This book should be of interest to teachers, students and researchers in paleontology, biology, evolutionary biology, zoology and cell biology.

Taphonomic bias is a pervasive feature of the fossil record. A pressing concern, however, is the extent to which taphonomic processes have varied through the ages. It is one thing to work with a biased data set and quite another to work with a bias that has changed with time. This book includes work from both new and established researchers who are using laboratory, field and data-base techniques to characterise and quantify the temporal and spatial variation in taphonomic bias. It may not provide all the answers but it will at least shed light on the right questions.

The Mjolnir impact structure was recognized in 1993 and included in the Earth Impact Database in 1996, based on the discoveries of unequivocal meteorite impact indicators such as shocked quartz, Ir-enrichments, possible glass remnants, fragments of nickel-rich iron oxides, in addition to the convincing complex crater shape of the structure. This book presents the geological and geophysical history of the Barents Sea region along with the discovery of the Mjolnir impact crater. We place the Mjolnir event into the geological framework of the region and present elaborative numerical models of its formation and associated tsunami generation. The book represents an update and synthesis as well as the complete compilation of the Mjolnir crater studies. "

A top priority in climate research is obtaining broad-extent and long-term data to support analyses of historical patterns and trends, and for model development and evaluation. Along with directly measured climate data from the present and recent past, it is important to obtain estimates of long past climate variations spanning multiple centuries and millennia. These longer time perspectives are needed for assessing the unusualness of recent climate changes, as well as for providing insight on the range, variation and overall dynamics of the climate system over time spans exceeding available records from instruments, such as rain gauges and thermometers. Tree rings have become increasingly valuable in providing this long-term information because extensive data networks have been developed in temperate and boreal zones of the Earth, and quantitative methods for analyzing these data have advanced. Tree rings are among the most useful paleoclimate information sources available because they provide a high degree of chronological accuracy, high replication, and extensive spatial coverage spanning recent centuries. With the expansion and extension of tree-ring data and analytical capacity new climatic insights from tree rings are being used in a variety of applications, including for interpretation of past changes in ecosystems and human societies. This volume presents an overview of the current state of dendroclimatology, its contributions over the last 30 years, and its future potential. The material included is useful not only to those who generate tree-ring records of past climate-dendroclimatologists, but also to users of their results-climatologists, hydrologists, ecologists and archeologists. 'With the pressing climatic questions of the 21st century demanding a deeper understanding of the climate system and our impact upon it, this thoughtful volume comes at critical moment. It will be of fundamental importance in not only guiding researchers, but in educating scientists and the interested lay person on the both incredible power and potential pitfalls of reconstructing climate using tree-ring analysis.', Glen M. MacDonald, UCLA Institute of the Environment, CA, USA 'This is an up-to-date treatment of all branches of tree-ring science, by the world's experts in the field, reminding us that tree rings are the most important source of proxy data on climate change. Should be read by all budding dendrochronology scientists.', Alan Robock, Rutgers University, NJ, USA

I see a man's life is a tedious one. Cymbeline, Act III, Sc. 6. It is well known that the best way to learn a subject is to teach it! Along the same lines one might also say that a pleasant way of learning a subject and at the same time getting to know quite a few of the workers active in it, is to arrange and to attend an Advanced Study Institute (ASI) or a workshop lasting about two weeks. This was and is the wisdom behind the NA TO-ASI programme and much as people fear that a fortnight may be too long, before it is over everyone feels that it was too short, especially if the weather had cooperated. Organising this ASI which resulted in this volume has been a very good learning experience. I started my career in research with invertebrates and retained an interest in them over the years due to my teaching a course and working sporadically on various aspects of photoreception in Polychaetes, Crustaceans and Insects. Thus, the thought of organising an ASI on photoreception and vision in invertebrates had been brewing in my mind for the past half a dozen years or so. It was felt that it will be desirable to do a bit of stock taking and discuss possible new approaches to the study of this matter.

