This text is designed for students and anyone else with an interest in the history of life on our planet. The author describes the biological evolution of Earth’s organisms, and reconstructs their adaptations to the life they led, and the ecology and environment in which they functioned. On the grand scale, Earth is a constantly changing planet, continually presenting organisms with challenges. Changing geography, climate, atmosphere, oceanic and land environments set a stage in which organisms interact with their environments and one another, with evolutionary change an inevitable result. The organisms themselves in turn can change global environments: oxygen in our atmosphere is all produced by photosynthesis, for example. The interplay between a changing Earth and its evolving organisms is the underlying theme of the book.
The book has a dedicated website which explores additional enriching information and discussion, and provides or points to the art for the book and many other images useful for teaching. See: www.wiley.com/go/cowen/historyoflife.
Author(s): Richard Cowen
Edition: 5
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: 312
Tags: Горно-геологическая отрасль;Историческая геология, палеонтология, стратиграфия;
Cover......Page 1
Title page......Page 5
Copyright page......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
About the Companion Website......Page 12
How Geology Works......Page 13
How Paleontology Works......Page 14
The Origin of Life......Page 15
Planets in Our Solar System......Page 16
The Early Earth......Page 19
Life Exists in Cells......Page 20
Making Organic Molecules......Page 21
Where Did Life Evolve?......Page 24
Heterotrophy......Page 26
Further Reading......Page 27
Introduction......Page 29
How to Find the Age of a Fossil......Page 31
Life Alters a Planet......Page 32
Earth’s Oldest Rocks......Page 33
Stromatolites......Page 34
Ancient Stromatolites......Page 36
Banded Iron Formations: BIF......Page 37
BIF, Stromatolites and Oxygen......Page 39
The Great Oxidation Event......Page 40
Further Reading......Page 41
Single-Celled Life......Page 42
Mitochondria and their Ancestors......Page 44
Eukaryotes in the Fossil Record......Page 45
The Evolution of Sex......Page 46
The Classification of Eukaryotes......Page 47
Describing Evolution......Page 48
Further Reading......Page 51
Proterozoic Microbes......Page 53
Snowball or Slushball Earth......Page 54
The Doushantuo Formation......Page 56
Making a Metazoan......Page 58
Evolution and Development......Page 62
Hox Genes......Page 63
The Variety of Metazoans......Page 64
Further Reading......Page 65
After Snowball/Slushball Earth......Page 66
Large Ediacaran Animals......Page 67
Oxygen and Metazoans......Page 69
The Evolution of Skeletons......Page 70
Larger Cambrian Animals......Page 71
Soft-Bodied Cambrian Animals......Page 72
The Cambrian Explosion......Page 74
Further Reading......Page 76
Today’s World......Page 78
Provinces......Page 79
Poles and Tropics......Page 80
Diversity Patterns in the Fossil Record......Page 81
Global Tectonics and Global Diversity......Page 83
Three Great Faunas......Page 85
Explaining the Three Great Faunas......Page 86
Mass Extinctions......Page 87
The Late Devonian (F–F) Mass Extinction......Page 88
The Permo-Triassic (P–Tr) Extinction......Page 89
The end-Triassic Extinction......Page 92
Evolutionary Radiations......Page 93
Further Reading......Page 94
Vertebrates......Page 96
Vertebrate Origins......Page 97
Ostracoderms......Page 98
Osteostracans......Page 99
Galeaspids......Page 100
Acanthodians......Page 101
Placoderms......Page 102
Cartilaginous Fishes (Sharks and Rays)......Page 103
Oxygen Intake......Page 104
Sarcopterygians (Lobefin Fishes)......Page 107
Lungfishes......Page 108
Further Reading......Page 109
Problems of Life in Air......Page 110
The Origin of Land Plants......Page 111
Late Silurian and Early Devonian Plants......Page 112
Later Devonian Plants......Page 113
Comparing Plant and Animal Evolution......Page 115
The First Land Animals......Page 116
Tetrapodomorphs......Page 117
From Tetrapodomorph to Tetrapod......Page 118
Limbs and Feet: Why Become Tetrapod?......Page 119
The First Tetrapods......Page 120
Further Reading......Page 122
Early Tetrapods......Page 124
Ancestors of Living Amphibians: Temnospondyls......Page 126
Small But Interesting Groups of Early Tetrapods......Page 127
The Amniotic Egg......Page 128
Why Were the First Amniotes Small?......Page 130
