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With stunning images and an expert guide, explore the world of fossils to uncover the story of life on Earth, from the origins of new life to mass extinctions. Ancient Earth seems like an alien world. But the fossil record can help reveal the mysteries of the organisms that have lived on our planet since its formation some 4,600 million years ago. In this engaging and beautifully illustrated book, world-renowned paleontologist Paul D. Taylor provides a comprehensive guide to all aspects of fossils to tell the story of life on Earth. Taylor begins with the basics: how fossils form, how they mark geological time, and what they tell us about the origins of life and major evolutionary events lik...
This textbook will appeal to students and graduates making their first steps in the application of both microfossils and stratigraphy. It presents, in detail, the historical development of microfossil biostratigraphy, from its birth to the emergence of sequence stratigraphy, including its roots in classical biostratigraphy. The interplay between the academic and economical challenges, on one hand, and developments in microfossil biostratigraphy, on the other, is explored thoroughly. The book also presents an introduction to the scientific concepts used in microfossil biostratigraphy practice, and the uses in microbiostratigraphy of 25 groups of microfossils, such as algae, protistans, reproductive plant debris, invertebrates, chordates and vertebrates, and microproblematica groups. It also provides a numerical method to calculate the biostratigraphical resolution of these microfossil groups.
Life on Earth has been evolving and interacting with the surface and atmosphere for almost four billion years. Fossils provide a powerful tool in the study of the Earth and its history. They also provide important data for evolutionary studies and contribute to our understanding of the extinction of organisms and the origins of modern biodiversity. Introduces the study of fossils in a simple and straightforward manner. Short chapters introduce the main topics in the current study of fossils. The most important fossil groups are discussed, from microfossils through invertebrates to vertebrates and plants, followed by a brief narrative of life on earth. Diagrams are central to the book and allow the reader to see most of the important data 'at a glance'. Each topic covers two pages and provides a self-contained suite of information or a starting point for future study.
This beautifully illustrated text book, with state-of-the-art illustrations, is useful not only for an introduction to the subject, but also for the application of marine microfossils in paleoceanographic, paleoenvironmental and biostratigraphic analyses. The recent revival of interest in marine micropaleontology worldwide in the wake of the development of sequence stratigraphic models has led to the decision to reissue the volume in its original, but paperback, form. The ideas expressed in various chapters of this second edition remain as valid today as they were when the book was first issued. The text, however, includes an updated Phanerozoic geologic time which has been considerably modified since the 1980s.
"Electron microscopy reveals a great range of crystallite ultrastructure patterns in the calcite scales of the unicellular marine algae, Coccolithophyceae. These tiny scales, called coccoliths, have been found as fossils in strata as old as 180 million years (Early Jurassic). During the Late Cretaceous, Coccolithophyceae were especially abundant, and their coccoliths were important rock-building constituents. The extensive chalk deposits representing this epoch contain not only large numbers of coccoliths but also a great variety of species. Electron microscopy of samples from this interval reveals fossils of 172 species of Coccolithophyceae. Of these, 94 species are new. Of the 48 genera re...
Evolution of Primary Producers in the Sea reference examines how photosynthesis evolved on Earth and how phytoplankton evolved through time – ultimately to permit the evolution of complex life, including human beings. The first of its kind, this book provides thorough coverage of key topics, with contributions by leading experts in biophysics, evolutionary biology, micropaleontology, marine ecology, and biogeochemistry.This exciting new book is of interest not only to students and researchers in marine science, but also to evolutionary biologists and ecologists interested in understanding the origins and diversification of life. Evolution of Primary Producers in the Sea offers these studen...
The present volume is the first in a series of two books dedicated to the paleoceanography of the Late Cenozoic ocean. The need for an updated synthesis on paleoceanographic science is urgent, owing to the huge and very diversified progress made in this domain during the last decade. In addition, no comprehensive monography still exists in this domain. This is quite incomprehensible in view of the contribution of paleoceanographic research to our present understanding of the dynamics of the climate-ocean system. The focus on the Late Cenozoic ocean responds to two constraints. Firstly, most quantitative methods, notably those based on micropaleontological approaches, cannot be used back in t...