Extinctions in the History of Life

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Notes on contributors......Page 9
Preface......Page 13
Introduction......Page 15
Brief history of fossil extinction studies......Page 17
Detecting extinction in the incomplete fossil record......Page 21
Measuring extinction......Page 24
Phanerozoic diversity and extinction patterns......Page 27
Decline in background extinction......Page 30
Mass extinctions......Page 31
Extinction periodicity......Page 35
Extinction selectivity......Page 36
Interpretation of extinction patterns and processes......Page 37
Interpreting extinction patterns......Page 38
Interpreting extinction processes......Page 40
Conclusions......Page 43
Further reading......Page 44
References......Page 45
J. William Schopf......Page 49
The \'Standard View\' of life\'s history......Page 50
Life in the Precambrian......Page 52
Cyanobacterial \'living fossils\'......Page 53
Status quo evolution......Page 59
Cyanobacterial versatility......Page 61
Why are cyanobateria so tolerant?......Page 63
The rise of eukaryotic (nucleated) life......Page 64
Eukaryotes perfect the art of cloning......Page 65
Sex: a key advance......Page 67
Why does sex matter?......Page 68
Evolution evolved......Page 70
If it\'s not broken, don\'t fix it......Page 71
Life-s two-part history......Page 73
References......Page 74
Introduction......Page 75
The Westphalian-Stephanian extinction (c. 305 Ma ago)......Page 80
The Permian-Triassic extinction (c. 251 Ma ago)......Page 83
The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction (c. 65.5 Ma)......Page 88
Floral change at the Paleocene0Eocene boundary (c. 55.5 Ma ago)......Page 93
Conclusions......Page 96
Summary......Page 99
Appendix 3.1 Brief descriptions of the major types of land plants......Page 101
Appendix 3.2 Megafossils, mesofossils, microfossils and resolving extinctions in the plant fossil record......Page 104
References......Page 105
Introduction......Page 113
Reefs during the beginning of the mesozoic......Page 114
Other biological indicators of early mesozoic conditions......Page 117
Causes of long-term ecological degradation......Page 119
Causes of early mesozoic mass extinctions......Page 126
Implications......Page 127
Conclusions......Page 129
References......Page 130
What are mass extinctions?......Page 133
The nature of the evidence......Page 136
End-Cretaceous impact......Page 137
Other impacts......Page 139
Massive volcanism......Page 141
Regression......Page 147
Transgression......Page 149
Marine anoxia......Page 151
Global warming......Page 154
Global cooling......Page 158
Strangelove oceans......Page 160
References......Page 162
Introduction......Page 165
The Big Five......Page 166
Extinction selectivity......Page 167
The complexities of recovery......Page 170
Geographic variation......Page 172
Not all survivors are winners......Page 175
Summary and implications for the future......Page 185
References......Page 188
Glossary......Page 193
Index......Page 201