In 1978 the distinguished paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson published his autobiography, "Concession to the Improbable, " which gave the basic facts of his life but left more questions than it answered. Now L?o F. Laporte presents this absorbing intellectual study of Simpson's major areas of work.

Focusing on Simpson's scientific contributions, Laporte provides chapters on Simpson's earliest paleontological research through his distinguished Alexander Agassiz professorship at Harvard and his extensive fieldwork for the American Museum of Natural History, where he developed the core themes set forth in his most prestigious work, "Tempo and Mode in Evolution" (Columbia University Press, 1944). Simpson was arguably the first evolutionary paleontologist to combine descriptive taxonomy with the modern approaches of genetics and statistical analysis.

Despite his brilliance Simpson was a difficult person to know; Laporte addresses the nature of Simpson's interpersonal problems with colleagues during his life. An introductory overview provides the biographical context of Simpson's career and provides the framework for his major paleontological and evolutionary contributions.

The author describes forty-two fossil taxa recovered during a study of the San Timoteo Badlands that used magnetobiostratigraphy to develop a temporal framework for addressing the tectonic evolution of southern California over the last 6 million years. For the Pliocene, small mammals are an effective means of correlating a magnetostratigraphy to the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale when radioisotopic dates are unobtainable.

Whether dodging bullets in West Africa, or rabid dogs in Pakistan, surviving yak-butter tea in Tibet, or eating raw fish in China, the life of a globe-trotting fossil hunter is often hazardous and always filled with surprises. Travels with the Fossil Hunters lets readers share the wonder, joys of discovery, and excitement of these intrepid scientists. Packed with more than 100 beautiful, full-color photographs, the volume takes readers on twelve expeditions to remote parts of the world in search of diverse fossil remains, from those of dinosaurs to human ancestors. Each expedition by paleontologists from London's Natural History Museum reveals the problems and challenges of working in extreme conditions, from the deserts of the Sahara and Yemen to the frozen wastes of Antarctica, from the mountains of India to the forests of Latvia. Along the way they also describe the paleontology and geology of the countries they visit and the scientific reasons for their expeditions. With a foreword from Sir David Attenborough and an introduction from Richard Fortey, this fascinating book will appeal to amateur and professional fossil hunters alike and to readers interested in accounts of exotic locales. Peter Whybrow is a research scientist at the Natural History Museum, London. His research interests include Arabian Miocene vertebrates, paleoclimates, paleogeography, and biotic diversity. He is senior editor with A. Hill of Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999).

Pokines uses the terrestrial mammalian microfauna from the site of El Juyo (Santander, Spain) and related sites to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment of Cantabrian Spain. A new method of reconstruction is presented, based on the relative proprtions of these microfauna, and the human ecological adaptations of the Upper Palaeolithic in Cantabrian Spain are examined as they relate to the resulting interpretation of the palaeoenvironment.

As a novel endeavour in ecological science, this book focuses on a major issue in organismal life on Earth: species coexistence. The book crosses the usual disciplinary boundaries between palaeobiology, ecology and evolutionary biology and provides a timely overview of the patterns and processes of species diversity and coexistence on a range of spatio-temporal scales. In this unique synthesis, the author offers a critical and penetrating examination of the concepts and models of coexistence and community structure, thus making a valuable contribution to the field of community ecology. There is an emphasis on clarity and accessibility without sacrificing scientific rigour, making this book suitable for both advanced students and individual researchers in ecology, palaeobiology and environmental and evolutionary biology.
Comprehensive and contemporary synthesis.
Pulls together the aggregate influence of evolution and ecology on patterns in communities.
Balanced mix of theory and empirical work.
Clearly structured chapters with short introduction and summary.

Just 12,000 years ago - at the height of the last Ice Age - saber-toothed tigers, giant ground sloths, camels, hippos and the great herds of proboscideans: giant mastodons and mammoths, extinct relatives of the elephant, roamed the land where skyscrapers now stand. Why are these splendid creatures no longer with us? This compelling book explores the reasons for these extinctions and provides a tour of mass extinctions throughout earth's history, including the great comet crash that killed off the dinosaurs. Brilliantly written, The Call of Distant Mammoths is an engaging exploration of the history of life and the importance of humanity as an evolutionary force.

