PALEONTOLOGY 4: CHANGE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4, DECEMBER 2019 THIS MONTH CHANGE THROUGH TIME • Revisit Cladograms pg. 2 • Climate Change pg. 6 • Mass Extinction pg. 8 Change is the fundamental Colorado, nowhere near oceans, • Comparing Climate and order of the cosmos. This 6,800 feet above sea level. For Extinction Events pg. 11 ancient idea was first proposed example, you can find mosasaur • Complete Precambrian Timeline pg. 12 2,600 years ago by the Greek teeth in Archuleta County! philosopher Heraclitus of Mosasaurs lived during POWER WORDS Ephesus. This holds true for Mesozoic (time of dinosaurs). • cosmos: the universe seen as a paleontology. Earth’s record They are aquatic reptiles (now well-ordered whole • Eon: any of the four major shows massive swings in called diapsids). divisions of this history of the climate from hot-house swamps Major changes recorded in the Earth of the Carboniferous 300 MYA fossil record are mass • fundamental: forming a to a snowball Earth 650 MYA in necessary base or core; of central extinctions. Are they all related the Precambrian Eons. importance to climate? Are there other • MYA: million years ago The fossil record reflects these factors related to mass • Precambrian: a general term that changes. Fossils that lived in extinction? Let’s figure this out! includes the three Eons before multicellular life appeared in the oceans are found all over (Hooray for science!) fossil record—Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic CAREER CONNECTION • You have taken a survey of your interests. This month, take a basic personality test. This will provide you with some information about how you perceive the world and make decisions. Pg. 14 The Cleveland Museum of Natural History Mosasaur: Platecarpus tympaniticus COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION 4-H PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE TO ALL WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION CLADOGRAMS — Revisited 2 Last month’s ST[EMpower] sister—a paternal aunt or POWER WORDS newsletter included a whirlwind uncle) • cladogram: branching tour of cladograms. Before the ₒ Your father’s brother or showing the relation ship activities on climate through sister’s child (your among selected species Earth’s history, I would like to paternal cousin) • lineage: lineal (in a line) revisit cladograms one more • If one of your parents is a descent from an ancestor time. single child, you will not have • maternal: related through any information about an In this activity, you will build a aunt/uncle and cousin. That the mother's side of the cladogram of your family. While is okay. family cladograms generally depict • Once you have completed • node: a point at which lines how different organisms are the data table, fill in the or pathways intersect or related to each other, this might blanks on your cladogram. branch; a central or be a way to better explain how connecting point they work. Results: • paternal: related through the • A cladogram is a branching father’s side of the family Cladograms are samples of diagram of species. The related organisms. This is not a nodes represent a shared complete family tree. Instead, common ancestor. For we are only looking at s snippet example, the orange circles of your family. Just your mother, on the page 3 example your mother’s mother, one of represents my shared your mother’s siblings, and one common ancestor with my of your cousins. brothers (our mother), and my cousin, uncle and mother Directions: (our maternal grandmother). • Complete the data table of a I am related to my cousin, sampling of your mother’s and our common ancestor is history, and then a sampling our maternal grandmother. cladogram on dinosaurs? of your father’s family history. • Look at your cladogram. If (Each node represents You will not collect a you were to add your the shared common complete family history, only maternal grandmother’s ancestor of every a small sample of it. mother (your mother’s organism above that line.) • Sample of your mother’s mother’s mother), where • Crocodiles are the first history would you add her? group listed on the ₒ You and your siblings • In the future, if you or your cladogram. The node ₒ Your mother siblings have children, (circled in blue) shares a ₒ Your mother’s mother where would you add common ancestor with ₒ Your mother’s sibling them? dinosaurs. (either a brother or sister • What can you say about this a maternal aunt or uncle) ₒ Your mother’s brother or sister’s child (your MATERIALS maternal cousin) • computer with printer • Sample of your father’s • pencil or pen history • print page 3 ₒ You and your siblings • parents for information ₒ Your father ₒ Your father’s father ₒ Your father’s sibling (either a brother or CLADOGRAMS — Revisited 3 You and your siblings Your Mother/Father Grandparents