Know the major new groups of animals that appeared or expanded in the Silurian adaptive radiation of life.
Be able to describe the ecologic succession of tabulate-strome reefs.
Know the major new animals that evolved during the Middle and Late Devonian evolutionary radiation.
Understand the evolution of jawless fishes.
Understand the evolution of jawed fishes.
Be able to describe the evolution of lobe-finned fishes and their legacy.
Know how and when plants evolved on land.
Be able to describe the process by which animals invaded dry land and what animals were the first land dwellers.
Know what the climate was like in the middle Paleozoic.
Be able to describe the Late Devonian glacial interval and what is thought to have caused it.
Understand the pattern of Late Devonian mass extinctions and how they relate to eustatic sea level.
Be able to describe how patterns of sedimentation changed in eastern North America during Silurian and Devonian time.
Understand the events of the Acadian orogeny and its effects on deposition of sediment in the Appalachian region and interior and eastern North America.
Know the features of the western coast of North America in the latter half of the Devonian Period.