Paleontology is the study of ancient organisms, their biology, evolution, and ecology.
Paleontology plays a central role in geology because the creatures of the past provide so much information on ancient environments, climates, ecology, and geologic time. Upon completing this course students will be able to use the fossil record to make inferences about paleoenvironments and as a means of dating the relative age of fossil-bearing rocks. Hence it will be required that students demonstrate a general understanding of the various groups of fossil organisms and their stratigraphic occurrence, as well as the principles and theories of paleontological techniques and scientific reasoning. Clarkson, E.N.K. 1998. Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution , 4th edition.