Fossil Horses - Bruce J. MacFadden

Fossil Horses

Systematics, Paleobiology, and Evolution of the Family Equidae
Buch | Softcover
384 Seiten
1994
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-0-521-47708-6 (ISBN)
85,95 inkl. MwSt
This book synthesizes the large body of data and research relevant to an understanding of fossil horses from several disciplines including biology, geology and palaeontology. Using horses as the central theme, the author weaves together in the text such topics as modern geochronology, climate change, extinction, and population biology during the Cenozoic period.
The family Equidae have an extensive fossil record spanning the last 58 million years, and the evolution of the horse has frequently been used as a classic example of long-term evolution. In recent years, however, there have been many important discoveries of fossil horses, and these, in conjunction with such new methods as cladistics, and techniques like precise geochronology, have allowed us to achieve a much greater understanding of the evolution and biology of this important group. This book synthesizes the large body of data and research relevant to an understanding of fossil horses from several disciplines including biology, geology and palaeontology. Using horses as the central theme, the author weaves together in the text such topics as modern geochronology, palaeobiogeography, climate change, evolution and extinction, functional morphology, and population biology during the Cenozoic period.

Preface; 1. Introduction: why study fossil horses?; 2. A renaissance in paleontology; 3. Orthogenesis and scientific thought: old notions die hard; 4. Collections, museums, and exceptional discoveries; 5. Systematics and phylogeny: Ungulata, Perissodactyla, and Equidae; 6. Isotopes, magnetic reversals, fossils, and geological time; 7. Ancient geography, changing climates, dispersal, and vicariance; 8. Evolutionary processes: Variation, speciation, and extinction; 9. Rates of morphological and taxonomic evolution; 10. Trends, laws, direction, and progress in evolution; 11. What's the use? functional morphology of feeding and locomotion; 12. Population dynamics, behavioral ecology, and 'paleoethology'; 13. Fifty-eight million years of community evolution; 14. Epilogue: summary and perspective; Appendix; References; Subject index; Taxonomic index.

Erscheint lt. Verlag 24.6.1994
Zusatzinfo 5 Tables, unspecified; 42 Halftones, unspecified; 129 Line drawings, unspecified
Verlagsort Cambridge
Sprache englisch
Maße 178 x 253 mm
Gewicht 640 g
Themenwelt Naturwissenschaften Geowissenschaften Mineralogie / Paläontologie
ISBN-10 0-521-47708-5 / 0521477085
ISBN-13 978-0-521-47708-6 / 9780521477086
Zustand Neuware
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt?
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
An Optimist's Guide to the Historical Sciences

von Adrian Currie

Buch | Softcover (2024)
MIT Press (Verlag)
34,55