Palaeos
Encyclopedia
Palaeos.com is a web site on biology
, paleontology
, cladistics
and geology
and which covers the history of Earth. The site is well respected and has been used as a reference by professional paleontologists such as Michael J. Benton
, the professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. It is frequently cited in Science
Online.
Palaeos.com was started by Toby White and Alan Kazlev; the pair were later joined by Chris Taylor, Mikko Haaramo of the Department of Geology at the University of Helsinki, and Chris Clowes. It features professional-level articles about:
The site's developers have started a wiki
, Palaeos.org, which uses MediaWiki
software to provide conventional voluntary membership. (Bush, 2006)
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, cladistics
Cladistics
Cladistics is a method of classifying species of organisms into groups called clades, which consist of an ancestor organism and all its descendants . For example, birds, dinosaurs, crocodiles, and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor form a clade...
and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and which covers the history of Earth. The site is well respected and has been used as a reference by professional paleontologists such as Michael J. Benton
Michael J. Benton
Michael J. Benton is a British paleontologist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol....
, the professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. It is frequently cited in Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
Online.
Palaeos.com was started by Toby White and Alan Kazlev; the pair were later joined by Chris Taylor, Mikko Haaramo of the Department of Geology at the University of Helsinki, and Chris Clowes. It features professional-level articles about:
- Palaeontology, evolution and systematics
- GeochronologyGeochronologyGeochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments, within a certain degree of uncertainty inherent to the method used. A variety of dating methods are used by geologists to achieve this, and schemes of classification and terminology have been proposed...
, earth systems and time scale - Diversity of life and ecologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
The site's developers have started a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
, Palaeos.org, which uses MediaWiki
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a popular free web-based wiki software application. Developed by the Wikimedia Foundation, it is used to run all of its projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikinews. Numerous other wikis around the world also use it to power their websites...
software to provide conventional voluntary membership. (Bush, 2006)