Question

There are many biases in the known fossil record. The biases fall in two general categories: “preservation bias” (what gets preserved) and “collector bias” (what gets collected). Give one example of each bias.

Answer 1

Preserved bias

Organisms either animals or plants with organically structured hard body parts like bones, hairs, nails skin etc. that die in or are carried into sediments that lack oxygen are protected from oxidation for preserving them. These preservation of fossils are comes under preserved bias. For example: A site with exceptional preservation (ex. Burgess Shale site)

Collector bias

Many of the fossils are collected and hence it is categorized as collector bias. For example: egg and bones of dinosaurs, skulls of apes and ancient people.