This fascicle describes the background of the Franchthi project and its excavation history and methodology. Particle size, mineralogy, and chemistry are all taken into consideration as the cultural remains and the sediments from the cave are analyzed to determine their origin and history. William Farrand constructs an integrated stratigraphy for the entire cave using excavators notes, laboratory analyses, and personal field data to correlate sequences in separate trenches. On the basis of some 60 radiocarbon dates, the evolution and chronology of the sedimentary fill is postulated."

The great dinosaur bone beds of the American and Canadian West are world famous and have yielded spectacular fossil finds. But the eastern United States and maritime Canada, where dinosaurs also roamed in great numbers, have been equally important to the study of these extraordinary creatures. Some dinosaur fossils have come from the bog iron and clay pits of Maryland and New Jersey, while others have been discovered in the riverbanks of North and South Carolina. Dinosaur footprint sites have been found from central Virginia to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

In "Dinosaurs of the East Coast," David Weishampel and Luther Young restore East Coast dinosaurs to their rightful place on the paleontological map. They describe such dinosaurs as the plant-eating "Astrodon johnstoni," which browsed in a tropical Maryland jungle 100 million years ago; "Anchisaurus polyzelus," which lived in New England some 200 million years ago; "Eubrontes," the first large therapod on the East Coast; "Pekinosaurus olseni," a primitive ornithischian found in North Carolina; and "Hadrosaurus foulkii," a duck-billed dinosaur that lived in New Jersey some 70 million years ago. In addition, they chronicle the long and colorful history of dinosaur fossil hunting along the Atlantic coast and profile the modern-day fossil hunters--both professional paleontologists and amateur collecters--who continue to make important discoveries today. Richly illustrated with more than one hundred photographs and drawings, "Dinosaurs of the East Coast" combines science and history to offer a new look at an always fascinating subject.

"Ever since the beginnings of paleontology in America, New Jersey has been 'the place' and William Gallagher--who terrorized his South Jersey mother by traipsing home with green mud, marl, and fossils--is the ideal guide to the wonderful dinosaurs and other fossils of the region. High school and college students, their teachers, interested general readers and professional paleontologists will all enjoy this book "-Earle E. Spamer, The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia "Citizens of New Jersey have needed this book for a long time . . . . William Gallagher shows all New Jerseyans why they can be proud of their state's role in dinosaur paleontology and in science as a whole."-David Parris, curator of natural history, New Jersey State Museum "A very enjoyable read--and an ambitious work that not only deals with dinosaurs of the New Jersey region, but much more besides. The hard-core dinosaur crowd will certainly want it, no matter where they live."-Louis Jacobs, author of Lone Star Dinosaurs and Quest for the African Dinosaurs "An impressive historical account of the search for dinosaur fossils in New Jersey . . . a fascinating account of prehistoric New Jersey when dinosaurs and other extinct creatures roamed its environs. It has great historical and scientific value."-Richard K. Olsson, professor of geological sciences, Rutgers University Did you know that Benjamin Franklin examined the first dinosaur bone in America from Woodbury, Gloucester County, in 1787--decades before the word dinosaur was even coined? Or that when the first reasonably complete dinosaur skeleton in the world was unearthed in Haddonfield, Camden County, in 1858, it was a major scientific breakthrough which forced paleontologists to completely revise their picture of dinosaur anatomy? Few people know that New Jersey is the nursery of American vertebrate paleontology When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey provides a succinct and readable history of the geology and paleontology of New Jersey from the time the region was covered by Cambrian seas 543 million years ago to the Pleistocene Ice Age only 10 to 15,000 years ago. William Gallagher tells the stories of professional and amateur fossil hunters, their discoveries, and their impact on the history of paleontological thought. He points out places in New Jersey and nearby where specimens characteristic of each era can be found. He shows how fossil evidence discovered in the state is helping paleontologists reconstruct the ecological interactions and behavior of dinosaurs, and discusses such continuing scientific controversies as the reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs. From tracking dinosaur footprints across the Newark basin, to digging for the last dinosaurs in the greensands of South Jersey, to finding a mushroom in ancient amber in East Brunswick, this book is the ideal introduction to the Garden State's fossils and prehistory. Dr. William B. Gallagher is the registrar of natural history at the New Jersey State Museum and a visiting lecturer in dinosaur paleontology at Rutgers University.

