Description
Book SynopsisAn 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.
Trade ReviewIt's a beautiful book and the definitive account of the period... I love it and expect it to become a classic. -- Jeff Hecht New Scientist 2008 The Rise of Animals offers a much-needed avenue to communicate to the general public the past decade's exciting discoveries of Ediacaran fossils. -- Shuhai Xiao Science 2008 Recommended. Informed general readers; researchers/faculty; professionals/practitioners. Choice 2008 A one-stop shop for up-to-date information about this puzzling meagerie... non-professionals will likewise find that it is a fine-looking book that captures the excitement of scientific discovery. -- Gregory D. Edgecombe Bioscience
Table of ContentsForeword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: The Background: The Archean and Proterozoic Eons
Chapter 1. The Background. The Archean (4.5 Million to 2500 Million Years Ago)
Chapter 2. The Background. The Proterozoic (2.5 Billion to 542 Million Years Ago)
Part II: The Fossil Sites: Rare and Extraordinary
Introduction
Chapter 3. The Misty Coasts of Newfoundland
Chapter 4. The Nama Fauna of Southern Africa
Chapter 5. The Ediacara Hills
Chapter 6. The White Sea's Windswept Coasts
Chapter 7. Podolia's Green Valleys
Chapter 8. The Siberian Tundra
Chapter 9. The Urals
Chapter 10. The Canadian Cordillera
Chapter 11. Beyond the Major Sites
Part III: Other Evidence of Animalia
Chapter 12. First Trace of Motion
Chapter 13. The World of the Very Small: Fueling the Animalia
Part IV: A Dramatic Crossroads—The Cambrian "Explosion"?
Chapter 14. Body Plans, Strange and Familiar, and the Enigma of 542
Atlas of Precambrian Metazoans
Bibliography
Index