Carboniferous Land Ecology......Page 132
Further Reading......Page 133
The Amniote Radiation......Page 134
Pelycosaurs......Page 135
Carnivorous Pelycosaurs......Page 136
How Does Herbivory Evolve in Tetrapods?......Page 137
Thermoregulation in Pelycosaurs......Page 139
Permian Changes......Page 140
Thermoregulation in Therapsids......Page 141
Dinocephalians......Page 142
Anomodonts......Page 143
Further Reading......Page 145
Basal Diapsids......Page 146
Archosauromorphs......Page 147
The Triassic Diapsid Takeover: The Pattern......Page 148
Respiration, Metabolism, and Locomotion......Page 149
Rhynchosaurs......Page 152
Triassic Archosauromorphs......Page 153
Dinosaur Ancestors......Page 154
Further Reading......Page 155
TWELVE: Dinosaurs......Page 156
Theropods......Page 157
Ornithischians......Page 159
Sauropodomorphs......Page 161
Dinosaur Eggs and Nests......Page 163
Dinosaur Growth......Page 166
Vegetarian Dinosaurs......Page 167
Dinosaur Metabolism and Feathers......Page 168
The Origin of Feathers......Page 169
Dinosaur Behavior......Page 170
Further Reading......Page 173
Styles of Flight......Page 176
Flight in Insects......Page 178
Early Gliding Vertebrates......Page 179
Pterosaurs......Page 181
Archaeopteryx......Page 185
The Display and Fighting Hypothesis......Page 187
Cretaceous Birds......Page 188
Cenozoic Birds......Page 189
The Largest Flying Birds......Page 190
Bats......Page 191
Further Reading......Page 192
Mesozoic Ocean Ecosystems......Page 195
Crocodiles......Page 196
Ichthyosaurs......Page 197
Sauropterygians......Page 198
Mosasaurs......Page 200
Air Breathers at Sea......Page 202
Mesozoic Plants and Pollination......Page 203
Magnolias and Moths, Cycads and Beetles......Page 204
Mesozoic Plants and Seed Dispersal......Page 206
Angiosperms and Mesozoic Ecology......Page 207
Ants and Termites......Page 208
Further Reading......Page 209
The Derived Features of Mammals......Page 211
Evolving Mammalian Characters......Page 212
Teeth and Tooth Replacement......Page 213
Brains......Page 214
Mammalian Reproduction......Page 215
Suckling......Page 216
Early Mammaliaformes......Page 217
Therians and Non-Therians......Page 218
Therian Mammals......Page 219
Further Reading......Page 222
The Extinction at the End of the Cretaceous......Page 224
An Asteroid Impact?......Page 225
A Giant Volcanic Eruption?......Page 228
Land Plants......Page 229
Where Are We?......Page 230
Further Reading......Page 231
Evolution Among Cenozoic Mammals......Page 232
Molecular Studies......Page 233
Molecular Results......Page 234
The Paleocene......Page 235
The Eocene......Page 236
The End of the Eocene......Page 237
Ecological Replacement: The Guild Concept......Page 238
Cenozoic Mammals in Dinosaur Guilds......Page 239
The Savanna Story: Modern Savannas......Page 240
Evolution by Improvement......Page 242
Whales......Page 243
Further Reading......Page 247
Holarctica and the PETM......Page 248
Australia......Page 250
South America......Page 253
Africa......Page 256
The Raptors of Gargano......Page 258
Further Reading......Page 259
Primate Characters......Page 261
The Living Prosimians......Page 262
Earliest Primates......Page 263
The Origin of Anthropoids......Page 264
The Late Eocene Primates of Egypt......Page 265
Emergence of the Hominoids......Page 266
Miocene Hominoids......Page 267
Sivapithecids......Page 268
Further Reading......Page 269
The Earliest Hominids......Page 271
Footprints at Laetoli......Page 272
Australopithecus Afarensis......Page 273
Australopithecus in South Africa......Page 274
Robust Australopithecines......Page 275
Australopithecus Garhi, and Butchering Tools......Page 276
Transitional Species That May or May Not Remain in Homo......Page 277
Hominids and Cats in South Africa......Page 278
Homo Erectus: the First “Real” Homo?......Page 279
After Homo Erectus......Page 281
The Origin of Homo Sapiens......Page 282
The Neanderthals......Page 283
Evolution among Humans Today......Page 285
Further Reading......Page 286
Ice Ages and Climatic Change......Page 288
The Present Ice Age......Page 290
Life and Climate in the Ice Ages......Page 291
Continental Changes......Page 292
The Americas: Human Arrival......Page 294
The Americas: Large Animals......Page 295
The Americas: Megaherbivores and Medium-Sized Animals......Page 296
The Americas: Survivors......Page 297
Australia......Page 298
Island Extinctions......Page 299
Experienced Faunas......Page 300
The World Today......Page 303
Further Reading......Page 304
Index......Page 306
