There also are myths about certain parts of the record as they relate to the issue of time and resolution, especially in ecological analysis. While 14 C dating certainly permits Quaternary patterns to be resolved better spatially than is generally possible with older material, much of the dating of cores is based on interpolation and sediment-accumulation rates between the widely spaced 14 C dates. In fact, there are very few scales of temporal resolution that cannot be accessed with the deep fossil record of plants. The scale of time and space resolution can be chosen to fit a wide range of interesting and important questions in evolution and ecology. The problem of the parts .
Dead organisms tend to fall apart.
This is as true of vertebrates and invertebrates as it is of plants, but the consequences for interpretability of the results are different. Vertebrate paleontologists seem to be able to reconstruct a whole organism from a couple of teeth or a few bones, perhaps because vertebrates are more stereotyped in their organization and modes of feeding. Plants, on the other hand, are less functionally integrated than vertebrates and most invertebrates. When dispersed, it may be difficult to put these parts back together. It is not possible to describe the subtle and not so subtle differences in the shapes and sizes of oak species from either their leaves or their reproductive organs, although a general idea can be had by linking fossils to closest modern relatives.