Mammalian Paleoecology: Using the Past to Study the Present

What can the interactions of ancient mammals and their environments tell us about the present—and the future?

Classic paleontology has focused on the study of fossils and the reconstruction of lineages of extinct species. But as diverse fossils of animals and plants were unearthed and catalogued, it became possible to reconstruct more elaborate ecosystems, tying together plants, animals, and geology. By the second half of the twentieth century, this effort gave birth to the field of paleoeco...