Extinctions in the History of Life

Paul D. Taylor

191 pages, parution le 12/11/2004

Ajouter à une liste

Indisponible

Résumé

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.

Sommaire

Extinction and the fossil record
Extinctions in life's earliest history
Mass extinctions in plant evolution
The beginning of the Mesozoic: 70 million years of environmental stress and extinction
Causes of mass extinctions
The evolutionary role of mass extinctions: disaster, recovery and something in-between

Voir tout

Replier

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Cambridge University Press
Auteur(s)	Paul D. Taylor
Parution	12/11/2004
Nb. de pages	191
Format	15,5 x 23,5
Couverture	Relié
Poids	466g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780521842242
ISBN13	978-0-521-84224-2