The significance of fossils in evolutionary research

The significance of fossils in evolutionary research

150 years after Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Jes Rust, Steinmann Institute, Division of Palaeontology University of Bonn

(in englischer Sprache).

“The crust of the earth is a vast museum; but the natural collections have been imperfectly made, and only at long intervals of time” - with these words Charles Darwin summarised his impression of the incompleteness of the fossil record in his book: “On the Origin of Species”. In his days many of his thoughts about the imperfection of the geological history of life were certainly justified. In the preceding 150 years the investigation of fossils made considerable progresses. Beyond spectacular findings and the discovery of new significant Fossillagerstätten, also fundamental theoretical concepts have been changed basically with respect to fossils in phylogenetic- and evolutionary research. Today fossils still represent the most important documents of the historical aspects of evolution. Their modern interpretation with respect to dramatic changes of the environment during the geological past provides new and often surprising insights into the history of life. These developments will be demonstrated in my presentation based on various examples. In this context it will also be shown, to what extent Darwin’s scepticism on the “Imperfection of the Geological Record” is still justified from a present-day perspective.

Abschlussveranstaltung der internationalen wissenschaftlichen Tagung „Celebrating Darwin – From The Origin of Species to Deep Metazoan Phylogeny“. Organisiert von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, der Humboldt-Universität, dem Museum für Naturkunde und der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.mehr