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.

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.

The story of life's splendid drama has captivated generations of the general public, just as it has intrigued biologists, especially those who began to try to solve evolutionary puzzles in the years immediately after the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859. Yet histories of the Darwinian revolution have paid far more attention to theoretical debates and have largely ignored the researchers who struggled to comprehend the deeper evolutionary significance of fossil bones and the structures of living animals. Peter J. Bowler recovers some of this lost history in Life's Splendid Drama, the definitive account of evolutionary morphology and its relationships with paleontology and bio-geography. "Intriguing and insightful."-William Kimler, American Scientist "[A] volume of impressive scholarship and extensive references."-Library Journal "One of Bowler's best."-Kevin Padian, Nature "[Bowler's] comprehensive review of the various debates and ideas in taxonomy, morphology, and vertebrate evolution . . . deserves the attention of biologists and other scholars interested in the history of ideas."-Choice "The persistence of pre-Darwinian modes of thought in contemporary biology underlines the importance of Bowler's book. Its value is not only in the history it provides, but also in the way it illumines the present."-Peter J. Causton, Boston Book Review

"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.

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.

How can the tracks of dinosaurs best be interpreted and used to reconstruct them? In many Mesozoic sedimentary rock formations, fossilized footprints of bipedal, three-toed (tridactyl) dinosaurs are preserved in huge numbers, often with few or no skeletons. Such tracks sometimes provide the only clues to the former presence of dinosaurs, but their interpretation can be challenging: How different in size and shape can footprints be and yet have been made by the same kind of dinosaur? How similar can they be and yet have been made by different kinds of dinosaurs? To what extent can tridactyl dinosaur footprints serve as proxies for the biodiversity of their makers? Profusely illustrated and meticulously researched, Noah's Ravens quantitatively explores a variety of approaches to interpreting the tracks, carefully examining within-species and across-species variability in foot and footprint shape in nonavian dinosaurs and their close living relatives. The results help decipher one of the world's most important assemblages of fossil dinosaur tracks, found in sedimentary rocks deposited in ancient rift valleys of eastern North America. Those often beautifully preserved tracks were among the first studied by paleontologists, and they were initially interpreted as having been made by big birds-one of which was jokingly identified as Noah's legendary raven.

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.

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.

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)

A spectacular collectible volume, with masterful photographs and expert commentary on some of the world's most striking fossils About four hundred million years ago earthquake activity and possibly major storms caused sudden movements of large quantities of muddy sediment along the seafloor. Animal communities in the path of these sediment-laden flows were instantly engulfed, the inhabitants "frozen" in the last moment of their lives. Amazingly, many of the creatures lost in this ancient catastrophe were almost perfectly preserved through the eons, fossilized in a thick series of muds now known as the Hunsruck Slate west of the Rhine Valley in western Germany. Excavations there have yielded the most diverse and surpassingly beautiful collection of marine fossils of the Devonian period ever discovered. This book pays tribute to the exquisite fossils of the Hunsruck Slate. Large full-color photographic plates display fossil sponges, brachiopods, clams, starfish, sea lilies, trilobites, worms, sea spiders, sea stars, crustaceans, corals, and many other species. An accessible commentary recounts the discovery of the fossils and explains how the slate was formed, how the animals are preserved, the significance of the fossils, and the controversies that surround them. A special presentation in every way, this book makes an exceptional contribution to the fascinating history of life on Earth.

Introduction by Stephen Jay Gould

In the geological record, there are five major mass extinctions—the "Big Five." The most famous happened at the end of the Cretaceous Period, when the dinosaurs and two-thirds of all marine animal species were wiped out, opening the door for the age of mammals and the rise of Homo Sapiens. Using this example as a springboard, David M. Raup leaps into an egaging discussion of the theories, assumptions, and difficulties associated with the science of species extinction. Woven is along the way are stories of the trilobite eye, tropical reefs, flying reptiles, and the fate of the heath hen on Martha's Vineyard, a very modern extinction.

This is the first major book to present a comprehensive overview of the current state of extinction studies. At the end of the journey, Raup has put forward the best science of the day to answer the question posed by the title: Bad genes or bad luck?

