1. PALEOECOLOGY
Study of ecology of past life/environs. Not so much about species as about roles.
Why?
Not to demonstrate that “ecology works.”
Better understand extinct organisms.
Better understand how environment/life habit affects evolution.
Examine ecological processes that take long time.
Autecology – ecology of a species
Synecology – ecology of an assemblage of species

2. NICHE Factors that affect organisms:
Food, temperature, oxygen, water, salinity, sunlight, turbidity, predation, competition, living space, mate proximity, turbulence, substrate, etc.
Eltonian NICHE – An N-dimensional hyperspace defined by an organism’s minimal and maximal requirements in all these factors.
Leibig’s Law of Minimum – that resource closest to a species limiting requirement will control its distribution.
Life Habit – how an organism makes a living: sessile vs. vagrant, infauna vs. epifauna, benthic vs planktic vs nektonik, carnivore vs herbivore, autotroph vs heterotroph, suspension feeder vs deposit feeder, warm-blooded vs cold-blooded, etc.
Much emphasis on trophic (food) relationships – obvious synecological significance.

3. COMMUNITIES
Organismal communities are groups of organisms that lived in the same place at the same time, with possible ecological interaction. Only significant if some pattern present is repeated in other places and other times. For example: similar trophic webs, patterns of life habit, etc.
Trophic amensalism – bioturbators vs suspension feeders
Trophic rank abundances – Most abundant species have different life
habits
“Mangroves” – all look alike but are not related
Reef structure – framework, bafflers, binders, debris-producers,
encrusters

5. Trophic webs – based on roles rather than on species.

7. Trophic Tiering

8. SUCCESSION
Progressive change in community composition over ecologic time. Can be driven by differential reproduction, organismal change, physical environmental change, etc.
Classic example – Dunes to Forest
Walker and Laporte – Fossil reef succession
Soft bottom community succession driven by substrate.
Succession may help us understand fossil assemblage formation, impact of key organisms, evolution

9. Reef Succession
Example from Silurian of Michigan basin

10. FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY
Study of how structures on organisms functioned. Requires an intimate knowledge of organism’s life habits and ecology
Archaeocyathids – passive filter-feeders

11. Evolutionary Paleoecology
How does an organism’s ecology interact with its evolution, how do communities change as the component species evolve? Includes the evolution of species diversity.

12. Valentine
Raup
Sepkoski