The Adequacy of the Fossil Record

The Adequacy of the Fossil Record PDF Author: Stephen K. Donovan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
The 'incompleteness of the fossil record' is an excuse used by some scientists to reject any fossil evidence that runs counter to current preconceptions. Adequacy and completeness are difficult concepts that should not be confused. The fossil record may be incomplete, but it is entirely adequate for many and most requirements of palaeontology, as well as answering wider questions in geology and biology. The Adequacy of the Fossil Record is intended to be an up-to-date review that seeks to debunk these and other objections.

The Adequacy of the Fossil Record

The Adequacy of the Fossil Record PDF Author: Stephen K. Donovan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
The 'incompleteness of the fossil record' is an excuse used by some scientists to reject any fossil evidence that runs counter to current preconceptions. Adequacy and completeness are difficult concepts that should not be confused. The fossil record may be incomplete, but it is entirely adequate for many and most requirements of palaeontology, as well as answering wider questions in geology and biology. The Adequacy of the Fossil Record is intended to be an up-to-date review that seeks to debunk these and other objections.

Why and How

Why and How PDF Author: George Gaylord Simpson
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 1483189619
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Why and How: Some Problems and Methods in Historical Biology discusses an overall approach to the study of fossils combined with paleontology. This book is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 consists of a few examples of studies of the fossil record, focusing on its adequacy, and ways of looking at and representing some of its aspects. The most basic aspects of study of the fossil record such as the examination, description, and illustration of the morphology of fossils are described in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 focuses on paleoecology and faunal analysis, while Chapter 4 emphasizes some of the aspects of phylogenetic principles and eclectic taxonomic theory. The essential apparatus for zoological studies that include biometrical statistics both in concepts and in measures are deliberated in Chapter 5. The last chapter deliberates the geographic distribution of organisms. This publication is a good source for paleontologists and biologists interested in historical biology.

Comparing the Geological and Fossil Records

Comparing the Geological and Fossil Records PDF Author: Alistair McGowan
Publisher: Geological Society of London
ISBN: 9781862393363
Category : Biodiversity
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The past decade has witnessed a major revival in attempts to separate biodiversity signals from biases imposed by sampling and the architecture of the rock record. How large a problem this poses to our understanding of biodiversity patterns remains debatable, and new approaches are being developed to investigate this question. Here palaeobiologists with widely differing approaches and interests explore the problems of extracting reliable information on biodiversity change from an imperfect geological record. Topics covered range from the application of information-theoretic approaches that identify directional causal relationships to an in-depth study of how geological biases could influence our understanding of dinosaur evolution.

Evolution and the Fossil Record

Evolution and the Fossil Record PDF Author: John Pojeta (Jr.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description


In Search of Deep Time

In Search of Deep Time PDF Author: Henry Gee
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801487132
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Cladistics--the science of comparison--is transforming the way paleontologists view evolution. In Search of Deep Time strips away conventional assumptions about the evolution of life to reveal a world that may be far stranger and more humbling than had been previously imagined. The concept of deep time was first used by John McPhee to describe intervals of time incomprehensibly greater than our daily experience. Henry Gee explains the rise of cladistics as the best technique for making sense of the organic changes that unfold within deep time.

Fossil Record 5

Fossil Record 5 PDF Author: Robert M. Sullivan
Publisher: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
ISBN:
Category : Fossils
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description


Patterns of evolution, as illustrated by the fossil record

Patterns of evolution, as illustrated by the fossil record PDF Author:
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080868460
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 607

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Book Description
Patterns of evolution, as illustrated by the fossil record

Evolution

Evolution PDF Author: Donald R. Prothero
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231543166
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 891

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Book Description
Donald R. Prothero’s Evolution is an entertaining and rigorous history of the transitional forms and series found in the fossil record. Its engaging narrative of scientific discovery and well-grounded analysis has led to the book’s widespread adoption in courses that teach the nature and value of fossil evidence for evolution. Evolution tackles systematics and cladistics, rock dating, neo-Darwinism, and macroevolution. It includes extensive coverage of the primordial soup, invertebrate transitions, the development of the backbone, the reign of the dinosaurs, and the transformation from early hominid to modern human. The book also details the many alleged “missing links” in the fossil record, including some of the most recent discoveries that flesh out the fossil timeline and the evolutionary process. In this second edition, Prothero describes new transitional fossils from various periods, vividly depicting such bizarre creatures as the Odontochelys, or the “turtle on the half shell”; fossil snakes with legs; and the “Frogamander,” a new example of amphibian transition. Prothero’s discussion of intelligent design arguments includes more historical examples and careful examination of the “experiments” and observations that are exploited by creationists seeking to undermine sound science education. With new perspectives, Prothero reframes creationism as a case study in denialism and pseudoscience rather than a field with its own intellectual dynamism. The first edition was hailed as an exemplary exploration of the fossil evidence for evolution, and this second edition will be welcome in the libraries of scholars, teachers, and general readers who stand up for sound science in this post-truth era.

The Evidence for Evolution

The Evidence for Evolution PDF Author: Alan R. Rogers
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226723828
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
States over the past 500 years have become the dominant institutions on Earth, exercising vast and varied authority over the economic well-being, health, welfare, and very lives of their citizens. This book explains how power became centralized in states at the expense of the myriad of other polities that had battled one another over previous millennia. The author traces the contested and historically contingent struggles by which subjects began to see themselves as citizens of nations and came to associate their interests and identities with states, and explains why the civil rights and benefits they achieved, and the taxes and military service they in turn rendered to their nations, varied so much. Looking forward, he examines the future in store for states: will they gain or lose strength as they are buffeted by globalization, terrorism, economic crisis and environmental disaster? This book offers an evaluation of the social science literature that addresses these issues and situates the state at the center of the world history of capitalism, nationalism and democracy.

Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record

Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record PDF Author: Michael J. Benton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118685407
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1001

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Book Description
This book presents a comprehensive overview of the science of the history of life. Paleobiologists bring many analytical tools to bear in interpreting the fossil record and the book introduces the latest techniques, from multivariate investigations of biogeography and biostratigraphy to engineering analysis of dinosaur skulls, and from homeobox genes to cladistics. All the well-known fossil groups are included, including microfossils and invertebrates, but an important feature is the thorough coverage of plants, vertebrates and trace fossils together with discussion of the origins of both life and the metazoans. All key related subjects are introduced, such as systematics, ecology, evolution and development, stratigraphy and their roles in understanding where life came from and how it evolved and diversified. Unique features of the book are the numerous case studies from current research that lead students to the primary literature, analytical and mathematical explanations and tools, together with associated problem sets and practical schedules for instructors and students. “..any serious student of geology who does not pick this book off the shelf will be putting themselves at a huge disadvantage. The material may be complex, but the text is extremely accessible and well organized, and the book ought to be essential reading for palaeontologists at undergraduate, postgraduate and more advanced levels—both in Britain as well as in North America.” Falcon-Lang, H., Proc. Geol. Assoc. 2010 “...this is an excellent introduction to palaeontology in general. It is well structured, accessibly written and pleasantly informative .....I would recommend this as a standard reference text to all my students without hesitation.” David Norman Geol Mag 2010 Companion website This book includes a companion website at: www.blackwellpublishing.com/paleobiology The website includes: · An ongoing database of additional Practical’s prepared by the authors · Figures from the text for downloading · Useful links for each chapter · Updates from the authors