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Early life attempts to tell the stories of primitive life. The text conveys some of the excitement in the current attempts to reconstruct the opening chapters of life on the planet Earth, long before the appearance of the simplest animal or plant.
Biotic Crises in Ecological and Evolutionary Time emerged from the third Field Museum Spring Systematic Symposium held in May 1980. The symposium attempted to explore the nature and effects of crisis over as wide a range of temporal and spatial scales as possible. To this end, contributions were included from such diverse fields as astronomy, paleobiology, ecology, and anthropology. The kinds of crises considered ranged from events in the cosmological history of the universe all the way to the effects of a single introduced species on a present-day living community. The book begins by providing a definition of ""crisis"" and a general discussion of methods and approaches to the study of crises. The subsequent chapters present studies on topics such as the physical mechanisms underlying the cosmological framework in which life evolved; physical disturbance in the life of plants; the impact of species introductions; and evolutionary aspects of pre- and post-interchange fossil land mammal faunas in South America.
Astrobiology, a new exciting interdisciplinary research field, seeks to unravel the origin and evolution of life wherever it might exist in the Universe. The current view of the origin of life on Earth is that it is strongly connected to the origin and evolution of our planet and, indeed, of the Universe as a whole. We are fortunate to be living in an era where centuries of speculation about the two ancient and fundamental problems: the origin of life and its prevalence in the Universe are being replaced by experimental science. The subject of Astrobiology can be approached from many different perspectives. This book is focused on abiogenic organic matter from the viewpoint of astronomy and ...
Chemical Evolution of the Early Precambrian is a collection of papers presented at the Second College Park Colloquium on Chemical Evolution, held at the University of Maryland in October 1975. The book presents the discussions on the processes that led to the beginning of life on earth based on information gathered from the study of the Early Precambrian period. Topics on the origin of the atmosphere; early Precambrian weathering and sedimentation; carbon contents of early Precambrian rocks; and the establishment of the earliest date in the Precambrian period at which unambiguous living forms existed are expounded in the text. Geologists, biologists, chemists, paleobiologists, and students will find the book insightful and interesting.
The first history of Lake Tanganyika and of eastern Africa's relationship with the wider Indian Ocean World during the nineteenth century.
Why do we keep talking about so many environmental problems and rarely solve any? If these are scientific issues, then why can't scientists solve them or at least agree on what to do? In his new book, The Moon in the Nautilus Shell, ecologist Daniel Botkin explains why. For one thing, although we live in a world of constantly changing environments and talk a lot about climate change, most of our environmental laws, policies, and scientific premises are based on the idea that the environment is constant, never changing, except when people affect it. For another, we have lost contact with nature in personal ways. Disconnected from our surroundings, we lack the deep understanding and feelings about the environment to make meaningful judgments. The environment has become just another one of those special interests that interferes with our lives. Poised to be a core text of the twenty-first century environmental movement, The Moon in the Nautilus Shell challenges us to think critically about our role in nature.
This volume is the final outcome of a conference designed to wrap up IOCP Project 157 (" Early Organic Evolution and Mineral and Energy Resources ") after a decade of prolific activity. The picturesque solitude of Maria Laach Abbey in the Eifel Mountains (FRO) provided the appropriate setting for a conclave of some 80 specialists from the various walks of the field who, during the week of Sept. 19 - 23, 1988, strived hard to define the state of the art in the principal segments of this Earth Science frontier. The following pages contain the essence of the conference transactions, giv ing a vivid cross-section of the activities pursued by IOCP Project 157 during its final years. The coverage of topics is not necessarily complete, but rather eclec tic in part. With regard to single papers dealing with modern analogues of ancient processes, the book title might even be considered a grave misnomer. Neverthe less, all contributions relate to the subject in the widest sense, and the reader should be reminded that much of the heterogeneity reflected by the volume de rives from the fact that it is primarily a research report from a highly inter disciplinary field rather than a textbook.