Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

  • describe some key events in the evolution of life during the Palaeozoic Era, such as the first appearance of major groups of invertebrates and vertebrates, and the invasion of the land

  • identify some common types of fossil organisms that were living in Palaeozoic seas, and comment on their likely environment and geological age

  • make inferences from fossils about the biology and mode of life of some Palaeozoic organisms.