Body Size In Mammalian Paleobiology

Author : John Douglas Damuth
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521360999
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Body Size in Mammalian Paleobiology written by John Douglas Damuth and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1990-11-30 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a growing interest in the biological implications of body size in animals. This parameter is now being used to make inferences and predictions about not only the habits and habitat of a particular species, but also as a way to understand patterns and biases in the fossil record. This valuable collection of essays presents and evaluates techniques of body-mass estimation and reviews current and potential applications of body-size estimates in paleobiology. Coverage is particularly detailed for carnivores, primates and ungulates, but information is also presented on marsupials, rodents and proboscideans. Body Size in Mammalian Paleobiology will prove useful to researchers and graduate students in paleontology, mammalogy, ecology and evolution programmes. It is designed to be both a practical handbook for researchers making and using body-size estimates, and a sourcebook of ideas for applying body size to paleontological problems and directions for future research.

Author : Felisa A. Smith
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022601228X
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Animal Body Size written by Felisa A. Smith and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-08-09 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Galileo wrote that “nature cannot produce a horse as large as twenty ordinary horses or a giant ten times taller than an ordinary man unless by miracle or by greatly altering the proportions of his limbs and especially of his bones”—a statement that wonderfully captures a long-standing scientific fascination with body size. Why are organisms the size that they are? And what determines their optimum size? This volume explores animal body size from a macroecological perspective, examining species, populations, and other large groups of animals in order to uncover the patterns and causal mechanisms of body size throughout time and across the globe. The chapters represent diverse scientific perspectives and are divided into two sections. The first includes chapters on insects, snails, birds, bats, and terrestrial mammals and discusses the body size patterns of these various organisms. The second examines some of the factors behind, and consequences of, body size patterns and includes chapters on community assembly, body mass distribution, life history, and the influence of flight on body size.

Author : Mikael Fortelius
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231113588
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Geology and Paleontology of the Miocene Sinap Formation, Turkey written by Mikael Fortelius and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sinap Formation in central Turkey near the city of Ankara preserves a rich record of mammalian evolution from about 15 to 5 million years ago and is one of the few sites in this region that also has fossil apes. It is unique among other fossil localities from Europe to Western Asia in that it has a thick stratigraphic section and preserves a long record of geological time. The authors have been able to piece together a detailed record of faunal change and, by adding paleomagnetic and radiometric dating techniques, have produced a chronostratigraphy for the Formation. Because of the dual importance of the rich record of the fossils, and the dating of the sediments, the editors have been able to attract some of the leading authorities on Eurasian Neogene paleontology and geology to contribute to this reference work. The results from the Sinap Formation will be the template against which other sites from Europe to Asia are compared.

Author : Sergio F. Vizcaíno
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 025307049X
Total Pages : 490 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Vertebrate Paleobiology written by Sergio F. Vizcaíno and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2024-08-20 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential introduction to the paleobiology of animal body size, locomotion, and feeding. Paleobiology is the branch of evolutionary biology involved in the reconstruction of the life histories of extinct organisms. It answers the questions, How do we use fossils to reconstruct the size of prehistoric animals, and How did they move and feed? Drawing on a rich inventory of South American Miocene fossils, Vertebrate Paleobiology: A Form and Function Approach examines different aspects of functional morphology and how they are tested by paleontologists, anatomists, and zoologists. Beginning with a review of various methodologies to interpret fossils, the authors turn to the main concepts important to functional morphology and give examples of each. They conclude by showing how functional morphology enables a dynamic, broadscale reconstruction of the life of prehistoric animals during the South American Miocene. Originally published in Spanish, Vertebrate Paleobiology: A Form and Function Approach provides a broad sweep of recent developments, including theoretical and practical techniques, applied to the study of extinct vertebrates.

Author : Eric J. Sargis
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1402069979
Total Pages : 439 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology written by Eric J. Sargis and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-05-21 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book celebrates the contributions of Dr. Frederick S. Szalay to the field of Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology. Professor Szalay is a strong advocate for biologically and evolutionarily meaningful character analysis. He has published about 200 articles, six monographs, and six books on this subject. This book features subjects such as the evolution and adaptation of mammals and provides up-to-date articles on the evolutionary morphology of a wide range of mammalian groups.

Author : Gregory P. Dietl
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022650686X
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.69/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Conservation Paleobiology written by Gregory P. Dietl and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-11-17 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In conservation, perhaps no better example exists of the past informing the present than the return of the California condor to the Vermilion Cliffs of Arizona. Extinct in the region for nearly one hundred years, condors were successfully reintroduced starting in the 1990s in an effort informed by the fossil record—condor skeletal remains had been found in the area’s late-Pleistocene cave deposits. The potential benefits of applying such data to conservation initiatives are unquestionably great, yet integrating the relevant disciplines has proven challenging. Conservation Paleobiology gathers a remarkable array of scientists—from Jeremy B. C. Jackson to Geerat J. Vermeij—to provide an authoritative overview of how paleobiology can inform both the management of threatened species and larger conservation decisions. Studying endangered species is difficult. They are by definition rare, some exist only in captivity, and for those still in their native habitats any experimentation can potentially have a negative effect on survival. Moreover, a lack of long-term data makes it challenging to anticipate biotic responses to environmental conditions that are outside of our immediate experience. But in the fossil and prefossil records—from natural accumulations such as reefs, shell beds, and caves to human-made deposits like kitchen middens and archaeological sites—enlightening parallels to the Anthropocene can be found that might serve as a primer for present-day predicaments. Offering both deep-time and near-time perspectives and exploring a range of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and taxa from terrestrial as well as aquatic habitats, Conservation Paleobiology is a sterling demonstration of how the past can be used to manage for the future, giving new hope for the creation and implementation of successful conservation programs.