A re-evalutation of the chronology and archaeology of the Late glacial of the north-western Ardennes, and an identification of human modification of faunal assemblages from five cave sites. The final chapter is an exploration of the ethnicity of butchery.

Rain of Iron and Ice shows us the unmistakable evidence--from spaceprobe flybys of the planets to the scars on our own Earth--of cataclysmic comet and asteroid impacts. By comparing what we know about the earth's geology and paleontology with the ages of the other planets and moons in our solar system, Lewis makes the strongest case yet for sudden, dramatic extinctions and assesses the risks to planet Earth.

Scientist believe that we would not be here if it were not for three great cataclysms in the early history of Earth and of the universe. This is the first book to explore the deep connection between the events that shaped life on Earth: the 'Big Bang' that spawned an entire universe; the explosion of a supernova, which seeded the solar system with heavy elements; and the crash of a comet or asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and clear the way for the evolution of mammals.

The renaissance in stratigraphy has promoted a more thorough examination of the geologic record of particular fossil bearing strata. The subject of paleontological events whether sedimentographic or biological in nature, is now emerging as an important topic in earth history, particularly with regard to the temperature and nature of sedimentologic and biologic change.

Representing the state of the art in evolutionary paleobiology, this book provides a much-needed overview of this rapidly changing field. An influx of ideas and techniques both from other areas of biology and from within paleobiology itself have resulted in numerous recent advances, including increased recognition of the relationships between ecological and evolutionary theory, renewed vigor in the study of ecological communities over geologic timescales, increased understanding of biogeographical patterns, and new mathematical approaches to studying the form and structure of plants and animals.
Contributors to this volume--a veritable who's who of eminent researchers--present the results of original research and new theoretical developments, and provide directions for future studies. Individually wide ranging, these papers all share a debt to the work of James W. Valentine, one of the founders of modern evolutionary paleobiology. This volume's unified approach to the study of life on earth will be a major contribution to paleobiology, evolution, and ecology.

George Poinar began collecting amber specimins over thirty years ago, but it was only recently that he, Roberta Poinar, and the rest of his research team astounded the scientific community with the news that they had obtained "live" DNA strands from an insect over 40 million years old. The news was so significant that it made headlines throughout the world. Since that time, their lab has remained extraordinarily active, and in the summer of 1993, they were able to announce the successful extraction of preserved DNA strands over 125 million years old. Thus, there is now DNA available for study dating from the early dinosaur period.In passages that read more like an Indiana Jones screenplay than a story about scientific research, the Poinars describe how what began as a hobby grew into a semi-obsession which ultimately led to a breakthrough scientific discovery. Along the way, they encounter all manner of unusual characters, from threatening black marketeers and gun-toting guerrillas to extraordinarily talented scientists, and of course, the luminously beautiful specimins captured in the still-life of amber.

'Vivid, thrilling, a delight ... Tim Flannery is a palaeontologist and ecologist of global standing, and this is a compelling and authoritative narrative of the evolution of Europe's flora and fauna, from the formation of the continent to its near future ... an exciting book, full of wonder' James McConnachie, Sunday Times A place of exceptional diversity, rapid change, and high energy, Europe has literally been at the crossroads of the world ever since the interaction of Asia, North America and Africa formed the tropical island archipelago that would become the continent of today. In this unprecedented evolutionary history, Tim Flannery shows how for the past 100 million years Europe has absorbed wave after wave of immigrant species; taking them in, transforming them, and sometimes hybridising them. Flannery reveals how, in addition to playing a vital role in the evolution of our own species, Europe was once the site of the formation of the first coral reefs, the home of some of the world's largest elephants, and now has more wolves than North America. This groundbreaking book charts the history of the land itself and the forces shaping life on it - including modern humans - to create a portrait of a continent that continues to exert a huge influence on the world today.

The first section of the book describes how zoo-archaeologists go about studying faunal remains from archaeological sites, and to explore the nature of these remains, and some of the information they provide. The second part discusses the relationship between humans and animals from earliest Africa to post-Medieval Britain. The latter can, of course, not be a complete survey; instead it sets out to describe some of the types of relationship that have existed throughout history, and the material consequences of those behaviours in the archaeological record. Helpful bibliography. One of the most lucid expositions on archaeozoology available' New Scientist.

