Palaeontology In Australia

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Part A: Study of past environments and palaeontology allow for increased understanding of factors which determine the distribution of Australian biota in both present and future ecosystems.
Explain the importance of palaeontology and study of past environments in doing this and in predicting the 90 p impact of human activity in present environments.
To many of us, when we think of the Australian landscape, images of a deserted ‘outback’ with kangaroos bounding across the plains and an overbearing red sun peaking over the horizon pop into our heads. The reality is true, almost 80-ercent of our beautiful country is occupied with deserts and dried up grassy plains, which hass earned us the nickname of the ‘Sunburnt country’ to the rest of the …show more content…
This is a plausible explanation as Australia is within close proximity to other islands and land masses. The first humans who migrated to Australia are known as Aboriginals. The impact on the environment of the Aboriginals, particularly from the use of fire, remains to be widely argued. European settlers entered the country fairly recently, around 200 years ago. The impact to the Australian environment through these civilised European settlers was fairly rapid and widespread. Forests were being cleared for towns & cities, which attracted even more humans to migrate to Australia. The national population fluctuated from an estimated 750,000 people to more than 24,500,000 people in around two years and with more people, comes more pollution and more land destroyed and flattened out to occupy more people. With our society becoming more and more dependant on fossil fuels every day through vehicles, factories and coal power stations, not only our landscape is being affected, our lust for unrenewable energy sources is also affecting our atmosphere. Extinction rates in Australia of our native fauna and flora have been the highest in areas of first settlement. This can be credited to inappropriate water and land use which causes habitat loss, over use of land and marine resources and the extent of introduced herbivoures, weeds, predators and …show more content…
For Example, The fossil record for marsupials with kangaroos extends to 45 mya. This was when Australia was detached from Gondwana but still connected to Antarctica. This was a time when Australia was covered in thick rainforests. As the Australian plate disconnected from Antarctica and drifted north, the dryness and aridity rose and this resulted in an increase in grasslands and open forests and a decrease in rainforests. The number of kangaroos that were adapted to a diet of grass (e.g. The red Kangaroo) were in abundance, while the once common browsing kangaroo , which had a diet of leaf foliage , decreased in numbers, most likely due to the reduced availability of its primary source of food.
The modern relative most closely linked with the Browsing Sthenurine Kangaroos is the Musky Rat Kangaroo ‘Hypsiprymnodon Moschatus’ which thrives in the rainforest and possess rounded molars for crushing soft food items (Leaves , fruits , etc). On the other hand, Species of ‘Macropus’ e.g. The Red Kangaroo, Have high crested, sharp molar teeth and efficiently cuts and grinds food into a paste to be digested easily. Species of Macropus live in the widespread grasslands of Australia, which is where their diet of grass is
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