A01=Mark E. Patzkowsky
A01=Steven Holland
A01=Steven M. Holland
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Author_Mark E. Patzkowsky
Author_Steven Holland
Author_Steven M. Holland
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=RBX
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
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Language_English
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
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Product details
- ISBN 9780226649382
- Weight: 369g
- Dimensions: 15 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 16 Apr 2012
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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Whether the fossil record should be read at face value or whether it presents a distorted view of the history of life is an argument seemingly as old as many fossils themselves. In the late 1700s, Georges Cuvier argued for a literal interpretation, but in the early 1800s, Charles Lyell's gradualist view of the earth's history required a more nuanced interpretation of that same record. To this day, the tension between literal and interpretive readings lies at the heart of paleontological research, influencing the way scientists view extinction patterns and their causes, eco-system persistence and turnover, and the pattern of morphologic change and mode of speciation. With "Stratigraphic Paleobiology", Mark E. Patzkowsky and Steven M. Holland present a critical framework for assessing the fossil record, one based on a modern understanding of the principles of sediment accumulation. Patzkowsky and Holland argue that the distribution of fossil taxa in time and space is controlled not only by processes of ecology, evolution, and environmental change, but also by the stratigraphic processes that govern where and when sediment that might contain fossils is deposited and preserved.
The authors explore the exciting possibilities of stratigraphic paleobiology, and along the way demonstrate its great potential to answer some of the most critical questions about the history of life.
Mark E. Patzkowsky is associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. Steven M. Holland is professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Georgia.
