The Early Evolution Of Metazoa And The Significance Of Problematic Taxa

Author : Alberto M. Simonetta
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521111584
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Early Evolution of Metazoa and the Significance of Problematic Taxa written by Alberto M. Simonetta and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the great enigmas of evolutionary biology has been how to treat animals of problematic systematic position. Many are known only as fossils, so this area has been of particular interest to palaeobiologists. This book represents a wide synthesis. It embraces not only general problems of animal classification of animals and new information on their molecular sequences that bear on their wider relationships, but also addresses more specific problems. These include details appraisals of both living and fossil groups. From the fossil record special emphasis is laid on examples from exceptionally preserved biotas that include the Burgess shale-type faunas of the Cambrian of south China and western North America, the Carboniferous Mazon Creek beds of Illinois, and the Jurassic Osteno beds of northern Italy. In addition, experimental studies of soft-patrt preservation in jellyfish are relevant to comparable preservation in the fossil record.

Author : Jere H. Lipps
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1489924272
Total Pages : 568 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Origin and Early Evolution of the Metazoa written by Jere H. Lipps and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-21 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several years ago, we realized that the most prominent ideas that had been ex pressed about the origin and early evolution of the Metazoa seemed to have been developed chiefly by zoologists using evidence from modern species without reference to the fossil record. Paleontologists had, in fact, put forth their own ideas but the zoological and the paleontological evidence were about the problem, seldom considered together, especially by zoologists. We believed that the paleon tological documentation of the first Metazoa was too scattered, too obscure to Western readers, and much of it too recent to have been readily available to our colleagues in zoology. Whether or not that was entirely true, we thought that a single volume reviewing the fossil record of the earliest Metazoa would be useful to many in both paleontology and zoology, especially since so much new informa tion has been developed in the last few years. Some of this information has been summarized in general articles recently, but an overview of most of the field does not exist. We therefore organized this book in five parts so that the evidence could be placed in perspective and summarized and inferences made from it. Part I intro duces the previous hypotheses that have been proposed for the origin and early radiation of Metazoa. Part II consists of two summary chapters that set the sedi mentological, geochemical, and biological background to the known radiations of Metazoa.

Author : Antoni Hoffman
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Problematic Fossil Taxa written by Antoni Hoffman and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Problematic fossils--those groups of organisms that do not fit conveniently into any existing phylum--play a pivotal role in the reconstruction of the history of life, being in effect "early experiments." This lavishly illustrated volume provides careful analyses and descriptions--in anatomical, functional, and developmental terms--of most of the major problematic fossil taxa. Sixteen original papers, written by internationally recognized scholars, discuss the features that make these taxa problematic and that provide clues to their phylogenetic relationships. Since Precambrian groups have been well covered in the existing literature, Hoffman and Nitecki focus on Paleozoic, and especially Early Paleozoic organisms, although Precambrian biota are also discussed.

Author : Werner E.G. Müller
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642722369
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Molecular Evolution: Towards the Origin of Metazoa written by Werner E.G. Müller and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently, new genes and their proteins that revealed striking new insights into the early evolution of multicellular animals have been identified and characterized from members of the lowest metazoan phylum, the porifera (sponges). The unexpected result was that the sequences obtained from sponge displayed high similarity to those found in higher metazoa; in consequence, it was concluded that during the transition from protozoa to metazoa the major structural and regulatory proteins evolved only once. The data gathered are now powerful arguments to establish monophyly of metazoa; in addition, new insights on the evolutionary diversification of metazoa were obtained.

Author : David J. Bottjer
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231102551
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Exceptional Fossil Preservation written by David J. Bottjer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most nonscientists are usually aware of fossils, and it is commonly believed that they are extremely rare. In fact, fossils are exceptionally common in many sedimentary rocks and are used extensively in geology for age dating, interpretation of ancient environments, and the discovery of natural resources. However, there is another type of fossil deposit that is truly rare. These rare fossil deposits, called Lagerstätten, preserve the remains of the soft tissues or the articulated skeletal remains of ancient creatures in truly astonishing fine detail. Some of these deposits are world-famous, such as the Burgess Shale, or Solnhofen but there are others dating from many different geological eras from the Paleozoic, up to the Eocene. Recently, a concerted effort has been made to understand the overall significance of these rare fossil deposits. Whereas in the past these deposits were considered novelties, modern researchers are trying to understand what they can tell us about ancient life and environments. New sophisticated techniques (including image and geochemical analyses) are providing enormous new contributions to our knowledge of Lagerstätten sites and to paleobiology in general. This volume describes many of the most famous Lagerstätten locations worldwide and is complete with over 70 superb halftones showing some of these exotic fossils in all their glory. Paleontologists are beginning to understand why such deposits occur, how they have varied since the advent of marine metazoan life, and how their presence effects our understanding of the evolution of life in the Earth's oceans. In this way, the study of Lagerstätten continues to move towards the mainstream of paleobiological, biological, and geological research, and away from its former status as the examination of mere curiosities. All those interested in these beautiful and sometimes enigmatic deposits will want to own this book.