Aunts and/or Uncles Cousins Example Mother’s lineage: Dorothy (my mother) Edna (my maternal grandmother) Donald (my maternal uncle) Linda and Donna (my maternal Barb (me), my brothers Ed and cousins, Uncle Don’s daughters) Rich Mother Lineage Father Lineage Brother Ed Brother Rich Me Cousin Linda Cousin Donna Orange circles represents shared common ancestor for Mom Uncle Don everyone one above that circle Grandma Edna Mother’s Lineage My ancestors (great grandmother, great-great grandmother, etc.) on my mother’s mother side Complete your lineage cladogram (keep it simple—you don’t need to list everyone): Your Mother’s Lineage Your Father’s Lineage Can you read this cladogram of dinosaur lineage? CLADOGRAMS — Revisited 4 What happens when you don’t include your uncle or aunt. POWER WORDS include every relative, but skip a • Finally, make a cladogram of generation or more? How does your family with ancestors • generation: all of the people that change the cladogram? you never met, and probably born and living at about the Would the basic information be don’t know even their names. same time different? This starts to look You will follow the lineage on • organism: an individual more like the information your mother’s side of your animal, plant, or single- scientists use in their family with: celled life form cladograms to evaluate how ₒ you animals (or other organisms) ₒ your great-great-great- are related. great grandfather ₒ his great-great-great- This time, you are going to not great grandmother include your grandmother on ₒ her great-great-great- your mother’s side, or your aunt great grandmother or uncle on your father’s side. ₒ her great-great-great- As the example, I used my great grandfather mother’s lineage without my • Figure out how many mother listed. Examine your two generations between you cladograms, and compare it to (listed on the upper right) the example. Then you will and your great-great-great- have a final challenge! great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great- Directions: great-great-great-great-great • Start with your slanted line grandfather from lower left to upper right. • When you have all your Lower left represents back in cladograms, examine each time. Upper right will be the of them. What information is most recent ancestor. lost, and what information is • Think of each node as a retained? Your last hinge that can swivel. If you cladogram is most similar to compare the two examples what scientists use when (on page 3 and on page 5), looking at organism note that “me” is switched on relationships, like dinosaurs the left to the right. It was or ground sloths! swiveled at the node. The • If each of your ancestors information remains the lived an average of 90 years, same. What is your first what century did your great node (your oldest shared (x 16) grandfather live? common ancestor)? (Answer on the last page.) • Each node continues to represent the common ancestor with everyone one MATERIALS above the line directly related • computer with printer and calculator to your share common • pencil or pen ancestor at the node. • print page 5 • How many nodes are there • parents for information between you and your cousin? • Repeat for your father’s line, but this time, you do not CLADOGRAMS — Revisited 5 You and your siblings Your Mother/Father Grandparents Aunts and/or Uncles Cousins Example Mother’s lineage: Edna (my maternal grandmother) Donald (my maternal uncle) Donna (my maternal cousin, Barb (me) Uncle Don’s daughter) Mother Lineage Father Lineage Cousin Donna Me Orange circles represents shared common ancestor for Uncle Don everyone one above that circle Grandma Edna Mother’s Lineage My ancestors (great grandmother, great-great grandmother, etc.) on my mother’s mother side Complete your lineage cladogram (keep it simple—you don’t need to list everyone): Your Mother’s Lineage Your Father’s Lineage Can you read this cladogram of mammal lineage? CLIMATE — Earth’s Climate through Time 6 Scientists are not concerned top and bottom POWER WORDS that climate is changing, but the ₒ custom margins to 0.25” rapid rate of change. Human left and right • e.g.: exempli gratia, Latin activities (e.g. cars using • Open the Scotese website. means “for example” gasoline, coal power plants) are This is the same website you • quadrant: any of the four releasing carbon trapped in explored in the two prior quarters into which trees, coal, and gasoline. issues. Dr. Scotese also has something is divided by Carbon traps solar energy in our climate information, and the two real or imaginary atmosphere. From data we link will take you directly to lines that intersect each glean from the Earth’s history, the climate pages. You will other at right angles this is the most rapid change we copy and paste selected have seen. ** maps (listed below) on your ** If interested in activities timeline.