Search results for ""Author Felisa A. Smith""

What can the interactions of ancient mammals and their environments tell us about the present—and the future?Classic paleontology has focused on the study of fossils and the reconstruction of lineages of extinct species. But as diverse fossils of animals and plants were unearthed and catalogued, it became possible to reconstruct more elaborate ecosystems, tying together plants, animals, and geology. By the second half of the twentieth century, this effort gave birth to the field of paleoecology: the study of the interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. In Mammalian Paleoecology, Felisa Smith broadly considers extinct mammals in an ecological context. Arguing that the past has much to teach us and that mammals, which display an impressive array of diverse life history and ecological characteristics, are the ideal organism through which to view the fossil record, Smith• reviews the history, major fossil-hunting figures, and fundamental principles of paleoecology, including stratigraphy, dating, and taphonomy• discusses the importance of mammal body size, how to estimate size, and what size and shape reveal about long-dead organisms• explains the structure, function, and utility of different types of mammal teeth• highlights other important methods and proxies used in modern paleoecology, including stable isotopes, ancient DNA, and paleomidden analyses• assesses nontraditional fossils• presents readers with several case studies that describe how the fossil record can help inform the scientific discussion on anthropogenic climate changeMammalian Paleoecology is an approachable overview of how we obtain information from fossils and what this information can tell us about the environments of the distant past. It will profoundly affect the way paleontologists and climatologists view the lives of ancient mammals.

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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.

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Macroecology is an approach to science that emphasizes the description and explanation of patterns and processes at large spatial and temporal scales. Some scientists liken it to seeing the forest through the trees, giving the proverbial phrase an ecological twist. The term itself was first introduced to the modern literature by James H. Brown and Brian A. Maurer, and it is Brown's classic study Macroecology that is credited with inspiring the broad-scale subfield of ecology. But as with all subfields, many modern-day elements of macroecology are implicit in earlier works dating back decades, even centuries. Foundations of Macroecology charts the evolutionary trajectory of these concepts-from the species-area relationship and the latitudinal gradient of species richness to the relationship between body size and metabolic rate-through forty-six landmark papers originally published between 1920 and 1998. Divided into two parts - "Macroecology before Macroecology" and "Dimensions of Macroecology" - the collection also takes the long view, with each paper accompanied by an original commentary from a contemporary expert in the field that places it in a broader context and explains its foundational role. Providing a solid, coherent assessment of the history, current state, and potential future of the field, Foundations of Macroecology will be an essential text for students and teachers of ecology alike.

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Macroecology is an approach to science that emphasizes the description and explanation of patterns and processes at large spatial and temporal scales. Some scientists liken it to seeing the forest through the trees, giving the proverbial phrase an ecological twist. The term itself was first introduced to the modern literature by James H. Brown and Brian A. Maurer, and it is Brown's classic study Macroecology that is credited with inspiring the broad-scale subfield of ecology. But as with all subfields, many modern-day elements of macroecology are implicit in earlier works dating back decades, even centuries. Foundations of Macroecology charts the evolutionary trajectory of these concepts - from the species-area relationship and the latitudinal gradient of species richness to the relationship between body size and metabolic rate - through forty-six landmark papers originally published between 1920 and 1998. Divided into two parts - "Macroecology before Macroecology" - and "Dimensions of Macroecology" - the collection also takes the long view, with each paper accompanied by an original commentary from a contemporary expert in the field that places it in a broader context and explains its foundational role. Providing a solid, coherent assessment of the history, current state, and potential future of the field, Foundations of Macroecology will be an essential text for students and teachers of ecology alike.

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