Evolutionary Patterns: Growth, Form, and Tempo in the Fossil Record - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226389308 ISBN 13: 9780226389301

Verlag: University of Chicago Press, 2001

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Reseña del editor

With advances in molecular and evolutionary biology, one could almost wonder why we need the fossil record. Molecular sequence data can resolve taxanomic relationships, experiments with fruit flies demonstrate evolution and development in real time, and field studies of Galapagos finches have provided the strongest evidence for natural selection ever measured in the wild. What, then, can fossils teach us that living organisms cannot? This text demonstrates the rich variety of clues to evolution that can be gleaned from the fossil record. Contributors explore modes of development, the tempo of speciation and extinction, and macroevolutionary patterns and trends.

Nota de la solapa

With all the recent advances in molecular and evolutionary biology, one could almost wonder why we need the fossil record. Molecular sequence data can resolve taxonomic relationships, experiments with fruit flies demonstrate evolution and development in real time, and field studies of Galapagos finches have provided the strongest evidence for natural selection ever measured in the wild. What, then, can fossils teach us that living organisms cannot?

Evolutionary Patterns demonstrates the rich variety of clues to evolution that can be gleaned from the fossil record. Chief among these are the major trends and anomalies in species development revealed only by "deep time," such as periodic mass extinctions and species that remain unchanged in form for millions of years. Contributors explore modes of development, the tempo of speciation and extinction, and macroevolutionary patterns and trends. The result is an important contribution to paleobiology and evolutionary biology, and a spirited defense of the fossil record as a crucial tool for understanding evolution and development.

The contributors are Ann F. Budd, Efstathia Bura, Leo W. Buss, Mike Foote, Jörn Geister, Stephen Jay Gould, Eckart Hâkansson, Jean-Georges Harmelin, Lee-Ann C. Hayek, Jeremy B. C. Jackson, Kenneth G. Johnson, Nancy Knowlton, Scott Lidgard, Frank K. McKinney, Daniel W. McShea, Ross H. Nehm, Beth Okamura, John M. Pandolfi, Paul D. Taylor, and Erik Thomsen.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Chicago Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0226389308
• ISBN 13: 9780226389301
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 344
• Herausgeber: Jackson Jeremy B. C., Lidgard Scott, McKinney Frank K.