The growth history of a brachiopod is entombed in its shell and internally there is a huge range of differing structures and morphological detail used by several authors as examples of ontogenetic and evolutionary change, as indicators of taxonomic relationships or discussion concerning micro-structural shell morphology. Population studies of living and fossil species and strands of recent progress in molecular phylogeny are all presented.
This single compilation, an up-to-the minute resume of knowledge and research into brachiopods, is a must for postgraduate students and researchers in evolution, zoology, geology, palaeontology and related fields.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203210433

Using full-colour palaeogeographical maps from the Cambrian to the present, this interdisciplinary volume explains how plate motions and surface volcanism are linked to processes in the Earth's mantle, and to climate change and the evolution of the Earth's biota. These new and very detailed maps provide a complete and integrated Phanerozoic story of palaeogeography. They illustrate the development of all the major mountain-building orogenies. Old lands, seas, ice caps, volcanic regions, reefs, and coal beds are highlighted on the maps, as well as faunal and floral provinces. Many other original diagrams show sections from the Earth's core, through the mantle, and up to the lithosphere, and how Large Igneous Provinces are generated, helping to understand how plates have appeared, moved, and vanished through time. Supplementary resources are available online, making this an invaluable reference for researchers, graduate students, professional geoscientists and anyone interested in the geological history of the Earth.