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.

This volume presents the work of researchers at many sites spanning the East African Pliocene. The authors take a broad approach that seeks to compare paleoenvironmental and paleoecological patterns across localities and among various taxonomic groups. This volume aims to synthesize large amounts of faunal data, and to present the evolution of East African vertebrates in the context of environmental and climatic changes during the Pliocene.

Once in a great while, as the "New York Times" noted recently, a naturalist writes a book that changes the way people look at the living world. John James Audubon s "Birds of America, " published in 1838, was one. Roger Tory Peterson s 1934 "Field Guide to the Birds" was another. How does such insight into nature develop?

Pioneering a new niche in the study of plants and animals in their native habitat, " Field Notes on Science and Nature" allows readers to peer over the shoulders and into the notebooks of a dozen eminent field workers, to study firsthand their observational methods, materials, and fleeting impressions.

What did George Schaller note when studying the lions of the Serengeti? What lists did Kenn Kaufman keep during his 1973 big year ? How does Piotr Naskrecki use relational databases and electronic field notes? In what way is Bernd Heinrich s approach truly Thoreauvian, in E. O. Wilson s view? Recording observations in the field is an indispensable scientific skill, but researchers are not generally willing to share their personal records with others. Here, for the first time, are reproductions of actual pages from notebooks. And in essays abounding with fascinating anecdotes, the authors reflect on the contexts in which the notes were taken.

Covering disciplines as diverse as ornithology, entomology, ecology, paleontology, anthropology, botany, and animal behavior, "Field Notes "offers specific examples that professional naturalists can emulate to fine-tune their own field methods, along with practical advice that amateur naturalists and students can use to document their adventures.

One of the first interdisciplinary discussions of taphonomy (the study of how fossil assemblages are formed) and paleoecology (the reconstruction of ancient ecosystems), this volume helped establish these relatively new disciplines. It was originally published as part of the influential Prehistoric Archeology and Ecology series. Taphonomy is plainly here to stay, and this book makes a first class introduction to its range and appeal.--Anthony Smith, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews

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.

Breathtaking in scope, this is the first survey of the entire
ecological history of life on land--from the earliest traces
of terrestrial organisms over 400 million years ago to the
beginning of human agriculture. By providing myriad insights
into the unique ecological information contained in the
fossil record, it establishes a new and ambitious basis for
the study of evolutionary paleoecology of land ecosystems.
A joint undertaking of the Evolution of Terrestrial
Ecosystems Consortium at the National Museum of Natural
History, Smithsonian Institution, and twenty-six additional
researchers, this book begins with four chapters that lay out
the theoretical background and methodology of the science of
evolutionary paleoecology. Included are a comprehensive
review of the taphonomy and paleoenvironmental settings of
fossil deposits as well as guidelines for developing
ecological characterizations of extinct organisms and the
communities in which they lived. The remaining three
chapters treat the history of terrestrial ecosystems through
geological time, emphasizing how ecological interactions have
changed, the rate and tempo of ecosystem change, the role of
exogenous "forcing factors" in generating ecological change,
and the effect of ecological factors on the evolution of
biological diversity.
The six principal authors of this volume are all associated
with the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems program at the
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.