This volume is one outcome of the 6th International Conference on Paleoceano graphy (ICP VI). The conference was held August 23-28, 1998 in Lisbon, Portugal. The meeting followed the traditional format of a small number of invited oral presentations complemented by a large number ofcontributed posters. Over 550 participants attended, representing thirty countries and nearly 450 posters were presented. The invited speakers addressed the main themes of the 5oral sessions. The session topics were: Polar-Tropical and Interhemisphere Linkages; Does the Ocean Cause, or Respond to, Abrupt Climatic Changes?; Biotic Responses to Major Paleoceanographic Changes; Past Warm Climates; and Innovations In Monitoring Ocean History. This is the first time in ICP history that the Conference Proceedings are published. The aim of the organisers with the publication of this book is two-fold: to provide a useful review of the field and to document the ideas/controversies raised during the con ference that may stimulate future work. The book reflects the initial intentions of the conference, but it is not a conven tional conference proceedings, given that the papers have been reviewed by formal exter nal referees. Each of the conference topics is introduced by a review article designed to summarize the state of the art in each theme followed by articles prepared by the invited speakers. As with most conference proceedings, each theme is covered heterogenously. Some topics have all the expected contributions, others are less well covered."

Holywell Coombe, an embayment in the chalk scarp overlooking Folkestone, Kent, was designated a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1985 because it contains richly fossiliferous Late Quaternary sediments providing a unique archive of the last 13,000 years. The construction of the Channel Tunnel across the Holywell Coombe SSSI brought about a major rescue excavation, funded by Eurotunnel, that set an important precedent in Earth Science conservation. This multidisciplinary investigation has added enormously to our understanding of the environment and natural history of the Late-glacial and Holocene. The climatic complexity of the Late-glacial is recorded in the nature of the sediments, the fossils recovered from them and the soils developed within them. From the Neolithic, and especially during the Early Bronze Age, the slopes were destabilized as a result of forest clearance, leading to the accumulation of hillwash. Archaeological excavations in the hillwash have revealed evidence of prehistoric occupation and agricultural activity in the coombe. Eurotunnel also funded biological surveys of the local terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Combining these with the fossil evidence, it has been possible to document the pedigree of our present fauna and flora, providing one of the most detailed and comprehensive studies of its kind. With contributions from eminent Quaternary scientists from several countries, this work will be an important resource for researchers, lecturers and postgraduate students in Quaternary sciences - geology, geography, biology, ecology and archaeology - as well as for government bodies concerned with nature conservation and environmental protection.

From the Foreword: "Predator-prey interactions are among the most significant of all organism-organism interactions....It will only be by compiling and evaluating data on predator-prey relations as they are recorded in the fossil record that we can hope to tease apart their role in the tangled web of evolutionary interaction over time. This volume, compiled by a group of expert specialists on the evidence of predator-prey interactions in the fossil record, is a pioneering effort to collate the information now accumulating in this important field. It will be a standard reference on which future study of one of the central dynamics of ecology as seen in the fossil record will be built." (Richard K. Bambach, Professor Emeritus, Virginia Tech, Associate of the Botanical Museum, Harvard University)

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.

British Fossil reptile sites are of international importance since they include remains that fill the time gaps poorly known elsewhere. They include rich classic reptile beds which have been the source of dozens of important specimens. This volume details all those sites that have yielded fossil reptiles. The fifty most important localities are described in detail and an extensive bibliography of everything published on British Fossil reptiles since 1676 is provided.

Morphometrics is concerned with the study of variations and change in the form (size and shape) of organisms or objects adding a quantitative element to descriptions and thereby facilitating the comparison of different objects and organisms. This volume provides an introduction to morphometrics in a clear and simple way without recourse to complex mathematics and statistics. This introduction is followed by a series of case studies describing the variety of applications of morphometrics from paleontology and evolutionary ecology to archaeological artifacts analysis. This is followed by a presentation of future applications of morphometrics and state of the art software for analyzing and comparing shape.

