Extinctions: Past and Present Week 1 - In the beginning

In this video, Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan discusses the early geological record in terms of rock and fossil formation. She discusses how fossilisation occurs in plants and animals, and how the fossil record only records a portion of all the lifeforms that have existed on earth. She discusses how scientists can use the fossil record to explore the history of life on earth and trace current biodiversity to what existed in the past. She then discusses the different epochs or eras in the development of life from the earliest forms of life, to the emergence of multicellular organisms, to the emergence of life on land. This is video 3 in Week 1 of the Extinctions: Past and Present MOOC