"An eminently entertaining and informative read." —Malcolm W. Browne, New York Times Book Review

"A delightful little book about life on this planet and about extinctions, in particular. It is as much about the philosophy and methodology of science as about the downside of evolution." —Clark R. Chapman, Planetary Science Institute

"David Raup's Extinction will change the way many of us perceive our world. In a style that is both elegant and persuasive, Raup undercuts the popular and comfortable notions that extinction is a mark of failure. . . . We are shown a world that is less certain, but in many ways more interesting than the one we imagined we occupied." —Roger Lewin, author of Bones of Contention

Illustrated Key to Skulls of Genera of North American Land Mammals is a manual that contains illustrations of North American land mammals such as marsupials, shrews, bats, moles among many others. This manual is a well-illustrated key, useful for identifying mammals through cranial characteristics. It also contains line-drawings, and many photographs to aid in identifying related genera. The distribution, diversity, and characteristics of each order and family of land mammals found in North American and to the north of Mexico are briefly discussed. J. Knox Jones, Jr., has been a practicing mammalogist for more than 40 years. Currently he is a Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech and a Curator in the Museum there. Jones has authored or edited 14 books among is more than 350 publications, and has studied mammals on five continents. He is a past president of the American Society of Mammalogists and has been awarded the C. Hart Merriam Award, the H. H. T. Jackson Award, and Honorary Membership by that society. In 1992, he was selected as Texas Distinguished Scientist of the Year by the Texas Academy of Science, and was awarded the Donald W. Tinkle Research Excellence Award by the Southwestern Association of Naturalists. Richard W. Manning is a member of the faculty of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. He has authored more than 40 publications, most of which deal with mammals. Manning has had considerable instructional experience in laboratories in mammalogy, and has been cited for his excellence in teaching. He is also an avid field biologist, and thus has studied mammals in their natural habitats as well. Manning took most of the photographs used in this laboratory manual and made many of the line drawings.

This edited volume explores the various views on the origins of tetrapods-amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals-views that agree or differ depending in part on how certain fossil animals are classified and which methodology is used for classification. Eighteen chapters by an international group of paleontologists and neontologists here present current hypotheses, emphasizing the kinds of data needed to answer controversial questions, as well as the variety of solutions that emerge from diferent analyses of the same data set. The book is arranged in five sections, each of which contains an overview essay that either describes the development of various schools of thought regarding the origin of the tetrapod group in question or critically summarizes the arguments presented in the section. The first section addresses the origins of tetrapods as a group, focusing on lobe-finned fishes and early tetrapods. Next is a section dealing with amphbians, followed by one on reptiles. The fourth section concerns avian origins, and the final section treats the origins and early diversification of mammals. With an overall goal of stimulating critical evaluation by the reader rather than providing unequivocal answers, this volume will be of particaular interest to vertebrate paleontologists, evolutionary morphologists, and ichthyological, herpatological, avian, and mammalian systematists.

Essays discuss size, time, the landscape, the world view of modern biology, two-dimensional animals, sabertooth tigers, evolution, and the scientific method.

John H. Ostrom's expeditions to the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming and Montana in the 1960s resulted in discoveries and research that would change long-held concepts in paleontology. This fiftieth-anniversary edition of his now well-known description of the type specimen of Deinonychus antirrhopus revisits the work that redefined theropod dinosaurs as the intelligent, agile, and gregarious ancestors of modern birds and led in the late twentieth century to a renaissance in the study of dinosaurs and the evolution of flight. Distributed for the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

Humans have "gone underground" for survival for thousands of years, from underground cities in Turkey to Cold War-era bunkers. But our burrowing roots go back to the very beginnings of animal life on earth. Without burrowing, the planet would be very different today. Many animal lineages alive now-including our own-only survived a cataclysmic meteorite strike 65 million years ago because they went underground. On a grander scale, the chemistry of the planet itself had already been transformed many millions of years earlier by the first animal burrows, which altered whole ecosystems. Every day we walk on an earth filled with an under-ground wilderness teeming with life. Most of this life stays hidden, yet these animals and their subterranean homes are ubiquitous, ranging from the deep sea to mountains, from the equator to the poles. Burrows are a refuge from predators, a safe home for raising young, or a tool to ambush prey. Burrows also protect animals against all types of natural disasters: fires, droughts, storms, meteorites, global warmings-and coolings. In a book filled with spectacularly diverse fauna, acclaimed paleontologist and ichnologist Anthony Martin reveals this fascinating, hidden world that will continue to influence and transform life on this planet.

During the past forty-three years our Division of Zoology of the Royal Ontario Museum has been most active in collecting various species of animals throughout the Province of Ontario, with particular emphasis on the local fauna of the Toronto region. During this time a number of outstanding naturalists have not only made careful collections of animals, but have also recorded accurate observations on the species with which they were familiar. This publication, we most sincerely hope, will be the first of many similar contributions to the study of the distribution of the fauna of Ontario.

