The Late Paleozoic World: Chapter Objectives

After completing this chapter, students should:

1. Know the major forms of marine life that declined or disappeared in the late Paleozoic and the forms that arose to take their place.
2. Be able to describe what happened to reefs after the destruction of tabulate-strome reefs at the end of the Devonian Period.
3. Understand the ecology of plants of the Carboniferous swamps.
4. Know what kinds of plants lived on higher ground during the Carboniferous.
5. Be able to describe the animals of late Paleozoic freshwater habitats.
6. Know how insects evolved during late Paleozoic time.
7. Be able to describe the rise of reptiles and therapsids and to explain their evolutionary significance.
8. Know how the positions of the continents shifted during the late Paleozoic.
9. Know the major changes in climate that occurred during the Carboniferous Period and how these changes affected sea level, sedimentation, and animal life.
10. Understand the factors that contributed to the distinctness of Permian floras.
11. Be able to explain the interrelationships among atmospheric carbon dioxide, climate, and plant life in the late Paleozoic.
12. Be able to describe the Late Permian mass extinctions and their probable causes.
13. Understand why and how the Alleghenian orogeny occurred.
14. Know the late Paleozoic orogenies that occurred in the southwestern United States.
15. Understand what cyclothems are and how and why they originated in Late Carboniferous time.
16. Be able to describe the Permian system of west Texas, including its sedimentation patterns and the evolution of reefs in the Delaware Basin.
17. Know the major tectonic events and sedimentation patterns of the western margin of North America during late Paleozoic time.