The Ecology of the Cambrian Radiation

by Andrey Zhuravlev, Robert Riding

Overview

The Cambrian radiation was the explosive evolution of marine life that started 550,000,000 years ago. It ranks as one of the most important episodes in Earth history. This key event in the history of life on our planet changed the marine biosphere and its sedimentary environment forever, requiring a complex interplay of wide-ranging biologic and nonbiologic processes.

The Ecology of the Cambrian Radiation offers a comprehensive and surprising picture of the Earth at that ancient time. The book contains contributions from thirty-three authors hailing from ten countries and will be of interest to paleontologists, geologists, biologists, and other researchers interested in the global Earth-life system.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231106139
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	11/23/2000
Series:	The Critical Moments and Perspectives in Earth History and Paleobiology
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	536
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	1260L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Andrey Yu Zhuravlev is at the Palaeontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

Robert Riding is at the Department of Earth Sciences of Cardiff University in Wales.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction, by Andrey Yu. Zhuravlev and Robert Riding
I. The Environment
2. Paleomagnetically and Tectonically Based Global Maps for Vendian to Mid-Ordovician Time, by Alan G. Smith
3. Global Facies Distributions from Late Vendian to Mid-Ordovician, by Kirill B. Seslavinsky and Irina D. Maidanskaya
4. Did Supercontinental Amalgamation Trigger the "Cambrian Explosion"?, by Martin D. Brasier and John F. Lindsay
5. Climate Change at the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Transition, by Toni T. Eerola
6. Australian Early and Middle Cambrian Sequence Biostratigraphy with Implications for Species Diversity and Correlation, by David I. Gravestock and John H. Shergold
7. The Cambrian Radiation and the Diversification of Sedimentary Fabrics, by Mary L. Droser and Xing Li
II. Community Patterns and Dynamics
8. Biotic Diversity and Structure Durgaing the Neoproterozoic-Ordovician Transition, by Andrey Yu. Zhuravlev
9. Ecology and Evolution of Cambrian Plankton, by Nicholas J. Butterfield
10. Evolution of Shallow-Water Level-Bottom Commuties, by Mikhail B. Burzin, Françoise Debrenne, and Andrey Yu. Zhuravlev
11. Evolution of the Hardground Community, by Sergei V. Rozhnov
12. Ecology and Evolution of the Cambrian Reefs, by Brian R. Pratt, Ben R. Spincer, Rachel A. Wood, and Andrey Yu. Zhuravlev
13. Evolution of the Deep-Water Benthic Community, by T. Peter Crimes
III. Ecologic Radiation of Major Groups of Organisms
14. Sponges, Cnidarians, and Ctenophores, by Françoise Debrenne and Joachim Reitner
15. Mollusks, Hyoliths, Stenothecoids, and Coeloscleritophorans, by Arten V. Kouchinsky
16. Brachiopods, by Galina T. Ushatinskaya
17. Ecologic Evolution of Cambrian Trilobites, by Nigel C. Hughes
18. Ecology of Nontrilobite Arthropods and Lobopods in the Cambrian, by Graham E. Budd
19. Ecologic Radiation of Cambro-Ordovician Echinoderms, by Thomas E. Guensburg and James Sprinkle
20. Calcified Algae and Bacteria, by Robert Riding
21. Molecular Fossils Demonstrate Precambrian Origin of Dinoflagellates, by J. M. Moldowan, S. Jacobson, J. Dahl, A. Al-Hajji, B. Huizinga, and F. Fago
List of Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

Certainly grabs one's attention.... brings a great deal of information together under a single cover... invaluable.

Palaios

Goes a long way towards filling a major gap in the available palaeontological literature.... Every library should have a copy, as should anyone seriously interested in life in the Cambrian.

Geological Magazine

A current state-of-the-art treatise . . . [that] also offers incentives and challenges to solve new scientific problems and conundra concerning the great and continuous mystery of the Vendian/Cambrian bioradiation phenomenon in the future!

Ecoscience

These 21 papers discuss the Cambrian Radiation's impact on the environment, and community patterns and dynamics. The ecological radiation of major groups of organisms is also described. The debate centers on the Cambrian period, but related events and developments in the adjacent Neopoterozoic and Ordovician periods are also considered. The contributors represent an international collection of scientists, employed by either universities or private companies, with specialties in paleontology, geology, environmental science, mineralogy, and physics. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews