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There are few stories more remarkable than the evolution of life on earth. This Very Short Introduction presents a succinct guide to the key episodes in that story - from the very origins of life four million years ago to the extraordinary diversity of species around the globe today. Beginning with an explanation of the controversies surrounding the birth of life itself, each following chapter tells of a major breakthrough that made new forms of life possible: including sex and multicellularity, hard skeletons, and the move to land. Along the way, we witness the greatest mass extinction, the first forests, the rise of modern ecosystems, and, most recently, conscious humans. Introducing ideas...
Giant sauropod dinosaur skeletons from Patagonia; dinosaurs with feathers from China; a tiny dinosaur tail in Burmese amber complete down to every detail of its filament-like feathers, skin, bones and mummified muscles. Dinosaurs continue to regularly cause a media sensation. Remarkable new fossil finds are the lifeblood of modern palaeobiology, but it is the advances in technologies and methods that have allowed the revolution in the scope and confidence of the field. Over the past twenty years, the study of dinosaurs has become a true scientific discipline. New technologies have revealed secrets locked in the prehistoric bones in ways that nobody predicted we can now work out the colour of...
Dinosaurs are not what you thought they were or at least, they didnt look like you hought they did. In recent years, rapid advances in technology and astounding new fossil finds have changed the way we see dinosaurs forever. Poised on the cutting edge of this latest research, world-leading palaeontologist Michael J. Benton brings us a new guide to the world of the dinosaurs, complete with stunning new illustrations by acclaimed palaeoartist Bob Nicholls that display the latest and most exciting scientific discoveries in vibrant colour. Bentons rigorous account of the discoveries informing our new visions of the dinosaurs reveals how palaeontologists are now able to determine details such as ...
This book presents a comprehensive overview of the science of the history of life. Paleobiologists bring many analytical tools to bear in interpreting the fossil record and the book introduces the latest techniques, from multivariate investigations of biogeography and biostratigraphy to engineering analysis of dinosaur skulls, and from homeobox genes to cladistics. All the well-known fossil groups are included, including microfossils and invertebrates, but an important feature is the thorough coverage of plants, vertebrates and trace fossils together with discussion of the origins of both life and the metazoans. All key related subjects are introduced, such as systematics, ecology, evolution...
It is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact 65 million years ago that killed half of all species then living, but far less well-known is a much greater catastrophe that took place 251 million years ago: at least 90 per cent of life was destroyed, including sabre-toothed reptiles and their rhinoceros-sized prey, as well as vast numbers of fish and other species in the sea. This book documents not only what happened during this gigantic mass extinction, but also the recent reviving of the idea of catastrophism. Was the end-Permian event caused by the impact of a huge meteorite or comet, or by prolonged volcanic eruption in Siberia? The evidence has been accum...
Palaeontology, a fundamental topic in geology and evolutionary biology, has undergone exciting and rapid change in recent years. Contemporary debates on mass extinctions and the origin of life have had profound implications for our understanding of how life evolved. Basic Palaeontology is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to palaeontology. With in-depth analysis of basic principles and all the main fossil groups, this fully illustrated text presents new and exciting research on the origin and history of life. The text focuses on traditional topics such as marine invertebrate palaeontology and biostratigraphy, but also provides unique and unparalleled taxonomic coverage from microfo...
For use in schools and libraries only. Illustrations and text look at how dinosaur remains have been excavated and studied, what we know about how dinosaurs lived, about related prehistoric creatures, and about why dinosaurs are extinct.
A newly revised and fully updated edition of the market-leading introduction to paleontology Designed for students and anyone else with an interest in the history of life on our planet, the new edition of this classic text describes the biological evolution of Earth’s organisms, and reconstructs their adaptations and the ecology and environments in which they functioned. Cowen's History of Life, 6th Edition includes major updates, including substantial rewrites to chapters on the origins of eukaryotes, the Cambrian explosion, the terrestrialization of plants and animals, the Triassic recovery of life, the origin of birds, the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, and human evolution. It also fea...
Draws on the perspectives of sixty eminent scientists to discuss what is currently understood about the functioning of the planet as it relates to massive changes in the environment, in an extensively illustrated reference that features such sections as evolution, animal behavior, and global warming.