AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Paleoecology. Trace fossils provide us with indirect evidence of life in the past, such as the footprints, tracks, burrows, borings, and feces left behind by animals, rather than the preserved remains of the body of the actual animal itself.

Detailed explanation-2: -Ichnofossils, also known as trace fossils, are geological records of the activities and behaviors of past life. Some examples include rock evidence of nests, burrows, footprints, and scat. These fossils are different from body fossils that preserve the actual remains of a body such as shells or bones.

Detailed explanation-3: -The last type of fossil remains is called indirect evidence. The actual remains of an organism are not found, but rather some evidence that the plant or animal once lived. Indirect evidence includes tracks, trails, burrows and footprints.

Detailed explanation-4: -Body fossils include preserved remains of an organism (i.e. freezing, drying, petrification, permineralization, bacteria and algea). Trace fossils are the indirect signs of life that give evidence of the organism’s presence (i.e. footprints, burrows, trails & other evidence of life processes).

Detailed explanation-5: -The four types of trace fossils are tracks and trails (footprints), burrows and bores (worm holes), gastroliths (stomach stones), and coprolites (fossilized feces).