Author : Hou Xian-Guang
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118896319
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China written by Hou Xian-Guang and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-03-08 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The celebrated lower Cambrian Chengjiang biota of Yunnan Province, China, represents one of the most significant ever paleontological discoveries. Deposits of ancient mudstone, about 520 million years old, have yielded a spectacular variety of exquisitely preserved fossils that record the early diversification of animal life. Since the discovery of the first specimens in 1984, many thousands of fossils have been collected, exceptionally preserving not just the shells and carapaces of the animals, but also their soft tissues in fine detail. This special preservation has produced fossils of rare beauty; they are also of outstanding scientific importance as sources of evidence about the origins of animal groups that have sustained global biodiversity to the present day. Much of the scientific documentation of the Chengjiang biota is in Chinese, and the first edition of this book was the first in English to provide fossil enthusiasts with a comprehensive overview of the fauna. The second edition has been fully updated and includes a new chapter on other exceptionally preserved fossils of Cambrian age, exciting new fossil finds from Chengjiang, and a phylogenetic framework for the biota. Displaying some 250 figures of marvelous specimens, this book presents to professional and amateur paleontologists, and all those fascinated by evolutionary biology, the aesthetic and scientific quality of the Chengjiang fossils.

Author : Stefan Bengtson
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231080883
Total Pages : 642 pages
Book Rating : 4.80/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Early Life on Earth written by Stefan Bengtson and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is organized around three themes: the origin and early diversification of life during the Archean Eon; the maturation of life and the Earth during the long Proterozoic Eon; and the explosive diversification of multicellular life that marks the dawn of the Phanerozoic Eon. The contributors discuss the coherence of history, the combinatorial generation of taxonomic diversity, early Metazoan evolution, and the Cambrian explosion.

Author : Max K. Hecht
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 146152878X
Total Pages : 469 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Biology written by Max K. Hecht and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After volume 33, this book series was replaced by the journal "Evolutionary Biology." Please visit www.springer.com/11692 for further information. The current volume includes articles on the conceptual relationship of ontogeny, phylogeny, and classification; correlation studies of spatial patterns of genetic variation; and the evolution of flower display and reward.

Author : Ronald Singer
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134271417
Total Pages : 1153 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Encyclopedia of Paleontology written by Ronald Singer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 1153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Encyclopedia of Paleontology is designed to address the shortage of general reference works on both vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology and to serve the needs of students and lay persons interested in the field. As the encyclopedia aims to provide basic information, the majority of the 350 entries are devoted to explanations of paleontological concepts and techniques, examinations of the evolutionary development of particular organisms and biological features, profiles of major discoveries, and biographies of leading scientists. Each entry includes an essay and a further reading list. An international team of 200 leading experts in the field has prepared the illustrations and the essays, which range from concise descriptions to comprehensive discussions.

Author : Henry Gee
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226284972
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Shaking the Tree written by Henry Gee and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2000-05 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nature has published news about the history of life ever since its first issue in 1869, in which T. H. Huxley ("Darwin's bulldog") wrote about Triassic dinosaurs. In recent years, the field has enjoyed a tremendous flowering due to new investigative techniques drawn from cladistics (a revolutionary method for charting evolutionary relationships) and molecular biology. Shaking the Tree brings together nineteen review articles written for Nature over the past decade by many of the major figures in paleontology and evolution, from Stephen Jay Gould to Simon Conway Morris. Each article is brief, accessible, and opinionated, providing "shoot from the hip" accounts of the latest news and debates. Topics covered include major extinction events, homeotic genes and body plans, the origin and evolution of the primates, and reconstructions of phylogenetic trees for a wide variety of groups. The editor, Henry Gee, gives new commentary and updated references. Shaking the Tree is a one-stop resource for engaging overviews of the latest research in the history of life on Earth.