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Showing 21 - 40 of 674 items
By Mark Carnall. 2013
This book, beautifully illustrated with specially commissioned photography, is a celebration of UCL's unique collections, with leading academics from the…
university invited to select and write about an object each found inspiring. From a jar of moles to an Egyptian unguent spoon, a finger X-ray to some prehistoric cereal grains, their choices were often surprising, their responses always fascinating.By M. Gabriela Mángano, Luis Buatois. 2011
Ichnology is the study of traces created in the substrate by living organisms. This is the first book to systematically…
cover basic concepts and applications in both paleobiology and sedimentology, bridging the gap between the two main facets of the field. It emphasizes the importance of understanding ecologic controls on benthic fauna distribution and the role of burrowing organisms in changing their environments. A detailed analysis of the ichnology of a range of depositional environments is presented using examples from the Precambrian to the recent, and the use of trace fossils in facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy is discussed. The potential for biogenic structures to provide valuable information and solve problems in a wide range of fields is also highlighted. An invaluable resource for researchers and graduate students in paleontology, sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy, this book will also be of interest to industry professionals working in petroleum geoscience.By T. S. Kemp. 2016
In the grand sweep of evolution, the origin of radically new kinds of organisms in the fossil record is the…
result of a relatively simple process: natural selection marching through the ages. Or is it? Does Darwinian evolution acting over a sufficiently long period of time really offer a complete explanation, or are unusual genetic events and particular environmental and ecological circumstances also involved? With The Origin of Higher Taxa, Tom Kemp sifts through the layers of paleobiological, genetic, and ecological evidence on a quest to answer this essential, game-changing question of biology. Looking beyond the microevolutionary force of Darwinian natural selection, Kemp enters the realm of macroevolution, or evolution above the species level. From the origin of mammals to the radiation of flowering plants, these large-scale patterns--such as the rise of novel organismal design, adaptive radiations, and lineage extinctions--encompass the most significant trends and transformations in evolution. As macroevolution cannot be studied by direct observation and experiment, scientists have to rely on the outcome of evolution as evidence for the processes at work, in the form of patterns of species appearances and extinctions in a spotty fossil record, and through the nature of species extant today. Marshalling a wealth of new fossil and molecular evidence and increasingly sophisticated techniques for their study, Kemp here offers a timely and original reinterpretation of how higher taxa such as arthropods, mollusks, mammals, birds, and whales evolved--a bold new take on the history of life.By Peter Andrews. 2015
Our closest living relatives are the chimpanzee and bonobo. We share many characteristics with them, but our lineages diverged millions…
of years ago. Who in fact was our last common ancestor? Bringing together ecology, evolution, genetics, anatomy and geology, this book provides a new perspective on human evolution. What can fossil apes tell us about the origins of human evolution? Did the last common ancestor of apes and humans live in trees or on the ground? What did it eat, and how did it survive in a world full of large predators? Did it look anything like living apes? Andrews addresses these questions and more to reconstruct the common ancestor and its habitat. Synthesising thirty-five years of work on both ancient environments and fossil and modern ape anatomy, this book provides unique new insights into the evolutionary processes that led to the origins of the human lineage.By David Johnson. 2009
The Geology of Australia provides a vivid and informative account of the evolution of the Australian continent over the last…
4400 million years. Starting with the Precambrian rocks that hold clues to the origins of life and the development of an oxygenated atmosphere, it goes on to cover the warm seas, volcanism and episodes of mountain building, which formed the eastern third of the Australian continent. This illuminating history details the breakup of the supercontinents Rodinia and Gondwana, the times of previous glaciations, the development of climates and landscapes in modern Australia, and the creation of the continental shelves and coastlines. Separate chapters cover the origin of the Great Barrier Reef, the basalts in Eastern Australia, and the geology of the Solar System. This second edition features two new chapters, covering the evolution of life on Earth while emphasising the fossil record in Australia, and providing a geological perspective on climate change. From Uluru to the Great Dividing Range, from earthquakes to dinosaurs, from sapphires to the stars The Geology of Australia is a comprehensive exploration of the timeless forces that have shaped this continent.By Ashraf M.T. Elewa. 2010
Morphometrics is concerned with the study of variations and change in the form (size and shape) of organisms or objects…
adding a quantitative element to descriptions and thereby facilitating the comparison of different objects and organisms. This volume provides an introduction to morphometrics in a clear and simple way without recourse to complex mathematics and statistics. This introduction is followed by a series of case studies describing the variety of applications of morphometrics from paleontology and evolutionary ecology to archaeological artifacts analysis. This is followed by a presentation of future applications of morphometrics and state of the art software for analyzing and comparing shape.By Gerald Mayr. 2009
