Biotic Response to Global Change: The Last 145 Million Years

by Stephen J. Culver, Peter F. Rawson

Overview

From Cretaceous times to the present, the Earth's climate changed from a very warm, "greenhouse" phase with no ice sheets to the "ice-house" world of today. In this book over forty specialists investigate the many ways that life has reacted to the global environmental changes that have taken place during this period. Coverage details a wide spectrum of animal, plant, and protistan life, with the focus on aspects such as extinctions, diversity, and biogeography. This volume will be an invaluable reference for researchers and graduate students in paleontology, geology, biology, oceanography and climatology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521034197
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/14/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	516
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.72(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

List of contributors; Preface; 1. Introduction Stephen J. Culver and Peter F. Rawson; 2. The Cretaceous world Andrew S. Gale; 3. The Cenozoic world Kevin T. Pickering; 4. Calcareous nannoplankton and global climate change Jackie A. Burnett, Jeremy R. Young and Paul R. Bown; 5. Phenotypic response of foraminifera to episodes of global environmental change Norman Macleod, Nievez Ortiz, Nina Fefferman, William Clyde, Christine Schulter and Jena Maclean; 6. The response of planktonic formanifera to the Late Pliocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation Mark R. Chapman; 7. The response of Cretaceous cephalopods to global change Peter F. Rawson; 8. Global change and the fossil fish record: the relevance of systematics Peter Forey; 9. Response of shallow water foraminiferal paleocommunities to global and regional environmental change Stephen J. Culver and Martin A. Buzas; 10. Intrinsic and extrinsic controls on the diversification of the Bivalvia J. Alistair Crame; 11. Global events and biotic interaction as controls on the evolution of gastropods Noel Morris and John Taylor; 12. Algal symbiosis, and the collapse and recovery of reef communities: Lazarus corals across the K-T boundary Brian R. Rosen; 13. Changes in the diversity, taxic composition and life-history patterns of echinoids over the past 145 million years Andrew B. Smith and Charlotte H. Jeffery; 14. Origin of the modern bryozoan fauna Paul D. Taylor; 15. Angiosperm diversification and Cretaceous environmental change Richard Lupia, Peter R. Crane and Scott Lidgard; 16. Cenozoic evolution of modern plant communities and vegetation Margaret E. Collinson; 17. Leaf physiognomy and climate change Robert A. Spicer; 18. Biotic response to Late Quaternary global change - the pollen record: a case study from the Upper Thames Valley, England Adrian G. Parker; 19. The Cretaceous and Cenozoic record of insects (Hexapoda) with regard to global change Andrew J. Ross, Ed A. Jarzembowski and Stephen J. Brooks; 20. The palaeoclimatological significance of Late Cenozoic Coleoptera: familiar species in very unfamiliar circumstances G. Russell Coope; 21. Amphibians, reptiles and birds: a biogeographical review Angela C. Milner, Andrew R. Milner and Susan E. Evans; 22. Paleogene mammals: crises and ecological change Jeremy J. Hooker; 23. Response of Old World terrestrial vertebrate biotas to Neogene climate change Peter J. Whybrow and Peter Andrews; 24. Mammalian response to global change in the later Quaternary of the British Isles Andrew Currant; 25. Human evolution: how an African primate became global Chris Stringer; 26. The biotic response to global change: a summary Stephen J. Culver and Peter F. Rawson; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"For those of you who are searching for key refernces to support your seminar course on environmental change, might I suggest that you look no further than this substantial volume? ...contains much of relevance for anyone with an interest in the debate concerning global environmental change..." PRISCUM

"It is the first well balanced book I have seen so far on the biotic response to global change...I strongly recommend that all libraries try to possess this excellent book..." Marine Geodesy

"The intended audience includes researchers in geology, evolutionary biology, oceanography, and climatology. Graduate students in these areas will appreciate the breadth of the 74 pages of references. This work will help students realize that rather dramatic climate change is certainly possible even today." Choice

"The volume is an excellent, relatively current summary of the state of the art of many fossil groups...This book is a contribution in the right direction..." Geoscience Canada

"These chapters are well written and clear...this volume is a useful overview of a wide variety of taxa, and contains a lot of useful information." Geological Magazine

From the Publisher