all such systems are important, the Proterozoic column This volume concerns the geology of China, and it examinesthat concern by expositionsofthe stratigraphy, possibly is unique in its continuous sedimentary devel the paleogeography, and the tectonics ofthat remarkable opment and in its reference section of global rank. In paleogeography, this volume describes and illustra country. In this sense, therefore, our aims and purposes are explicit in the title. The senior author and his tes first the broad distribution of Proterozoic deposits. colleagues, furthermore, do not have in mind any special Succeeding descriptions and illustrations trace the ebb and flow of shallow marine waters across China as or specific audience. This volume is quite simply for all geologists. By far the majority will be those whose Phanerozoic time of more than 600 million years elapses native tongue is English, or those who understand from the beginning of the Cambrian to the present. In structure, this volume emphasizes the importance English. Not to be overlooked, moreover, is the large number ofChinese geologists who not only read English of paraplatforms, platforms, geosynclines, and great but also who themselves write studies in English that east-west zones of fracture in the Precambian, also the appear in publications in both their homeland and effects of these early structural elements on structure abroad. in the ensuing Phanerozoic. In the Phanerozoic itself, north-south stress developed in the pre-Phanerozoic A constantly growing interest in the geology of China continued through much of the Paleozoic."

The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was established on 17th December, 1931 by a great visionary Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis to promote research in the theory and applications of statistics as a new scienti c discipline in India. In 1959, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India introduced the ISI Act in the parliament and designated it as an Institution of National Importance because of its remarkable achievements in statistical work as well as its contribution to economic planning. Today, the Indian Statistical Institute occupies a prestigious position in the a- demic rmament. It has been a haven for bright and talented academics working in a number of disciplines. Its research faculty has done India proud in the arenas of Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, among others. Over s- enty ve years, it has grown into a massive banyan tree, like the institute emblem. The Institute now serves the nation as a uni ed and monolithic organization from different places, namely Kolkata, the Headquarters, Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai, three centers, a network of ve SQC-OR Units located at Mumbai, Pune, Baroda, Hyderabad and Coimbatore, and a branch ( eld station) at Giridih. The platinum jubilee celebrations of ISI have been launched by Honorable Prime Minister Prof. Manmohan Singh on December 24, 2006, and the Govt. of India has declared 29th June as the "Statistics Day" to commemorate the birthday of Prof. Mahalanobis nationally.

Improved dating methods have increased our ability to more precisely determine the timing and durations of glaciations. Utilizing glacial and loess deposits, we have compared glaciations that occurred in North and South America in order to determine if events are synchronous or not, to explore forcing mechanisms, and to compare glaciations with cold periods of the Marine Oxygen Isotope stages and the loess/paleosol records of China. Stratigraphic sections containing a variety of glacial deposits, some with interbedded volcanics, as well as loess deposits, were used in reconstructing the glacial history. The Late Pleistocene (Brunhes Chron) Last Glacial Maximum is recognized in mountain and continental areas of North America but only in the mountains of South America. Commonly our comparisons indicate roughly synchronous glaciations on the two continents, whereas other glaciations are more elusive and difficult to compare. Although our comparisons are at low resolutions, the results suggest that Milankovitch forcing is most likely the dominant trigger for hemispheric glaciation modified by local factors.

Since the Western world first became aware of the existence of Neanderthals, this Pleistocene human has been a regular focus of interest among specialists and also among the general public. In fact, we know far more about Neanderthals than we do about any other extinct human population. Furthermore, over the past 150 years no other palaeospecies has been such a constant source of discussion and fierce debate among palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists. This book presents the status of our knowledge as well as the methods and techniques used to study this extinct population and it suggests perspectives for future research.

This book provides a synthesis of the past decade of research into global changes that occurred in the earth system in the past. Focus is achieved by concentrating on those changes in the Earth's past environment that best inform our evaluation of current and future global changes and their consequences for human populations. The book stands as a ten year milestone in the operation of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) Project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). It seeks to provide a quantitative understanding of the Earth s environment in the geologically recent past and to define the envelope of natural environmental variability against which anthropogenic impacts on the Earth System may be assessed. A set of color overhead transparencies based on the figures in the book is available free on the PAGES website (www.pages-igbp.org) for use in teaching and lecturing."

