Analysis

In this, our final post, we will recap every part of our investigation and then provide a final analysis. The first topic we talked about was the climate. There we talked about each epoch's cliamte. We began with the Miocene which was a time of warmer global climates than those in the preceding Oligocene. During this time modern patterns of atmospheric and ocean circulation formed. Then came the Pliocene, where we saw the continuation of the climatic cooling that had began in the Miocene, with the beginning of the large ice caps, especially in Antarctica, and the northern hemisphere lands and ocean cooling as-well. This was followed by the Pleistocene were, about a third of the way into the epoch, the the first Ice Age hit. There were a series of advances and retreats of the ice, as the climate fluctuated between cold and warm periods. Our final Epoch, the Holocene, where we saw minor geographic shifts in the Holocene, but very large climatic shifts. Ice core records show that before the Holocene there were global warming and cooling periods, but climate changes became more regional.

Then we talked about the geography of the time. The Neogene Period was a time when the continents were crashing into each other. Mountains pushed up in many places. Sea levels were lower due to the effects of continental collision. The North and South Poles began to have ice caps. During the Neogene Period, the polar ice thickened and took up more space in the ocean. This drop in sea levels opened up land bridges between continents, which enabled the migration of animals between them.

Our third topic was that of the plant and animal life of the Neogene. Under the triple hammers of drought, starvation and cold, herbivorous species were smashed or utterly changed. Their predators followed them into extinction or transformation. The later Neogene saw the creation of an entirely new guild of hunters, the pursuit predator, able to follow scarce prey across miles of open country rather than waiting for the easier opportunity which might never come. The pursued developed their own responses: herd behaviors, seasonal migrations, and big bodies, adapted for speed and endurance. In water, sharks grew and dominated the seas once again. Megalodon, the biggest shark of all. On land, hominins split from their closest African ape ancestors, the chimpanzees. Adapted to two-footed walking, early hominins dropped out of the trees and started to carry food and tools in their hands. These new species were poised to alter the planet unlike any other in the centuries to come.

As for the vegetation, two major ecosystems first appeared during the Miocene: kelp forests and grasslands. The expansion of grasslands is correlated to a drying of continental interiors and a global cooling. Later in the Miocene a distinct cooling of the climate resulted in the further reduction of both tropical and conifer forests, and the flourishing of grasslands and savanna in their stead.

Finalizing our investigation,The Neogene encompasses four epochs, beginning with the Miocene (23.03-5.33 Mya), followed by the Pliocene (5.33-1.806 Mya), the Pleistocene (the "Ice age", 1.806-0.0115 Mya) and the current epoch, the Holocene, beginning eleven thousand five hundred years ago. Whales diversified in the seas, and sharks reached their largest size during the Miocene. Complex patterns of mammalian evolution resulted from changing climates and continental separations. More modern mammals evolved amazing Eras of history.