Fossils B/C

[twig]

Honestly, I think this forum has helped me a lot and I kind of owe it to the people who have helped me answer questions that I am not sure of.
I've placed at Fossils at 2/3 invys (3rd at Mesa, 6th today at Jeffrey Trail), and we're moving forward into regionals.
I am honestly surprised that they tested on phylogenetic trees on this invy and had no questions about extinctions... I wonder why.
I replaced the old anatomy and added some new stuff in our binder this time, but since my brain died from my other events, I didn't see the name "William Buckland"(although I added it) and we got three questions wrong due to that error.

Questions/Thoughts:
There were a lot of HEAVY based BONE structures of dinosaurs as well as other organisms as well for their anatomy. How do you guys think that we should do this for bone stuff? (ex: saurischian or ornithischian)
Also, how would you recommend organizing the binder and flipping through it really fast? (Our stations were only three minutes long, and we also had to take into account about our walking time as well because that would be part of the time that we had left for that station, but I started writing as fast as I could when we got to the next station)
Any tips for flipping, timing, and writing?

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!
I can not be more grateful for the people that help me do so much better each time!

Sincerely,
Emily

Congrats on 6th Emily! I coach fossils for my son's group and they said that test was hard. The 3 minute stations was a killer. They also have concerns now about their binder and making it faster to flip through. We are even thinking about redoing some pages to give Phylum overviews instead of just 1 page per fossil. If you think of anything that can help or if we come up with anything we will share! Good luck at Regionals. We are in the Inland Empire, so we won't see you guys again this season. I hope you can get a top spot at Regionals! We were 23rd in Fossils at Jeffrey Trail.

To my partner and I, I thought that it was annoying that we had three minute stations because we literally had no time to flip through our binder. I just frantically wrote as fast as I could, then ten seconds later, my partner said isn't that "insert genus name"? I had already written it down XD
I would be willing to give our structure for all our organisms away to benefit your son's binder. I hope you guys do well at regionals!

Here is our format:

Genus Name
Nickname
Taxonomy
Description
Stratigraphic Age
Age
Habitat
Diet
Predators
History of the organism
How it got fossilized
Reproduction
Key Figures
Random Stuff

Yeah... That's why we were so good at Mesa. (4 min station)
I don't think that you should redo some of the stuff unless you have all of this in your binder.
We don't have phyla overviews, but I'm working on it,as well as the cladistics that the test creator threw on the test.
Make sure to create detailed documents for important evolutionary trends like fish to tetrapod or birds to dinosaurs, etc. (Genus Acanthostega, Genus Tiktaalik, Genus Archaeopteryx, etc.) I have no clue how to flip our binder faster, considering that one of our binder rings is broken and doesn't close. But with this stuff, I think that your students will have really good ID once they do it a lot and more memorization, so that they don't have to look through their binder for it. (trust me it works, my partner got better ID from it, but is still slower than me)

[izzyH]

At the Solon invitational I got points off on the fossilization station for imprints versus carbonizations. Would anyone be able to help me out and describe the main differences between the two modes of fossilization?

[ChimpLopez]

At the Solon invitational I got points off on the fossilization station for imprints versus carbonizations. Would anyone be able to help me out and describe the main differences between the two modes of fossilization?

Imprints are just what they sound like. Original specimen makes and impression in the sediment, and then the original specimen is taken away, only leaving the impression it made behind. For example, a T. Rex steps in sediment and leaves the imprint of its foot. The T. Rex foot itself is not fossilized, but only the impression it made in the sediment. Carbonization, on the other hand, occurs when an organism is trapped in sediment and after a lot of pressure and compression, it turns into nothing more than a thin layer of carbon. The main difference between the two is that carbonization contains remnants of the original specimen in the form of a thin layer of carbon, whereas imprints are just markings or impressions that the organism left behind.

[izzyH]

At the Solon invitational I got points off on the fossilization station for imprints versus carbonizations. Would anyone be able to help me out and describe the main differences between the two modes of fossilization?

