CORE120 Climatic changes and their reflection in the development of life on Earth

Faculty of Science
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. RNDr. Nela Doláková, CSc. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Martin Ivanov, Dr. (lecturer)
Mgr. Tomáš Kumpan, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Martin Ivanov, Dr.
Department of Geological Sciences – Earth Sciences Section – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: RNDr. Pavel Lízal, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Geological Sciences – Earth Sciences Section – Faculty of Science
Timetable
Mon 18:00–19:50 A,01026
Prerequisites (in Czech)
!TYP_STUDIA(ND) && !FORMA(C) && (!PROGRAM(B-UCB) && !PROGRAM(B-UCC) && !PROGRAM(B-UCF) && !PROGRAM(B-UCM) && !PROGRAM(B-UCZ) && !PROGRAM(B-LGM) && !PROGRAM(B-AEG) && !PROGRAM(B-GEO))
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 100 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 82/100, only registered: 0/100, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/100
Course objectives
The basis of the subject is a set of lectures, which in the form of live commented presentations introduce the listeners to the most significant events in the development of life, including human civilization in relation to climate changes in the geological past. The knowledge gained will thus enable a better understanding of the causes of current climate change. Although the subject is based on geoscience disciplines such as basic geology, geochemistry, paleogeography or paleontology, it has a significant overlap with other natural science or social science disciplines, e.g. climatology, biology or archaeology. The lecture blocks are organized in such a way that they are understandable to anyone interested in the development of the natural environment on our planet.
Learning outcomes
After completing the lecture blocks, the student will be able to:
- better understand the natural processes that have led to climate changes in Earth's history;
- understand the nature of mass extinctions in geological history;
- understand the relationship of climate changes to important events in the evolution of living nature;
- to better understand the influence of man on shaping the landscape in the course of the development of human society
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction to the thinking of a geologist: how seas and continents form and develop; what are fossils and what can we read from them about the climate and its changes in the ancient history of the Earth

    2. Global climate changes: Causes and patterns of development global climate; The reflection of these changes in the fluctuation of the world ocean level, changes in glaciation of the continents, the creation and disappearance of coral reefs

    3. Climatic changes and their effect on living organisms - the origin and development of new groups versus mass extinctions; Origin and changes in oxygen content in the atmosphere

    4. Oceanic "gardens" of older prehistoric times, their origin and demise; the transition of life from water to land as a reflection of climate changes; the largest extinction in Earth's history

    5. The impact of climate change on life in the Mesozoic era; rulers of sea and land, conquest of airspace; famous localities; in the shadow of the T-Rex, or who waits, will see - the emergence of mammals and their waiting for a new beginning; the twilight of dinosaur dominance as a possible consequence of climate change and radical changes in the development of vegetation; Chicxulub Crater - What caused an asteroid impact at the end of the Mesozoic?

    6. When Antarctica was green, or the tropical paradise of the early Tertiary era; Geiseltal and Messel Crater Lake - paleontological "Pompeii"; The first Antarctic glaciation and the end of the tropics in Europe

    7. Climatic fluctuations of the younger Tertiary - temporary return of a "tropical" paradise to Europe, the richest plant world in Central Europe; the Ries and Steinheim craters - consequences of an asteroid impact in Bavaria 15 million years ago; The Messinian crisis - when the Mediterranean Sea dried up

    8. The most pronounced and fastest climate fluctuations in the last 60 million years - the Quaternary ice and interglacial periods; How living organisms react to climate cycles; What does melting permafrost reveal about life in the last ice age? - evidence of feeding Siberian mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses from so-called coprolites

    9. Human influence on the environment before the technical revolution; historical ecological disasters - examples of environmental changes recorded in documents from archaeological sites

Literature
  • LOWE, J. J. and M. J. C. WALKER. Reconstructing quaternary environments. Third edition. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015, xxviii, 53. ISBN 9780131274686. info
  • SCHOCH, Rainer R. Amphibian evolution : the life of early land vertebrates. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2014, xi, 264. ISBN 9780470671788. info
  • MUSIL, Rudolf. Morava v době ledové (Moravia in the Ice Ages). ilustrace. první. Brno: MUNI Press, 2014, 228 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-6364-8. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.M210-6364-2014. info
  • PEŠEK, Jiří, Bohumil BROŽ, Rostlislav BRZOBOHATÝ, Jiřina DAŠKOVÁ, Nela DOLÁKOVÁ, Antonín ELZNIC, Oldřich FEJFAR, Juraj FRANCŮ, Šárka HLADILOVÁ, Katarína HOLCOVÁ, Josef HONĚK, Kerstin HOŇKOVÁ, Jiří KVAČEK, Zlatko KVAČEK, Vlastimil MACŮREK, Radek MIKULÁŠ, Stanislav OPLUŠTIL, Petr ROJÍK, Jiří SPUDIL, Marcela SVOBODOVÁ, Ivana SÝKOROVÁ, Lilian ŠVÁBENICKÁ, Vasilis TEODORIDIS and Pavla TOMANOVÁ-PETROVÁ. Tertiary Basins and Lignite Deposits of the Czech Republic. 1st ed. Praha: Czech Geological Survey, 2014, 284 pp. ISBN 978-80-7075-862-5. info
  • BRADLEY, Raymond S. Paleoclimatology : reconstructing climates of the quaternary. 2nd ed. San Diego [Calif.]: Elsevier Academic Press, 1999, xv, 614. ISBN 9780121240103. info
  • BENTON, Michael J. Vertebrate paleontology. 2nd ed. London: Chapman & Hall, 1997, ix, 452 s. ISBN 0-412-73810-4. info
Teaching methods
Commented presentations, discussions on the discussed topics.
Assessment methods
During the lectures, several orientation quizzes with the possibility of using study materials. In case of successful completion of the quizzes, credit will be given.

In case of failure to answer the quiz questions, credit will be given after a free group discussion during the exam period.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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