Major Events in the History of LifeJ. William Schopf Major Events in the History of Life, present six chapters that summarize our understanding of crucial events that shaped the development of the earth's environment and the course of biological evolution over some four billion years of geological time. The subjects are covered by acknowledged leaders in their fields span an enormous sweep of biologic history, from the formation of planet Earth and the origin of living systems to our earliest records of human activity. Several chapters present new data and new syntheses, or summarized results of new types of analysis, material not usually available in current college textbooks. |
Contents
CHAPTER | 2 |
CHAPTER | 3 |
CHEMICAL COMPONENTS OF LIVING ORGANISMS | 6 |
EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORGANIC SYNTHESES | 17 |
CHAPTER 5 | 24 |
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS | 25 |
EVIDENCE OF PRECAMBRIAN LIFE | 32 |
THE OLDEST FOSSILS | 40 |
ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE EARLIEST LAND PLANTS | 95 |
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS | 113 |
A HISTORY OF VERTEBRATE SUCCESSES | 119 |
Therapsids Advanced Mammallike Reptiles | 127 |
REFERENCES CITED | 139 |
MAJOR EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND | 141 |
PALEOECOLOGY OF HOMINID EMERGENCE | 147 |
ETHOLOGY AND ECOLOGY | 158 |
THE PROTEROZOIC EVOLUTION OF PRIMITIVE PROKARYOTES | 49 |
EVOLUTION OF THE EARLIEST ANIMALS | 65 |
THE ENIGMA OF EDIACARA | 72 |
LEGLESS LOBOPODS NAKED HALKIERIIDS AND TOOTHED TERRORS | 84 |
GLOSSARY | 177 |
| 185 | |
Common terms and phrases
abundant acritarchs adenine aerobic Africa amino acids anaerobic animals Archean atmosphere bacteria biological Cambrian carbon dioxide carbonaceous cells chemical cherts Conway Morris cyanobacteria deposits Devonian Dickinsonia dinosaurs earliest early Ediacara fauna electric discharge energy environment erectus eukaryotic evidence evolution evolutionary evolved extinct Figure filaments formation fossil record gametophyte geologic growth surface habilis hominid Homo hydrogen isotopic Isua J. W. Schopf known land plants layers living metazoans meteorite micro-algae microbes microfossils microorganisms Miller mineral modern molecular oxygen molecules morphological Murchison Myr B.P. occur oldest organic compounds organic matter Orgel origin oxygen-producing Phanerozoic photosynthesis phyla Phyllozoon Pilbara polymerization prebiotic prebiotic synthesis Precambrian primitive earth primitive ocean produced prokaryotes proteins Proterozoic Pteridinium purines pyrimidines reaction ribose Runnegar sapiens sedimentary sediments Seilacher Shale shown Silurian species specimen sporangia spores sporophyte stromatolites sugars Supergroup Swaziland taxa temperature template therapsids tracheophytes types undermat Univ Vendian vertebrate yield
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Page 188 - MacDonald is associate director of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles.