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Special Presentations:
Leaves of Change: How Fossil Plants Record Past Climates
Plants form the foundations of ecosystems, providing food, shelter and structure for other life forms. The record of fossil leaves, preserved in fossil floras, can tell us a lot about what past ecosystems looked like, as well as what the local climate was like at the time the trees were growing. In this lab, students use fossil leaves from Colorado floras to obtain temperature and precipitation estimates by measuring differences in leaf area and leaf margins. Students will discuss how climates in Colorado have changed over time and how changing climates affect ecosystems. This presentation supplements lessons on climate change and ecosystems as well as evolutionary patterns. (Grades 6-12)
Exploring Colorado's Cretaceous Seaway with Fossils and Sediments
Colorado has a high and dry reputation, especially around the mile-high city of Denver, but it certainly wasn't always that way. Around 80 million years ago, Colorado was underwater-a lot of water! In this lab, we examine the fossil and sedimentary rock record for clues to the depth and extent of the Cretaceous Interior Seaway. Students will examine evidence for the coming and going of this seaway and discuss how tectonic changes in our continent affected life in our state. This presentation will familiarize students with some local fossils and the rocks in which they are preserved as well as how to "read" a rock sequence. (Grades 6-12)
Rocks as Clocks: Telling Time with Fossils
Fossils tell us a lot about the biology and ecology of past organisms, but they are also important in determining the ages of rocks. By using differences in the types of animal and plant fossils that occur together in rocks, scientists can understand the age range of rocks and put relative ages of rocks in a sequence. In this lab, students examine fossil assemblages and use them to date rock sequences. Students will develop hypotheses to explain the transitions between groups of fossils and compare their hypotheses to those made by paleontologists. (Grades 6-12)
Mass Extinctions: Survive, Thrive and the Big Five
Species on our planet are constantly originating and going extinct, so what makes a mass extinction exceptional? In this lab students will learn about how extinctions are measured and why the "Big Five" mass extinctions deserve special consideration. Students will explore how the dominant groups of organisms alive before a mass extinction aren't always the best predictors of who will survive, and thrive, after a mass extinction. Students will examine the different mechanisms of mass extinction that have occurred in the past and discuss whether the current global situation should be classified as a mass extinction. (Grades 6-12)
Erin is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geological Sciences at CU-Boulder, and her dissertation work includes paleobiological studies through CU's Museum of Natural History.
Erin Leckey
is a paleontologist and ecologist who enjoys using the fossil record to explore modern biological patterns. She is interested specifically in determining how different types of organisms have interacted throughout Earth's history, and how modern patterns of interaction were established. Her current research focuses on the effects of climatic change on herbivorous insects and their host plants. Erin examines leaves from across western North America with ages spanning the last 25 million years. She enjoys discussing events in Earth's history with students as well as helping them explore evolutionary patterns that have shaped life on our planet.