Fossilization - what gets fossilised and why a lot of organisms don't get fossilised. Natural moulds and casts. The importance of morphology and taxonomy. Types of variation - continuous, discontinuous and ontogenetic. Nested hierarchies in classification.
Palaeontology contributes the fourth dimension, time, to essentially biological problems.
Evolution - phyletic gradualism and punctuated equilibria. Biostratigraphy - correlating rocks using fossils. Palaeoecology - the reconstruction of ancient environments. Palaeobiogeography - provinces and plate tectonics. Case studies .