macrofossil

The origins of the term macrofossil dates back to 1937 and was first used by G. D. Hanna, a US paleontologist and malacologist.{{Cite web |date=2000 |title=Macrofossil Noun |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/macrofossil_n?tl=true#:~:text=Where%20does%20the%20noun%20macrofossil%20come%20from%3F&text=The%20earliest%20known%20use%20of,Hanna |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=Oxford English Dictionary}}{{Cite web |title=Shellers from the Past and Present |url=https://www.conchology.be/?t=9001&id=20208 |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=Chonchology}}

Macrofossils have been subject to analysis since ancient times. Several Greek philosophers used fossilized shellfish to theorize the land was once covered by oceans.{{Cite book |last=Desmond |first=Adrian |title=The Discovery of Marine Transgressions and the Explanation of Fossils in Antiquity |date=1975 |publisher=American Journal of Science, Volume 275 |pages=692–697}} Macrofossils of body parts have been used to reconstruct extinct animals and provide basis for evolutionary lineages. Georges Cuvier, a naturalist, zoologist and the founding father of paleontology, along with other natural thinkers during the Age of Reason presented fossils as integral evidence in the changing views of natural philosophy at the time from the application of new mathematics and other emerging branches of science.{{Cite book |last=Garwood |first=Russel J |title=Life as a paleontologist: Paleontology for dummies, Part 2 |date=2012 |publisher=Cornell University}} This brought about the acceptance of paleontology as a true scientific discipline. This also greatly affected the development of geology and stratigraphy as new schools of science. This led to other scientific thinkers like Charles Darwin, a naturalist, biologist and geologist, to begin using macrofossils of evidence in a new scientific discipline called evolutionary biology.

Plant macrofossils include leaf, needle, cone, and stem debris; and can be used to identify types of plants formerly growing in the area. Such botanical macrofossil data provide a valuable complement to pollen and faunal data that can be used to reconstruct the prehistoric terrestrial environment. Algal macrofossils (for instance, brown kelp, sea lettuce and large stromatolites) are increasingly used to analyze prehistoric marine and aquatic ecosystems. The study of these fossils is called paleobotany.{{Cite web |title=Paleoecology |url=https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/paleoecology/ |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=Digital Atlas of Ancient Life |language=en-US}} Plant macrofossils are increasingly being used along with pollen microfossils to reconstruct past climates.{{Cite web |last=Birks |first=H H |title=Macrofossil |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/macrofossil |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=Science Direct}}

Vertebrate macrofossils include the teeth, skulls, and bones. Vertebrate macrofossils are used to reconstruct extinct animals, determine their behaviors and how they evolved. Well preserved body fossils are of particular use in helping to reassemble extinct animal body structures.{{Cite web |title=Fossils in Arkansas |url=https://www.geology.arkansas.gov/geology/fossils.html#:~:text=In%20some%20rocks%20only%20the,seen%20with%20the%20naked%20eye. |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=www.geology.arkansas.gov}}

Invertebrate macrofossils include remains such as shells, tests, faunal armor, and exoskeletons. The bodies of small and soft bodied invertebrates rarely fossilize. Meanwhile, large and hard bodied invertebrates more commonly fossilize. The study of these fossils is a subdivision of paleontology called invertebrate paleontology.

Fungi macrofossils include fungal bodies and filaments. Most fungi fossils are found in amber.{{Cite web |title=Paleomycology: Discovering the fungal contemporaries of dinosaurs :Cornell Mushroom Blog |url=https://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/2009/05/13/paleomycology-discovering-the-fungal-contemporaries-of-dinosaurs/ |access-date=2024-03-25}} Fungi fossils are under-researched compared to animal and plant fossils. Macrofossils of fungi are rarer and are more commonly found as microfossils.{{Cite web |title=Fossil Record of the Fungi |url=https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungifr.html |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=ucmp.berkeley.edu}} The study of these fossils is called paleomycology.

Trace macrofossils are fossilized evidence of animal behavior. These may include tracks, burrows and dung (coprolites).{{Cite journal |last1=Blong |first1=John C. |last2=Whelton |first2=Helen L. |last3=van Asperen |first3=Eline N. |last4=Bull |first4=Ian D. |last5=Shillito |first5=Lisa-Marie |date=2023 |title=Sequential biomolecular, macrofossil, and microfossil extraction from coprolites for reconstructing past behavior and environments |journal=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |volume=11 |doi=10.3389/fevo.2023.1131294 |doi-access=free |issn=2296-701X}} Trace fossils are the primary type of fossils used by paleontologist to reconstruct extinct animal behaviors. The study of these fossils is called Ichnology.{{Cite book |last=Seilacher |first=D |title=Bathymetry of trace fossils |date= |publisher=Marine Geology}}

Chemo-fossils are the fossilized chemical remains of an organism. For example coal is the fossilized chemical remains of extinct plant matter.{{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=T M |title=Hadean Earth |publisher=Cham Springer}}

Petrified Araucaria cone from patagonia-Edit3.jpg|Jurassic Petrified cone of Araucaria sp. from Patagonia, Argentina.

Cockerellites liops 18" layer img2.jpg|Eocene fossil fish Priscacara liops from the Green River Formation of Utah.

RudistCretaceousUAE.jpg|Rudist bivalves from the Cretaceous of the Omani Mountains, United Arab Emirates. Scale bar is 10 mm.

Palaeopascichnus_CU21.png|The enigmatic Ediacaran lifeform known as Palaeopascichnus is known as a Macrofossil.

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Category:Fossils