Fossils, Phylogeny, and Form
Fossils, Phylogeny, and Form

Author: Jonathan M. Adrain

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2002-01-31

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9780306467219

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Phylogenetic analysis and morphometrics have been developed by biologists into rigorous analytic tools for testing hypotheses about the relationships between groups of species. This book applies these tools to paleontological data. The fossil record is our one true chronicle of the history of life, preserving a set of macroevolutionary patterns; thus various hypotheses about evolutionary processes can be tested in the fossil record using phylogentic analysis and morphometrics. The first book of its type, Fossils, Phylogeny, and Form will be useful in evolutionary biology, paleontology, systematics, evolutionary development, theoretical biology, biogeography, and zoology. It will also provide a practical, researcher-friendly gateway into computer-based phylogenetics and morphometrics.

Evolutionary Paleoecology
Evolutionary Paleoecology

Author: Warren D. Allmon

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780231109949

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One of the most important questions we can ask about life is -Does ecology matter?- Most biologists and paleontologists are trained to answer -yes, - but the exact mechanisms by which ecology matters in the context of patterns that play out over millions of years have never been entirely clear. This book examines these mechanisms and looks at how ancient environments affected evolution, focusing on long-term macroevolutionary changes as seen in the fossil record. Evolutionary paleoecology is not a new discipline. Beginning with Darwin, researchers have attempted to understand how the environment has affected evolutionary history. But as we learn more about these patterns, the search for a new synthetic view of the evolutionary process that integrates species evolution, ecology, and mass extinctions becomes ever more pressing. The present volume is a benchmark sampler of active research in this ever more active field.

Carboniferous Microfacies, Microfossils, and Corals, Lisburne Group, Arctic Alaska
Carboniferous Microfacies, Microfossils, and Corals, Lisburne Group, Arctic Alaska

Author: Augustus K. Armstrong

Publisher:

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13:

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Description of Carboniferous foraminifers and algae with biostratigraphic zonation, relationship to carbonate facies, comparison with coral distribution, and correlations among northern Alaska, western Europe, and the midcontinent region of North America. One hundred species, of which 2 are new, and 61 genera are described and illustrated.

The Tertiary Record of Rodents in North America
The Tertiary Record of Rodents in North America

Author: William W. Korth

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-11-21

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1489914447

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Nearly half of the known species of mammals alive today (more than 1600) are rodents or "gnawing mammals" (Nowak and Paradiso, 1983). The diversity of rodents is greater than that of any other order of mammals. Thus, it is not surprising that the fossil record of this order is extensive and fossil material of rodents from the Tertiary is known from all continents except Antarctica and Australia. The purpose of this book is to compile the published knowledge on fossil rodents from North America and present it in a way that is accessible to paleontologists and mammalogists interested in evolutionary studies of ro dents. The literature on fossil rodents is widely scattered between journals on paleontology and mammalogy and in-house publications of museums and universities. Currently, there is no single source that offers ready access to the literature on a specific family of rodents and its fossil history. This work is presented as a reference text that can be useful to specialists in rodents (fossil or recent) as weIl as mammalian paleontologists working on whole faunas. Because the diversity of rodents in the world is essentially limitless, any monograph that included all fossil rodents would similarly be limitless. Hence, this book is limited to the re cord of Tertiary rodents of North America. The several species of South American (caviomorph) rodents that invaded North America near the end of the Tertiary are also not included in this text.