The present book is the first detailed review of the Paleogene avian fossil record on a worldwide scale. Numerous well-preserved…
fossil bird remains from this geological period, which covers the time span from the end of the Mesozoic era to the beginning of the Miocene, have been described in the past two decades. Some of these not only provide information on morphological transformations in the evolutionary history of the extant avian taxa, but are also of great significance for an understanding of their historical biogeography. Others represent extinct taxa which sometimes show a bizarre morphology not found in modern birds, such as the giant pseudo-toothed birds which reached wingspans up to six meters. The reader is introduced to basic morphological features of the various groups which, as far as possible, are placed into a phylogenetic context in the light of current hypotheses on the interrelationships of extant birds. In a concluding chapter the biogeographical significance of Paleogene fossil birds and possible reasons for faunal changes during the Paleogene are detailed. As such, the book not only aims at providing an overview for specialists, but may also help students of other fields of vertebrate paleontology to better understand Paleogene ecosystems.By Christy G. Turner II Nicolai D. Ovodov, Olga V. Pavlova, Christy G. Turner, Nicolai D. Ovodov. 2013
The culmination of more than a decade of fieldwork and related study, this unique book uses analyses of perimortem taphonomy…
in Ice Age Siberia to propose a new hypothesis for the peopling of the New World. The authors present evidence based on examinations of more than 9000 pieces of human and carnivore bone from 30 late Pleistocene archaeological and palaeontological sites, including cave and open locations, which span more than 2000 miles from the Ob River in the West to the Sea of Japan in the East. The observed bone damage signatures suggest that the conventional prehistory of Siberia needs revision and, in particular, that cave hyenas had a significant influence on the lives of Ice Age Siberians. The findings are supported by more than 250 photographs, which illustrate the bone damage described and provide a valuable insight into the context and landscape of the fieldwork for those unfamiliar with Siberia.By Dianne Edwards, Patricia G. Gensel. 2001
What do we now know about the origins of plants on land, from an evolutionary and an environmental perspective? The…
essays in this collection present a synthesis of our present state of knowledge, integrating current information in paleobotany with physical, chemical, and geological data.By Rafael Riosmena-Rodríguez, Wendy Nelson, Julio Aguirre. 2017
Rhodolith beds are recognized internationally as a unique ecosystem, and they are the focus of this interdisciplinary book. These marine…
beds occur worldwide, from the tropics to the poles, ranging in depth from intertidal to deep subtidal habitats and they are also represented in extensive fossil deposits. In the light of international interest in rhodoliths and maerl concerning their role in coastal ecosystems and with respect to biodiversity, fisheries, and the production of sediment, this book provides the most comprehensive view possible. As readers will discover, rhodoliths/maerl are fundamental to a range of ecological processes, acting as ecosystem engineers including playing key roles in recruitment and providing nursery habitats. Rhodoliths/maerl have been used commercially in some parts of the world, and they are understood to be vulnerable to coastal modifications and human-induced change, and hence their status may serve as an indicator of ecosystem health. Rhodoliths/maerl contribute to global carbon budgets although the extent remains to be evaluated, as do the potential impacts of changing global climates and ocean acidification.By Arthur C. Aufderheide, Conrado Rodríguez-Martín. 1998
This book was first published in 1998. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Paleopathology is a major reference work for all…
those interested in identification of disease in human remains. Many diseases leave characteristic lesions and deformities on human bones, teeth and soft tissues that can be identified many years after death. This comprehensive volume includes most conditions producing effects recognizable with the unaided eye. Detailed lesion descriptions and over 300 photographs facilitate disease recognition and each condition is placed in context with discussion of its history, antiquity, etiology, epidemiology, geography, and natural history. Diseases affecting the soft tissues are also included as these are commonly present in mummified remains. This book will be an indispensable resource for paleopathologists, anthropologists, physicians, archaeologists, demographers, and medical historians alike.By Sergio Martínez, Claudia J. del Río, Alejandra Rojas. 2012
The Quaternary comprises a brief time in the Earth s history and apart from a few exceptions molluscan…
assemblages recovered from exposures along the coast of Southwestern South America Southern Brazil Uruguay Argentina are essentially the same than those that inhabit the region today leading to the assumption that no important change in the distribution of the faunas since Pleistocene times has occurred However the good taxonomic and temporal resolution reached in the last years allowed us to detect some biogeographic changes although traditional biogeographic units remain the same i e Magellanic and Argentinean Provinces These modifications involve mainly variations in the taxonomic composition of the assemblages and in the southern boundaries of some species distributions extralimital species today retracted northwards These changes are related to southward shifts of the warm waters of the Brazilian Current correlated with global warm peaks This phenomenon was more intense in the Late Pleistocene MIS 5e and in the Holocene between ca 6500-3500 14C yrBy Jennifer A. Clack, Arthur N. Popper, Richard R Fay. 2016
