The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom AnimaliaWinner, 2009 Victorian Premier's Literary Prize for Science Writing Among the major events in evolutionary history, few rival in importance the appearance of animals. The Rise of Animals—a significant reference providing a comprehensive synthesis of the early radiation of the animal kingdom—fully captures this moment in geologic time. Five of the world's leading paleontologists take us on a journey to the most important fossil sites that serve as unique windows to the earliest animal life—including the Ediacara Hills of Australia, the Russian taiga and tundra, the deserts of southwest Africa, and the rugged coasts of Newfoundland. Each of these places holds a rich fossil record that reveals how the animal form came into existence and why some groups succeeded while others failed. The authors describe the diversification of the Kingdom Animalia into the familiar body plans of today: from simple animals such as sponges to complex groups like mollusks, arthropods, echinoderms, and chordates that appear explosively in the Cambrian. This exquisitely illustrated book reveals the early moments of an evolutionary process that eventually resulted in our own species. An essential resource for paleontologists, biologists, geologists, and teachers, The Rise of Animals is the best single reference on one of earth’s most significant events. |
Contents
Earths Structure | 10 |
Atmospheres Past and Present | 16 |
Beginnings of a Modern Earth | 25 |
The Proterozoic Fossil Record | 31 |
Increasing Oxygen Saline Giants Cold Cradles and Global Playgrounds | 38 |
A Plethora of Body Plans | 44 |
The Misty Coasts of Newfoundland | 53 |
Fossils of Geometric Design | 60 |
An International Reference Point | 145 |
Prospecting Local Flavor and International Conferences | 151 |
The Siberian Tundra | 157 |
IsolationRewards and Challenges | 164 |
The Central Urals Fauna and Its Environmental Setting | 171 |
Beyond the Major Sites | 185 |
The Enigma of South America | 191 |
A Few Other Spots | 199 |
The Future | 66 |
The Nama Fauna of Southern Africa | 69 |
A Plethora of Petalonamae | 75 |
And Then There Were Shells | 83 |
The Ediacara Hills | 89 |
Early Interpretations of the Ediacara Biota | 104 |
Environment Ecology and Preservation Styles of the Ediacarans | 110 |
Other Fossil Localities of the White Sea Region | 130 |
The White Sea Metazoan Fauna | 136 |
Fueling the Animalia | 219 |
Ice or Impact? | 226 |
A Dramatic CrossroadsThe Cambrian Explosion? | 233 |
Atlas of Precambrian Metazoans | 257 |
Ediacarans reconstructed for Australia Post Creatures | 260 |
293 | |
315 | |