الصفحة 1
الصفحة 1
Hominin environments in the East African Pliocene : An assessment of the Faunal Evidence
This volume presents the work of researchers at many sites spanning the East African Pliocene. This volume aims to synthesize large amounts of faunal data, and to present the evolution of East African vertebrates in the context of environmental and climatic changes during the Pliocene.
High-Latitude Bioerosion : The Kosterfjord Experiment
Bioerosion is the major force driving the degradation of marine skeletal carbonates and limestone coasts. A wide spectrum of mechanical and/or chemical boring, scraping or crushing organisms break down calcereous substrates, comprising various grazers, macroborers and especially microborers. Their traces on and within hard substrates are known from fossil carbonates as old as the Precambrian and serve as valuable palaeoenvironmental indicators. Bioerosion processes have been extensively studied in tropical seas, while corrsponding investigations from cold-temperate to polar settings remain sparse. For the first time, an experimental study yields insight into the pace of carbonate degradation and the chronology of boring community development along a bathymetric gradient in a high-latitude setting.
Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology
By reconstructing the ecological history of coral reefs, the authors are able to evaluate whether or not recent, dramatic changes to reef ecosystems are novel events or part of a long-term trend or cycle. The contributions examine the interacting causes of change, which include hurricane damage, regional outbreaks of coral-consuming predators, disease epidemics, sea-level rise, nutrient loading, global warming and acidification of the oceans. Crucial predictions about the future of coral reefs lead to practical strategies for the successful restoration and management of reef ecosystems.
Deconstructing Olduvai : A taphonomic study of the bed I sites
Plio-Pleistocene sites are a rare occurrence in same sites. This combination of factors is the archaeological record. When they are unique in East African Plio-Pleistocene uncovered, the faunal materials so crucial to archaeology and has stimulated much debate unlocking their behavioral meaning are often over the socioeconomic function of early sites. poorly preserved. For example, at Koobi Fora, Influential models of early hominid behavior Kenya, a prolific region that preserves several in the late 1960s and early 1970s were based classic Plio-Pleistocene sites, many bones are exclusively on information from Olduvai affected by poor cortical surface preservation Gorge (Leakey, 1971).
Current Developments in Bioerosion
The book opens with papers on the evolutionary significance of bioerosion, and subsequently ventures out to explore the remarkable diversity of bioerosive biota. From microboring bacteria to grazing echinoids, the studies use a variety of techniques ranging from field observations to sophisticated micro-computed tomography to investigate the ecological and environmental role of these organisms, including symbiotic interactions and alteration of non-carbonate substrates.
Cephalopods Present and Past : New Insights and Fresh Perspectives
Cephalopods are diverse, highly developed molluscs capable of swimming and jet propulsion. These animals are an important component of present-day marine ecos- tems throughout the world and comprise approximately 900 species. They also have an extraordinary fossil record, extending back to the Cambrian Period, with as many as 10,000 extinct species. Throughout their long history, they have experienced sp- tacular radiations and near-total extinctions. Because of their superb fossil record, they also serve as ideal index fossils to subdivide geologic time. This book touches on many of these themes, and it treats both fossil and present-day cephalopods.
