Fossils And Evolution - Softcover

Kemp, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198504241 ISBN 13: 9780198504245

Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A., 1999

Synopsis

Rather than survey of the extensive data, this book focuses on the ideas, methodology and scope of contemporary palaeobiology. It examines the complex interdependence of evolutionary theory and the interpretation of the fossil record. The author demonstrates that this is not the circular argument between pattern and process sometimes alleged, but a matter of understanding carefully the interrelationship between palaeontological and neontological evidence. The first part of the book consists of four chapters outlining the central principles: the nature of the pattern/process relationship, taxonomic methods and the analysis of pattern, evolutionary theory and the analysis of process, and the nature of incompleteness of the fossil record and what to do about it. The second part is then devoted to five central areas of contemporary research in evolutionary palaeobiology: fossils and phylogenetic inference; the mechanism of speciation; taxonomic turnover on the geological time-scale; mass-extinctions; and the origin of new higher taxa. In each case the nature of the questions and the relevant kinds of evidence, including such new sources as molecular sequence data and stable isotope ratios, are reviewed.

About this title

Review

This extended essay is expansive, well researched and broad in scope. More importantly, it is intelligently written and assumes a certian familiarity with the ideas on board ... Readers of TREE should welcome it in to their personal and institutional libraries. (Kevin Padian, TREE)

Synopsis

The book is about the ideas, methodology and scope of contemporary palaeobiology, rather than a comprehensive, detailed survey of the factual basis of the subject. It addresses the issue of how on the one hand evolutionary theory is necessary for interpretation of the fossil record, and yet on the other the fossils themselves can contribute to evolutionary theory. This is shown not to be the circular argument between pattern and process sometimes alleged, but a matter of understanding carefully the interrelationship between palaeontological and neontological evidence. The book is organised into two sections. Part 1 consists of four chapters outlining the principles, namely: the nature of the pattern/process relationship, taxonomic methods and the analysis of pattern, evolutionary theory and the analysis of process and the nature of incompleteness of the fossil record and what to do about it. Armed with these principles and methods, Part 2 is devoted to the five central areas of contemporary research in evolutionary palaeobiology.

These are: fossils and phylogenetic inference; the mechanism of speciation; taxonomic turnover on the geological time-scale; mass-extinctions; the origin of new higher taxa. In each case the nature of the questions and the relevant kinds of evidence, including such new sources as molecular sequence data and stable isotope ratios where appropriate, are reviewed. The extent to which palaeobiology has, and has not yet, contributed to providing the sought after answers is made clear.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A.
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198504241
• ISBN 13: 9780198504245
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296