The successful early adaptations of man involve a complex interplay of biological and cultural factors. There is a rapidly growing number of paleontologists and paleoanthropologists who are concerned with hominid foraging and the evolution of hunting. New techniques of paleoanthropology and taphonomy, and new information on human remains are added to the traditional approaches to the study of past human hunting and other foraging behavior. There is also a resurgence of interest in the early peopling of the New World. The present book is the result of the Ninth Annual Spring Systematics 10, 1986, in the Symposium, on the Evolution of Human Hunting, held on May Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. We are grateful to the NSF (grant no. BNS 8519960) for partial financial support in arranging the symposium. In preparation of this volume we have received assistance from many people, particularly the reviewers of individual chapters; it is impossible to name them all. We must however single out Drs. Richard G. Klein and Glen H. Cole for their encouragement at various stages of preparation of the symposium and this volume, and for being a help to the anthropological knowledge. Zbigniew Jastrzebski assisted with the figures and Paul K. Johnson diligently typed the camera-ready copy, and patiently coordinated the endless book-making chores.

Dinosaur bones had been found centuries before scientists understood what they were and what creatures they came from; ancient Chinese writings spoke of 'dragon' bones, and large fossils discovered in the UK were thought to belong to human giants. It was only with the exploration and meticulous research of generations of intrepid palaeontologists that the truth about dinosaurs was discovered.

The Dinosaur Hunters tells the story of these discoverers of prehistoric life, and the revelations found through their research. Illustrated with 30 rare documents, photographs and hand-drawn maps, it explores the unearthing of Iguanodon teeth, the discovery of the first flying dinosaur, the infamous Bone Wars and consultant editor Dr Mark Norell's radical study of feathered dinosaurs. This is a tale of daring exploits, luck, science and wanderlust, and of the thrilling lives and work of heroic scientists and adventurers.

Invertebrate pathology, like medical and veterinary pathology, for many years has been spearheaded by practical applications al though in more recent times many investigators have elected to focus their attention on basic mechanisms and the elucidation of basic phenomena. Although Elie Metachnikoff and Louis Pasteur may be considered the forerunners of invertebrate pathology, in modern times the late Edward A. Steinhaus and the late Arthur M. Heimpel, among others, must be considered the principal disciples. Con sequently, in recent years several symposia have been organized in honor of the memory of Steinhaus and Heimpel. When the proceedings of these occasions were examined and reviewed, it was decided that these could naturally be considered chapters of a single volume of Comparative Pathobiology under the subtitle selected. We wish to note that the chapters devoted to various aspects of Bacillus thuringiensis were originally presented at the thirteenth annual meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology held in Seattle, Washington, on July 26 - August 2, 1980, under the title of the "Edward A. Steinhaus Memorial Symposium". This includes the contribution by Dr. Robert M. Faust on the professional contributions of Dr. Arthur M. Heimpel. Art, as he was known to his friends, was a founding member of the Society and later served as its president. The circle of his professional associates was international.

Throughout our history, humans have been captivated by mythic beasts and legendary creatures. Tales of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness monster are part of our collective experience. Now comes a book from two dedicated investigators that explores and elucidates the fascinating world of cryptozoology.

Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero have written an entertaining, educational, and definitive text on cryptids, presenting the arguments both for and against their existence and systematically challenging the pseudoscience that perpetuates their myths. After examining the nature of science and pseudoscience and their relation to cryptozoology, Loxton and Prothero take on Bigfoot; the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, and its cross-cultural incarnations; the Loch Ness monster and its highly publicized sightings; the evolution of the Great Sea Serpent; and Mokele Mbembe, or the Congo dinosaur. They conclude with an analysis of the psychology behind the persistent belief in paranormal phenomena, identifying the major players in cryptozoology, discussing the character of its subculture, and considering the challenge it poses to clear and critical thinking in our increasingly complex world.

