Paleobiology

Paleobiology (or palaeobiology) is an interdisciplinary field that combines the methods and findings found in both the earth sciences and the life sciences. An investigator in this field is known as a paleobiologist.

Paleobiology is closely related to the field of paleontology, although the latter focuses primarily on the study and taxonomic classification of fossil records, while paleobiology incorporates a broader ecological, evolutionary and geological perspectives of the history of life on Earth. It is also not to be confused with geobiology, which focuses more on the contemporary interactions between the modern biosphere and the physical Earth.

Paleobiological research uses biological field research of current biota and of fossil evidence millions of years old to draw parallel and answer questions about the molecular evolution and the evolutionary history of life. In this scientific quest, macrofossils, microfossils and trace fossils are typically analyzed. However, the 21st-century biochemical analysis of DNA and RNA samples offers much promise, as does the biometric construction of phylogenetic trees.