A Doherty Library Information Literacy Tutorial

The Paleobiology Database is an online resource compiled by paleontologists to allow analysis of the fossil record.

Click “Full Search” to see the different search options. We will look at “Fossil Organisms” searching first.

In this example, we will search for information on trilobites by entering “trilobite” under “Common name.”

Be sure to review the options for searching, including more precise scientific names.

The page on trilobites contains a wealth of information. If you scroll down. . .

… you can read about the geographic distribution of trilobite fossils, and even generate a map.

Next we will select “Time intervals” from the Full Search menu.

This tool allows you to browse stages of major geological time intervals. If we click on Kaihikuan. . .

… we can see information about this stage, plus fossil collections from this time interval.

Finally, the database contains many images of fossils. A search under “Common name” for dinosaur. . .

… reveals images of dinosaur fossils in the Paleobiology database collections.

Remember to visit askus.stthom.edu for help using the library.