Prothero, D: Bringing Fossils to Life

Preface To the Student: Why Study Fossils? PART I: THE FOSSIL RECORD: A WINDOW ON THE PAST1. The Fossil RecordWhat is a Fossil? How Does an Organism Become a Fossil? What Factors Affect the Fossilization Potential of an Organism? What Factors are Required for Extraordinary Preservation? How Good is the Fossil Record? Conclusions 2. Variation in FossilsTheme: Variation; How do Organisms vary during their Lifespans? How do Populations of Organisms Vary? Conclusions 3. Species and Speciation 4. SystematicsWhy Systematics? Evolution and Classification; Competing Systematic Philosophies; Molecular Systematics; Codes of Systematic Nomenclature; Conclusions 5. EvolutionThe Evolution of Evolution; The "Evolutionary Synthesis"; Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis; Evolution and the Fossil Record; Conclusions 6. Extinction 7. Functional MorphologyForm and Function; Theoretical Morphology; Functional Hypotheses as Testable Science; Case Studies in Functional Morphology; Conclusions 8. PaleoecologyEcology and Paleoecology; Ecological Relationships; Environmental Limiting Factors; Direct Paleoecological Evidence; Some Ecological Ideas that have been Applied (and Misapplied) to the Fossil Record; Evolutionary Paleoecology; Conclusions 9. BiogeographyOrganisms in Space and Time; Ecological Biogeography; Historical Biogeography; Conclusions 10. BiostratigraphyFaunal Succession; Biostratigraphic Zonations; Factors controlling Fossil Distributions; Biostratigraphic Sampling; The Time Significance of Biostratigraphic Events; North American Land Mammal "Ages" and Biochronology; Resolution, Precision, and Accuracy; Index Fossils and the Global Biostratigraphic Standard; Conclusions PART II: LIFE OF THE PAST AND PRESENT11. Life's Origins and Early EvolutionConcocting the "Primordial Soup"; Mud and Mosh Pits, Kitty Litter and Fool's Gold; Life is a Commune; The Earliest Fossils; Cambrian "Explosion"--or "Short Fuse"?; Why did Life Change So Slowly Before the Cambrian?; Rocks, Hox,

Donald R. Prothero is one of today's leading scientists and authors in the field of paleontology and evolution. He is a former professor of geology at Occidental College and a lecturer in geobiology at Caltech. He is presently a research associate in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. The author of more than thirty books and 250 scientific papers published in leading scholarly journals, he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and is a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Paleontological Society, and the Linnean Society of London. In 1991 he received the award for Outstanding Paleontologist Under the Age of 40 and was awarded the 2013 James Shea Award by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers for outstanding writing and editing in the geosciences.

This well-written, well-illustrated book comprehensively covers the science of paleontology, running the gamut from the history of different aspects of the field, to technical discoveries, to taxonomic information. It is perfectly aimed at a student audience, and also belongs in the library of all professional (and amateur) paleontologists. -- Bruce S. Lieberman, University of Kansas