HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by SCHNEIDER, C. Search for Related Content

Extinctions in the History of Life

Paul D. Taylor, 2004, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 191 p. (Hardcover, U.S. $70.00) ISBN: 0-521-84224-7.

Excepting perhaps the topic of dinosaurs, extinction is probably the biggest "ooh-aah" topic in paleontology, at least from an undergraduate student's perspective. The book, Extinctions in the History of Life, edited by Paul Taylor, is aimed specifically for that audience, and has an appropriate title for catching the aspiring geologist's attention and imagination. From the paleontologists' perspective, extinctions are a major topic of importance—not only have they shaped the history of life on Earth, and in the case of mass extinctions, are major events in the biosphere, but also extinctions and the data gleaned from them may have great importance to modern ecological crises.

The preface itself is a good opening for the rest of the book, and puts the subject matter in solemn perspective: that most of life on Earth is extinct if one includes the fossil species. Taylor goes on to point out the positive aspect of extinction, which is that the process of extinction is a major former of the pattern of life on Earth.

There are six chapters in the book, ranging from Precambrian microbial paleontology through macroinvertebrates and plants; no single chapter is dedicated to microfossils or vertebrates. Each chapter originates from an attendee of a symposium by the Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life (CSEOL) at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Chapter 1 is as it should be, a good overview of the topic and a strong introduction to the rest of the book. Taylor stresses the importance of extinctions in the history of life on Earth, and reviews the primary issues surrounding mass extinctions. The chapter also includes a short discussion of the history of thought behind extinctions, which is crucial . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CHRIS SCHNEIDER¹

¹ Department of Physics and  Geology California State University —Bakersfield Bakersfield, CA 93305