The romantic landscapes and exotic cultures of Arabia have long captured the int- ests of both academics and the general public alike. The wide array and incredible variety of environments found across the Arabian peninsula are truly dramatic; tro- cal coastal plains are found bordering up against barren sandy deserts, high mountain plateaus are deeply incised by ancient river courses. As the birthplace of Islam, the recent history of the region is well documented and thoroughly studied. However, legendary explorers such as T.E. Lawrence, Wilfred Thesiger, and St. John Philby discovered hints of a much deeper past during their travels across the subcontinent. Drawn to Arabia by the magnifcent solitude of its vast sand seas, these intrepid adventurers learned from the Bedouin how to penetrate its deserts and returned with stirring accounts of lost civilizations among the wind-swept dunes. We now know that, prior to recorded history, Arabia housed countless peoples living a variety of lifestyles, including some of the world's earliest pastoralists, c- munities of incipient farmers, fshermen dubbed the "Ichthyophagi" by ancient Greek geographers, and Paleolithic big-game hunters who were among the frst humans to depart their ancestral homeland in Africa. In fact, some archaeological investigations indicate that Arabia was inhabited by early hominins extending far back into the Early Pleistocene, perhaps even into the Late Pliocene.

This volume is a collection of papers presented to Professor Tom Barnard by former students, colleagues and friends to mark thirty-two years of teaching and research in micropalaeontology at University College London. This period represents the major part of Tom Barnard's career with microfossils, which actually began rather earlier, but in 1949 his first postgraduate students were registered. Since then some 150 students have worked for higher degrees studying foraminifera, ostracods, calcareous nannofossils, dino of Research flagellates and palynomorphs, in company with a series Assistants and Visiting Scientists. The nature of micropalaeontology at 'UC' under Tom Barnard has always been unashamedly biostratigraphical. As a result many students have entered and continue to enter the petroleum industry, not least of all because their mentor has always had a pragmatic view of academic research and its direction. Despite this emphasis, with a particular attention to Mesozoic foraminifera, a major investigation of Recent Caribbean foraminiferal faunas has been carried out and most recently MSc classes have worked with material from the continental shelf of southern Africa. Work with Mesozoic ostracods was initiated in 1956 and during the past decade a growing number of students have concentrated on calcareous nannofossils. A book sum marising the results of biostratigraphical work with nannofossils is at present in the press (Lord, A. R. (ed. ) A stratigraphical index of calcareous nanno fossils. Chichester: Ellis Horwood)."

An insightful new work, Function, Phylogeny, and Fossils integrates two practices in paleobiology which are often separated - functional and phylogenetic analysis. The book summarizes the evidence on paleoenvironments at the most important Miocene hominoid sites and relates it to the pertinent fossil record. The contributors present the most up-to-date statements on the functional anatomy and likely behavior of the best known hominoids of this crucial period of ape and human evolution. A key feature is a comprehensive table listing 240 characteristics among 13 genera of living and extinct hominoids.

South America is a unique place where a number of past climate archives are ava- able from tropical to high latitude regions. It thus offers a unique opportunity to explore past climate variability along a latitudinal transect from the Equator to Polar regions and to study climate teleconnections. Most climate records from tropical and subtropical South America for the past 20,000 years have been interpreted as local responses to shift in the mean position and intensity of the InterTropical Conv- gence Zone due to tropical and extratropical forcings or to changes in the South American Summer Monsoon. Further South, the role of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds on global climate has been highly investigated with both paleodata and coupled climate models. However the regional response over South America during the last 20,000 years is much more variable from place to place than pre- ously thought. The factors that govern the spatial patterns of variability on millennial scale resolution are still to be understood. The question of past natural rates and ranges of climate conditions over South America is therefore of special relevance in this context since today millions of people live under climates where any changes in monsoon rainfall can lead to catastrophic consequences.

This volume provides a detailed description of a wide range of numerical, statistical or modeling techniques and novel instrumentation separated into individual chapters written by paleontologists with expertise in the given methodology. Each chapter outlines the strengths and limitations of specific numerical or technological approaches, and ultimately applies the chosen method to a real fossil dataset or sample type. A unifying theme throughout the book is the evaluation of fossils during the prologue and epilogue of one of the most exciting events in Earth History: the Cambrian radiation.