Although the species is one of the fundamental units of biological classification, there is remarkably little consensus among biologists about what defines a species, even within distinct sub-disciplines. The literature of paleobiology, in particular, is littered with qualifiers and cautions about applying the term to the fossil record or equating such species with those recognized among living organisms. In Species and Speciation in the Fossil Record, experts in the field examine how they conceive of species of fossil animals and consider the implications these different approaches have for thinking about species in the context of macroevolution.After outlining views of the Modern Synthesis of evolutionary disciplines and detailing the development within paleobiology of quantitative methods for documenting and analyzing variation within fossil assemblages, contributors explore the challenges of recognizing and defining species from fossil specimens—and offer potential solutions. Addressing both the tempo and mode of speciation over time, they show how with careful interpretation and a clear species concept, fossil species may be sufficiently robust for meaningful paleobiological analyses. Indeed, they demonstrate that the species concept, if more refined, could unearth a wealth of information about the interplay between species origins and extinctions, between local and global climate change, and greatly deepen our understanding of the evolution of life.

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Yes, you can access Species and Speciation in the Fossil Record by Warren D. Allmon, Margaret M. Yacobucci, Warren D. Allmon,Margaret M. Yacobucci in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Sciences biologiques & Science générale. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Year

2016

ISBN

9780226377582

Topic

Sciences biologiques

Subtopic

Science générale

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Introduction: Taking Fossil Species Seriously
Chapter 1. The “Species Concept” and the Beginnings of Paleobiology
Chapter 2. The Species Problem: Concepts, Conflicts, and Patterns Preserved in the Fossil Record
Chapter 3. Studying Species in the Fossil Record: A Review and Recommendations for a More Unified Approach
Chapter 4. The Stages of Speciation: A Stepwise Framework for Analysis of Speciation in the Fossil Record
Chapter 5. Morphology and Molecules: An Integrated Comparison of Phenotypic and Genetic Rates of Evolution
Chapter 6. Fitting Ancestral Age-Dependent Speciation Models to Fossil Data
Chapter 7. Contrasting Patterns of Speciation in Reef Corals and Their Relationship to Population Connectivity
Chapter 8. Towards a Model for Speciation in Ammonoids
Chapter 9. Species of Decapoda (Crustacea) in the Fossil Record: Patterns, Problems, and Progress
Chapter 10. Fossil Species as Data: A Perspective from Echinoderms
Chapter 11. Species and the Fossil Record of Fishes
Chapter 12. The Impact of Invasive Species on Speciation: Lessons from the Fossil Record
Chapter 13. Fossil Species Lineages and Their Defining Traits: Taxonomic “Usefulness” and Evolutionary Modes
Chapter 14. Geographic Clines, Chronoclines, and the Fossil Record: Implications for Speciation Theory
List of Contributors
Index