Extinctions in the History of Life

Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-521-84224-2
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 204 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 489 g

Extinction is the ultimate fate of all biological species - over 99% of the species that have ever inhabited the Earth are now extinct. The long fossil record of life provides scientists with crucial information about when species became extinct, which species were most vulnerable to extinction, and what processes may have brought about extinctions in the geological past. Key aspects of extinctions in the history of life are here reviewed by six leading palaeontologists, providing a source text for geology and biology undergraduates as well as more advanced scholars. Topical issues such as the causes of mass extinctions and how animal and plant life has recovered from these cataclysmic events that have shaped biological evolution are dealt with. This helps us to view the current biodiversity crisis in a broader context, and shows how large-scale extinctions have had profound and long-lasting effects on the Earth's biosphere.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Taylor, Paul D.

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Botanik
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Ökologie
• Geowissenschaften Geologie Paläontologie, Taphonomie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Extinction and the fossil record Paul D. Taylor; 2. Extinctions in life's earliest history J. William Schopf; 3. Do plants suffer mass extinctions? Scott L. Wing; 4. The beginning of the Mesozoic: 70 million years of environmental stress and extinction David J. Bottjer; 5. Causes of mass extinctions Paul D. Wignall; 6. The evolutionary role of mass extinctions: disaster, recovery and something in-between David Jablonski.