Geology 105 - Paleontology
 Course Syllabus  Course Schedule   Assignments  Course Handouts  Critter Charts   Department Home Page  Kusnick Home Page

Reading Guide: Chapter 11

Know these terms (you may need the glossary as well as the chapter):

paragaster  septa
 osculum  nematocyst
 choanocytes  polyp
 spicules  medusa
 Porifera  tabulae
Cnidaria hermatypic
symbiosis  zooxanthellae

Be able to answer these questions:

1. Fill out Critter Charts for sponges, stromotoporoids, archeocyathids and corals (include information for rugose, tabulate, and scleractinian corals).

2. Be able to describe how sponges move water through their bodies to sieve food.

 

3. What classes of sponge are most important in the fossil record?

 

4. How are sponge skeletons constructed? Why do sponges have such a lousy fossil record?

 

5. Why are sponges important in modern marine communities? How have they been important in the geologic past?

 

6. Describe the structure of archeocyathids.

 

7. Describe the environmental preferences of archeocyathids. Why are they important in the ecology of the Early Cambrian?

 

8. How do corals eat?

 

9. What are zooxanthellae? What is their significance to coral?

 

10. Know the three orders of stony coral (zoantherians) and the differences between them.

 

11. Know which organisms have been important reef-builders during which geologic periods (see Fig. 11.32 but don't panic - this is more complicated than we need).