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Prokaryotes and Protists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2017

Jere H. Lipps
Jere H. Lipps*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
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Extract

Perhaps two of the most important groups of fossils are the prokaryotes and protists, both single-celled organisms. They are not spectacular fossils and so may be less interesting to students than the more complicated metazoans and metaphytes, yet these two groups not only dominate life on Earth today, but they contribute enormously to our understanding of Earth and life history. Prokaryotes dominated the fossil record of Earth from 3.5 to nearly .5 billion years ago (Knoll, 1985). For the last 1.5 billion years, protists have been an important element in marine and probably other ecosystems.

Type
Research Article
Information
Series in Geology, Notes for Short Course , Volume 18: Fossil Prokaryotes and Protists , 1987 , pp. 1 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 University of Tennessee, Knoxville 

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