The partial skeleton of Homo erectus found in Kenya by Alan Walker, Richard Leakey, and others is truly one of the great discoveries in paleoanthropology, after the world's best paleoanthropologists have diligently searched for traces of Homo erectus in Africa and Asia for a century. In this book, the authors present descriptions and photographs of all parts of the skeleton and accompany these with a thorough analysis. It consists of three parts. The first part covers the geology, dating, paleoenvironments, and the taphonomy of the site. The second part is a description of the specimen and a review of other Homo erectus specimens from the Lake Turkana region. The last part is composed of analytical papers on certain aspects of the boy's biology as they apply to other Homo erectus specimens. "What impresses me most about the volume is that apart from the basic description of the fossil, which itself is of great importance, the editors have sought out leading experts to tackle problems relating to specific issues in the evolutionary biology of Homo erectus. Many of these chapters would stand alone as major contributions. Together, they make a remarkable volume that will become a standard reference." (Robert A. Foley, Professor of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge)

This study is organized around three themes: the origin and early diversification of life during the Archean Eon; the maturation of life and the Earth during the long Proterozoic Eon; and the explosive diversification of multicellular life that marks the dawn of the Phanerozoic Eon. The contributors discuss the coherence of history, the combinatorial generation of taxonomic diversity, early Metazoan evolution, and the Cambrian explosion.

This new text sets out to establish the key role played by systematics in deciphering patterns of evolution from the fossil record. It begins by considering the nature of the species in the fossil record and then outlines recent advances in the methodology used to establish phylogenetics relationships, stressing why fossil evidence can be crucial. The way species are grouped into higher taxa, and how this affects their utility in evolutionary studies is also discussed. Because the fossil record abounds with sampling and preservational biases, the book emphasizes that observed patterns can rarely be taken at face value. It is argued that evolutionary trees, constructed from combining phylogenetic and biostratigraphic data, provide the best approach for investigating patterns of evolution through geologic time.
The only integrated text covering the study of evolutionary patterns from a phylogenetic stance.

The eminent historian Richard Bushman here reflects on his faith and the history of his religion. By describing his own struggle to find a basis for belief in a skeptical world, Bushman poses the question of how scholars are to write about subjects in which they are personally invested. Does personal commitment make objectivity impossible? Bushman explicitly, and at points confessionally, explains his own commitments and then explores Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon from the standpoint of belief.Joseph Smith cannot be dismissed as a colorful fraud, Bushman argues, nor seen only as a restorer of religious truth. Entangled in nineteenth-century Yankee culture -- including the skeptical Enlightenment -- Smith was nevertheless an original who cut his own path. And while there are multiple contexts from which to draw an understanding of Joseph Smith (including magic, seekers, the Second Great Awakening, communitarianism, restorationism, and more), Bushman suggests that Smith stood at the cusp of modernity and presented the possibility of belief in a time of growing skepticism. When examined carefully, the Book of Mormon is found to have intricate subplots and peculiar cultural twists. Bushman discusses the book's ambivalence toward republican government, explores the culture of the Lamanites (the enemies of the favored people), and traces the book's fascination with records, translation, and history. Yet Believing History also sheds light on the meaning of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon today. How do we situate Mormonism in American history? Is Mormonism relevant in the modern world? Believing History offers many surprises. Believers will learn that Joseph Smith is more than an icon, and non-believers will find that Mormonism cannot be summed up with a simple label. But wherever readers stand on Bushman's arguments, he provides us with a provocative and open look at a believing historian studying his own faith.

Carefully examines the events recorded at the major Permo-Triassic boundary sections and documents the patterns of extinction and survival among the major groups of marine and terrestrial plants and animals. Erwin also provides a detailed summary of the climatic, geologic, geophysical and geochemical events of the Late Permian and Early Triassic.

Carefully examines the events recorded at the major Permo-Triassic boundary sections and documents the patterns of extinction and survival among the major groups of marine and terrestrial plants and animals. Erwin also provides a detailed summary of the climatic, geologic, geophysical and geochemical events of the Late Permian and Early Triassic.