Imprints are just what they sound like. Original specimen makes and impression in the sediment, and then the original specimen is taken away, only leaving the impression it made behind. For example, a T. Rex steps in sediment and leaves the imprint of its foot. The T. Rex foot itself is not fossilized, but only the impression it made in the sediment. Carbonization, on the other hand, occurs when an organism is trapped in sediment and after a lot of pressure and compression, it turns into nothing more than a thin layer of carbon. The main difference between the two is that carbonization contains remnants of the original specimen in the form of a thin layer of carbon, whereas imprints are just markings or impressions that the organism left behind.

Oh okay, I'm not sure how I got those mixed up, they are pretty different. Thank you! One more quick question, sorry, do you have any tips for distinguishing between Platanus and Acer? I've tried researching, but I haven't gotten much and I continue to mix them up on most tests.

[twig]

At the Solon invitational I got points off on the fossilization station for imprints versus carbonizations. Would anyone be able to help me out and describe the main differences between the two modes of fossilization?

Imprints are just what they sound like. Original specimen makes and impression in the sediment, and then the original specimen is taken away, only leaving the impression it made behind. For example, a T. Rex steps in sediment and leaves the imprint of its foot. The T. Rex foot itself is not fossilized, but only the impression it made in the sediment. Carbonization, on the other hand, occurs when an organism is trapped in sediment and after a lot of pressure and compression, it turns into nothing more than a thin layer of carbon. The main difference between the two is that carbonization contains remnants of the original specimen in the form of a thin layer of carbon, whereas imprints are just markings or impressions that the organism left behind.

Oh okay, I'm not sure how I got those mixed up, they are pretty different. Thank you! One more quick question, sorry, do you have any tips for distinguishing between Platanus and Acer? I've tried researching, but I haven't gotten much and I continue to mix them up on most tests.

The main difference between Platanus and Acer is the way that their veins branch. The difference is very subtle, so it's easy to miss.
When taking a look at Acer, you can see that there are three main veins, but when you look at Platanus, you can see that those one or two of the three main veins branch into two separate veins. Also keep in mind that you might be tested on the fruits (samaras and achenes) instead of the actual leaf. This is another way to determine if it is an Acer or Platanus. Hope this helps!

[twig]

On our fossils test at Jeffrey trail invitational, I bombed the cladistics section and was wondering what we should put in our binder on it.
1.5/12 points,technically should've gotten 3.5/12, I'm still salty
Why didn't they accept phylogenetic tree? smh

Also, is there any way that I can make a really good identification test for my partner? Whenever I forget what the name of the specimen is, then we have to resort to the binder, and that's not too good cause it takes time to flip. My partner has been getting carried for this event, so I don't know what to do now

Thanks!

[ChimpLopez]

Does anyone have any tips on how to better teeth ID? We always seem to struggle with them on tests and I wanted to know if anyone has any tips on how I could identify them with more accuracy

Thanks!

[RavidD]

Does anyone have any tips on how to better teeth ID? We always seem to struggle with them on tests and I wanted to know if anyone has any tips on how I could identify them with more accuracy

Thanks!

I've found that there aren't many helpful quizlets for the teeth. We set up our binder so that there is a seperate picture section just dedicated to teeth and we consult that anytime we see it on a test.

Cordially,
-RavidD-

[khtungpalan]

Did anyone find information about Genus Rhombopora? I can't seem to find information about them? For fossils do we just have to take notes on the genus or with the orders too?

[twig]

Did anyone find information about Genus Rhombopora? I can't seem to find information about them? For fossils do we just have to take notes on the genus or with the orders too?

Q1: When I was researching about Rhombopora, I literally could not find anything on it, so I decided to resort to the field guides that the scioly.org recommends for this event. They kinda help, but not really. Just put what you think is best. It is really rare that they test us on this bryozoan anyways... I haven't ever seen this on any of the tests that I took last year and this year. BUT, always be aware at all costs.

Q2: Based on my experience this year, and those three minute stations at JT, I think that you might as well do the orders. My partner and I were arguing whether we should include Order Rotaliida in our binder, but he said that we wouldn't. For states, you probably should put it in the binder too... Make sure to do as much as possible for this ID event, and you will be very successful.