Evolution on Planet Earth : Impact of the Physical Environment.
Title:
Evolution on Planet Earth : Impact of the Physical Environment.
Author:
Rothschild, Lynn.
ISBN:
9780080494852
Personal Author:
Edition:
1st ed.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (469 pages)
Contents:
Front Cover -- Evolution on Planet Earth -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Contributors -- Introduction -- Part 1: The Earth's atmosphere and the building blocks of life -- Chapter 1. The physical setting for early life -- Chapter 2. What good is nitrogen: an evolutionary perspective -- Chapter 3. The coupled evolution of life and atmospheric oxygen -- Chapter 4. Chemistry of the early oceans: the environment of early life -- Chapter 5. The role of carbon dioxide in plant evolution -- Part 2: Radiation -- Chapter 6. The sun: the impetus for life -- Chapter 7. Could life travel across interplanetary space? Panspermia revisited -- Part 3: Molecular evolution -- Chapter 8. Genome evolution and the impact of the physical environment -- Part 4: Gravity -- Chapter 9. The impact of gravity on life -- Chapter 10. Gravity, the atmosphere and the evolution of animal locomotion -- Part 5: Temperature -- Chapter 11. Evolution and low temperatures -- Chapter 12. Temperature, tectonics, and evolution -- Part 6: The dynamic Earth -- Chapter 13. The interplay of physical and biotic factors in macroevolution -- Chapter 14. The causes of Phanerozoic extinctions -- Chapter 15. Drifting continents and life on Earth -- Chapter 16. Land/sea relations and speciation in the marine and terrestrial realms -- Part 7: Climate -- Chapter 17. Tectonics, climatic change, and the evolution of mammalian ecosystems -- Chapter 18. Ice ages, species distributions, and evolution -- Chapter 19. Environmental variability and its impact on adaptive evolution, with special reference to human origins -- Chapter 20. Climatic change, and the beginnings of agriculture: the case of the Younger Dryas -- Part 8: Implications for life elsewhere -- Chapter 21. The physical constraints on extraterrestrial life -- Epilogue -- Glossary -- Index -- Color Plate Section.
Abstract:
Driving evolution forward, the Earth's physical environment has challenged the very survival of organisms and ecosystems throughout the ages. With a fresh new perspective, Evolution on Planet Earth shows how these physical realities and hurdles shaped the primary phases of life on the planet. The book's thorough coverage also includes chapters on more proximate factors and paleoenvironmental events that influenced the diversity of life. A team of notable ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and paleontologists join forces to describe drifting continents, extinction events, and climate change -- important topics that continue to shape Earth's inhabitants to this very day. In a world where global change has become an international issue, this book provides a several billion-year evolutionary perspective on what the environment and environmental change means to life. * Provides thorough background information on each topic while introducing cutting-edge research * Features original material solicited from the leading minds in evolutionary biology and geology today * Emphasizes the influence of massive geological forces - continental drift, volcanic activity, sea and tides.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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