
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Saraswati, P.K., Srinivasan, M.S. (2016). Basic Concepts of Ecology. In: Micropaleontology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14574-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14574-7_5
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