Author : Darin A. Croft
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319942654
Total Pages : 410 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Methods in Paleoecology written by Darin A. Croft and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-10-27 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume focuses on the reconstruction of past ecosystems and provides a comprehensive review of current techniques and their application in exemplar studies. The 18 chapters address a wide variety of topics that span vertebrate paleobiology and paleoecology (body mass, postcranial functional morphology, evolutionary dental morphology, microwear and mesowear, ecomorphology, mammal community structure analysis), contextual paleoenvironmental studies (paleosols and sedimentology, ichnofossils, pollen, phytoliths, plant macrofossils), and special techniques (bone microstructure, biomineral isotopes, inorganic isotopes, 3-D morphometrics, and ecometric modeling). A final chapter discusses how to integrate results of these studies with taphonomic data in order to more accurately characterize an ancient ecosystem. Current investigators, advanced undergraduates, and graduate students interested in the field of paleoecology will find this book immensely useful. The length and structure of the volume also makes it suitable for teaching a college-level course on reconstructing Cenozoic ecosystems.

Author : Isaac Casanovas-Vilar
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031174917
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolution of Cenozoic Land Mammal Faunas and Ecosystems written by Isaac Casanovas-Vilar and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-09-09 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents an array of different case studies which take as primary material data sourced from the NOW (‘New and Old Worlds’) database of fossil mammals. The NOW database was one of the very first large paleobiological databases, and since 1996 it has been expanded from including mainly Neogene European land mammals to cover the entire Cenozoic at a global scale. In the last two decades the number of works that are based in the use of huge databases to explore ecological and evolutionary questions has increased exponentially, and even though the importance of big data in paleobiological research has been outlined in selected chapters of general works, no volume has appeared before this one which solely focuses on the databases as a primary source in reconstructing the past. The purpose of this book is to provide an illustrative volume showing the importance of big data in paleobiological research, and presenting a broad array of unpublished examples and case studies. The book is mainly aimed to professional palaeobiologists working with Cenozoic land mammals, but the scope of the book is broad enough to fit the interest for evolutionary biologists, paleoclimatologists and paleoecologists. The volume is divided in four parts. The first part includes two chapters on the development of large paleobiological databases, providing a first-hand account on the logic and the functioning of these databases. This is a much-needed perspective which is ignored by most researchers and users of such databases and, even if centered in the NOW database, the lessons that can be learned from this part can be extended to other examples. After this introductory part, the body of the book follows and is divided into three parts: patterns in regional faunas; large scale patterns and processes; and ecological, biogeographical and evolutionary patterns of key taxa. Each chapter is written by well-known specialists in the field, with some participation of members of the NOW advisory board. The array of selected mammal taxa ranges from carnivores, equids, ruminants and rodents to the genus Homo. The topics studied also include the diversification and radiation of major clades, large-scale paleobiogeographical patterns, the evolution of ecomorphological patterns and paleobiological problems such as evolution of body size or species longevity. In most cases the results are discussed in relation to protracted environmental or paleogeographic changes.

Author : Assaf Marom
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319466461
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Human Paleontology and Prehistory written by Assaf Marom and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-01-24 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of the book is to present original and though-provoking essays in human paleontology and prehistory, which are at the forefront of human evolutionary research, in honor of Professor Yoel Rak (a leading scholar in paleoanthropology).​ ​The volume presents a collection of original papers contributed by many of Yoel's friends and colleagues from all over the globe. Contributions from experts around the globe fall roughly into three broad categories: Reflections on some of the broad theoretical questions of evolution, and especially about human evolution; the early hominins, with special emphasis on Australopithecus afarensis and Paranthropus; and the Neanderthals, that contentious group of our closest extinct relatives. Within and across these categories, nearly every paper addresses combinations of methodological, analytical and theoretical questions that are pertinent to the whole human evolutionary time span. This book will appeal most to scholars and advanced students in paleoanthropology, human paleontology and prehistoric archaeology.

Author : Binita Phartiyal
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031131193
Total Pages : 456 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Climate Change and Environmental Impacts: Past, Present and Future Perspective written by Binita Phartiyal and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-01-17 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Earth’s climate varies even without human influence but the acceleration in the changing pattern with cause and effect by/to the civilisation is a matter of concern to scientists. These patterns are lessons to understand future trends and ways and means for mitigation. The extreme weather events in almost every region of the globe involving excessive loss of human life and property are causing anxiety in society and posing challenges before scientists and planners. Cyclical variations in the Earth’s climate occur at multiple time scales, from years to decades, centuries, and millennia. Cycles at each scale are caused by a variety of physical mechanisms. In the last 65 Ma only, there have been several cycles of glacial advances and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era and human civilization. A multidisciplinary approach in studying the Earth’s changing climate will provide a holistic view and guide us in future planning and programming.