The evolution of vertebrate hearing is of considerable interest in the hearing community. However, there has never been a…
volume that has focused on the paleontological evidence for the evolution of hearing and the ear, especially from the perspective of some of the leading paleontologists and evolutionary biologists in the world. Thus, this volume is totally unique, and takes a perspective that has never been taken before. It brings to the fore some of the most recent discoveries among fossil taxa, which have demonstrated the sort of detailed information that can be derived from the fossil record, illuminating the evolutionary pathways this sensory system has taken and the diversity it had achieved.By Sreepat Jain. 2017
This book provides practical morphological information, together with detailed illustrations and concise texts explaining each entry. The book details the…
morphological characters of each organism, providing fundamental information for palaeontologists and palaeobiologists alike. Each chapter starts with a brief introduction and goes on to describe the organism's morphology in detail, followed by a brief note on classification and lastly illustrated examples of stratigraphically important organisms through time along with their major distinguishing characters. The book includes over 3000 clearly labelled, hand-drawn and classroom-friendly illustrations of over 1200 species.By Ryan J. Rabett. 2007
This book examines the first human colonization of Asia and particularly the tropical environments of Southeast Asia during the Upper…
Pleistocene. In studying the unique character of the Asian archaeological record, it reassesses long-accepted propositions about the development of human 'modernity. ' Ryan J. Rabett reveals an evolutionary relationship between colonization, the challenges encountered during this process - especially in relation to climatic and environmental change - and the forms of behaviour that emerged. This book argues that human modernity is not something achieved in the remote past in one part of the world, but rather is a diverse, flexible, responsive, and ongoing process of adaptation.By Hugo Marengo. 2015
This book gathers and updates the most significant advances of the last two centuries and presents an unprecedented micro paleontological…
study covering more than 20 stratigraphic sections. This information is supplemented by numerous sedimentological observations and analyses, on the basis of which a new lithostratigraphic framework for the Neogene of the Chacoparanense Basin is proposed. The book is structured in an easy-to-read format: Its main section offers a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge on transgressions in Argentina and similar transgressions in other South American countries, taking into account various key aspects (age, paleoenvironment, micropaleontology, etc. ). Secondly, the book presents the main results on the TLP and TEP of the Chacoparanense Basin and the TEP of the Península de Valdés. Lastly, it provides readers with complete stratigraphic profiles (Appendix A), mineralogical analyses (Appendix B), distribution charts (Appendix C), systematics (Appendix D) and plates (Appendix E).By Steve Brusatte. 2008
From the king of the dinosaurs the Tyrannosaurus Rex to the formidable Brachiosaurus, dinosaurs are a perennial favorite of children…
of all ages.The 14 stunning images in this bookazine reveal the dinosaurs as you have never seen them before. Every poster is accompanied by the facts and figures surrounding the individual dinosaurs, including information about their habitat, food and predators. Featuring a dinosaur family tree and scale pictures to help compare the size and dominance of these incredible beasts, this entertaining and educational collection will captivate and amaze.By Joost Langeveld. 2013
Paper has never been so terrifying!Just when you thought your paper was safe! Ordinary paper springs to life with Dino-Gami,…
a new sophisticated origami kit for origami artists. Create 20 origami projects: Dimetrodon, Ankylosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Stegosaurus, Coelacanth, Ornithocheirus, Velociraptor, T. rex, Dimorphodon, Apatsaurus, Triceratops, Spinosaurus, Archaeopteryx, Seismosaurus, Archelon, Pterodactyl, Pachycephalosaurus, Brachiosaurus, a dino skeleton—and even a baby dino egg.Get to know some of your favorite Jurassic land giants in a whole new way.Great fun for the entire family.Dino-Gami offers a challenge to the next generation of art and paper crafting origami enthusiasts.By Mark A. Loewen, Alan L. Titus. 1984
The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah is the location of one of the best-known terrestrial records for the late…
Cretaceous. A major effort in the new century has documented over 2,000 new vertebrate fossil sites, provided new radiometric dates, and identified five new genera of ceratopsids, two new species of hadrosaur, a probable new genus of hypsilophodontid, new pachycephalosaurs and ankylosaurs, several kinds of theropods (including a new genus of oviraptor and a new tyrannosaur), plus the most complete specimen of a Late Cretaceous therizinosaur ever collected from North America, and much more. At the Top of the Grand Staircase: The Late Cretaceous of Southern Utah documents this major stepping stone toward a synthesis of the ecology and evolution of the Late Cretaceous ecosystems of western North America.By Lori Haskins Houran, Francisca Marquez. 2013
Rhythmical story text and illustrations follow a paleontologist and his crew as they dig, assemble, and exhibit dinosaur bones."Dig, dig,…
dig those dinosaurs/ So big, big, big those dinosaurs/ Rig, rig, rig those dinosaurs/ Dig those dinosaur bones."The rhythmical text and lively, well-researched illustrations follow a paleontologist and his crew as they find, clean, assemble, and exhibit dinosaur bones. The read-aloud fun is accompanied by up-to-date facts about dinosaur fossils. Educational and inspiring, this story is bound to captivate little scientists.This is a fixed-format ebook, which preserves the design and layout of the original print book.