Living Dinosaurs (eBook)

Gareth Dyke is a vertebrate palaeontologist who specialises on the evolution of birds and their flight. He has worked on birds of all ages, from the 140 million years old Archaeopteryx right through to the bones of living ducks and gamebirds. He has searched for fossils all over the world, but has a particular interest in the geology and palaeontology of Eastern Europe. He has worked in Ireland since 2002. Gary Kaiser worked as a field biologist in Canada's migratory bird program from 1968 until retirement in 1999. He specialized in the capture and tagging of birds, particularly seabirds but began to study avian evolution in 1995. He combined this new interest with knowleddge gained from handling birds to write Inner Bird in 2007. He has also contributed to Birds of British Columbia and Seabirds of the Russian Far East.

Foreword.

List of Contributors.

Preface.

Part 1 Introduction: the Deep Evolutionary History of Modern
Birds.

Introduction: Changing the Questions in Avian Paleontology
(Gary Kaiser and Gareth Dyke).

1 Theropod Diversity and the Refinement of Avian Characteristics
(Peter J. Makovicky and Lindsay E. Zanno).

2 Why Were There Dinosaurs? Why Are There Birds? (Peter Ward
and Robert Berner).

3 Pre-modern Birds: Avian Divergences in the Mesozoic
(Jingmai O'Connor, Luis M. Chiappe, and Alyssa Bell).

Part 2 "The Contribution of Paleontology to Ornithology": the
Diversity of Modern Birds: Fossils and the Avian Tree of
Life.

4 Progress and Obstacles in the Phylogenetics of Modern Birds
(Bradley C. Livezey).

5 The Utility of Fossil Taxa and the Evolution of Modern Birds:
Commentary and Analysis (Gareth Dyke and Eoin Gardiner).

6 Penguins Past, Present, and Future: Trends in the Evolution of
the Sphenisciformes (Daniel T. Ksepka and Tatsuro Ando).

7 Phorusrhacids: the Terror Birds (Herculano Alvarenga, Luis
Chiappe, and Sara Bertelli).

8 The Pseudo-toothed Birds (Aves, Odontopterygiformes) and their
Bearing on the Early Evolution of Modern Birds (Estelle
Bourdon).

9 Phylogeny and Diversification of Modern Passerines (F.
Keith Barker).

Part 3 The Evolution of Key Avian Attributes.

10 Morphological and Behavioral Correlates of Flapping Flight
(Bret W. Tobalske, Douglas R. Warrick, Brandon E. Jackson, and
Kenneth P. Dial).

11 Evolution of the Avian Brain and Senses (Stig Walsh and
Angela Milner).

12 Evolving Perceptions on the Antiquity of the Modern Avian
Tree (Joseph W. Brown and M. Van Tuinen).

13 Major Events in Avian Genome Evolution (Chris L. Organ and
Scott V. Edwards).

14 Bird Evolution Across the K-Pg Boundary and the Basal
Neornithine Diversification (Bent E. K. Lindow).

15 Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity in Marine and Aquatic
Birds (Gary Kaiser).

Part 4 The Future: Conservation and Climate Change.

16 The State of the World's Birds and the Future of Avian
Diversity (Gavin H. Thomas).

Glossary.

Index.

Colour plates.

"This book is a very useful synopsis of current
understanding of avian evolution." (Open University
Geological Society Journal, 1 May 2013)

"No student in the field of bird history should be without
this work. Additionally, this volume will inform those seriously
interested in vertebrate evolution." (The Quarterly
Review of Biology, 1 December 2012)

"In short, Living Dinosaurs is a most worthy and
well crafted volume. Its strength is in providing a surprising
number of really good reviews of many aspects of bird evolution and
history, generally written by leading workers in the respective
areas. I personally found the book highly useful in my own research
and ended up citing many of its chapters in a recently published
review of the avialan fossil record (Naish
2012)." (Scientific American, 26 August
2012)

"All in all, the book might be useful for those who wish
to keep abreast of various aspects of avian evolution, especially
specialists in the field and those with specific interests in the
topics covered." (The Auk, 2012)

"Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through
professionals." (Choice, 1 November 2011)

"Living Dinosaurs offers a snapshot of our current understanding
of the origin and evolution of birds . . . a must have for those
with an interest in avian paleontology and/or systematics".
(Guardian, 8 May 2011)

"In Living Dinosaurs: The Evolutionary History of Modern Birds,
researchers Gareth Dyke and Gary Kaiser set out to unite
ornithologists and paleontologists to form a modern understanding
of the evolution of birds at the beginning of the 21st century."
(Bioscience Technology Online, 5 April 2011)