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Plant macrofossils include leaf, needle, cone, and stem debris; and can be used to identify types of plants formerly growing in the area. Such botanical macrofossil data provide a valuable complement to pollen and faunal data that can be used to reconstruct the prehistoric terrestrial environment.
Fossil preparation is a complex of tasks that can include excavating, revealing, conserving, and replicating the ancient remains and traces of organisms. It is an integral part of the science of paleontology, of museum exhibition, and the preservation of fossils held in the public trust.
Paleobotany, also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeography), and the evolutionary history of plants, with a bearing upon the evolution of life in general.
Classic paleoecology uses data from fossils and subfossils to reconstruct the ecosystems of the past. It involves the study of fossil organisms and their associated remains (such as shells, teeth, pollen, and seeds), which can help in the interpretation of their life cycle, living interactions, natural environment, communities, and manner of death and burial.
The microscopic structure of a leaf, showing the position of the cuticle in relation to the epidermis and other key features. Cuticle analysis, also known as fossil cuticle analysis and cuticular analysis, is an archaeobotanical method that uses plant cuticles to reconstruct the vegetation of past grassy environments.
The mineralization process helps prevent tissue compaction, distorting organs' actual size. A permineralized fossil will also reveal much about an organism's environment and the substances found in it since it preserves soft body parts. This helps researchers investigate the plants, animals, and microbes of different periods.
Bringing Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-07-366170-8 and ISBN 978-0-07-366170-4. An acclaimed book for the novice fossil-hunter and young adults. Mark Ridley, ed. (2004). Evolution. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926794-4 and ISBN 978-1-4051-0345-9. An anthology of analytical ...
The horizons of fossil soils typically are sharply defined only in the top layers, unless some of the parent material has not been obliterated by soil formation. The kinds of horizons in fossil soils are generally the same as those found in present-day soils, allowing easy classification in modern taxonomy of all but the oldest soils.