Life on Earth can be traced back over three billion years into the past. Many examples of the Earth's former inhabitants are to be found in rocks, preserved as beautiful and fascinating fossils. The earliest life forms were bacteria and algae; these produced the oxygen that enabled more complex life forms to develop. About 600 million years ago multi-cellular organisms appeared on Earth, some of which could protect themselves with hard parts such as shells. Many of these life forms were readily fossilized and are used to subdivide geological time. Numerous species have evolved and most are now extinct. Lineages can be traced and extinctions explained as a consequence of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial events. Now in a revised, updated and expanded Second Edition Introducing Palaeontology will continue to provide readers with a concise and accessible introduction to the science of palaeontology.

The paleoecological history of the Americas is as complex as the region is broad: stretching from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego, the New World features some of the most extraordinary vegetation on the planet. But until now it has lacked a complete natural history. Alan Graham remedies that with "A Natural History of the New World." With plants as his scientific muse, Graham traces the evolution of ecosystems, beginning in the Late Cretaceous period (about 100 million years ago) and ending in the present, charting their responses to changes in geology and climate. By highlighting plant communities' roles in the environmental history of the Americas, Graham offers an overdue balance to natural histories that focus exclusively on animals. Plants are important in evolution's splendid drama. Not only are they conspicuous and conveniently stationary components of the Earth's ecosystems, but their extensive fossil record allows for a thorough reconstruction of the planet's paleoenvironments. What's more, plants provide oxygen, function as food and fuel, and provide habitat and shelter; in short, theirs is a history that can speak to many other areas of evolution. "A Natural History of the New World "is an ambitious and unprecedented synthesis written by one of the world's leading scholars of botany and geology.

'A masterpiece of analysis and imagination. . . It centres on a sensation al discovery in the field of palaeontology - the existence, in the Bur gess Shale. . . of 530-million-year-old fossils unique in age, preservat ion and diversity. . . With skill and passion, Gould takes this mute coll ection of fossils and makes them speak to us. The result challenges s ome of our most cherished self-perceptions and urges a fundamental re-assessment of our place in the history of life on earth' Sunday Times.

Our knowledge of the origin and early evolution of birds has exploded in the past ten to fifteen years. In the 1990s alone, scientists became aware of approximately three times more species of early birds than were previously known, marking the first 85 million years of avian development as a period of remarkable species diversity. Assembling work by an international group of renowned scientists, "Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs "is the most authoritative and up-to-date source on early avian evolution currently available. This unique resource provides a comprehensive examination of the known fossil record and is also an unparalleled guide to the fast-paced developments in current research.
"Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs "covers a wide range of topics, including discussions of avian origins, the fossil record of feathers and footprints, bone histology, and locomotor evolution. Controversial taxa such as "Protoavis, Caudipteryx, "and "Mononykus "receive special treatment. But the heart of the volume presents the anatomy, relationships, and paleobiology of the undisputed Mesozoic aviary. Some of the book's most exciting features are the new definitive descriptions and illustrations of taxa that previously have received only brief notice, such as the alvarezsaurid "Shuvuuia; "the enantiornithines "Sinornis; Eoalulavis, Vorona, "and "Patagopteryx; "and the hesperornithiform "Enaliornis.
"The origin of birds and their relationship to dinosaurs continue to be hotly debated among paleontologists, ornithologists, and evolutionary biologists. This cutting-edge reference will become an essential resource for those interested in this debate and in the many other fascinating topics relating to the evolution of the earliest known birds.

Approximately 99% of all life that has ever existed is extinct. Fortunately, these long dead species have left traces of their lives and interactions with other species in the rock record that paleoecologists use to understand how species and ecosystems have changed over time. This record of past life allows us to study the dynamic nature of the Earth and gives context to current and future ecological challenges. This book brings together forty-four classic papers published between 1924 and 1999 that trace the origins and development of paleoecology. The articles cross taxonomic groups, habitat types, geographic areas, and time and have made substantial contributions to our knowledge of the evolution of life. Encompassing the full breadth of paleoecology, the book is divided into six parts: community and ecosystem dynamics, community reconstruction, diversity dynamics, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, species interaction, and taphonomy. Each paper is also introduced by a contemporary expert who gives context and explains its importance to ongoing paleoecological research. A comprehensive introduction to the field, Foundations of Paleoecology will be an essential reference for new students and established paleoecologists alike.