Why does paleontology belong in Integrative Biology?
Modern paleontology isn t just about collecting, describing and classifying fossils (although these steps are important). Paleontology today thinks about once-living organisms that had to make a living and required specific habitats for survival. Our fossils are part of lineages that evolved and became extinct. To study these lineages, researchers must integrate many different types of evidence. We can t understand Tyrannosaurus rex if she stands all by herself. We need to understand the world in which she lived.
