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Random Models in Paleobiology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

Philip W. Signor
Philip W. Signor*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
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Extract

The fossil record is replete with patterns. Nearly two centuries of intensive paleontological research has produced a vast number of apparent patterns: stratigraphic and temporal distributions of taxa, paleogeographic distributions, paleoecological relationships, patterns of co-occurrence, morphology and morphological variation, and so forth. Many of these patterns reflect the interplay of important intrinsic processes operating within the biosphere and extrinsic influences acting from without. Others, however, follow from the ordinary processes of everyday life and require no special explanation. How, then, are inquiring paleontologists to separate meaningful patterns from the meaningless? For the most part, the selection of patterns appropriate for further study and explication has remained a matter of subjective judgment.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Short Courses in Paleontology , Volume 4: Analytical Paleobiology , 1991, pp. 123 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 Paleontological Society 

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