Table of Contents -- Preface -- To the Student: Why Study Fossils? -- PART I: THE FOSSIL RECORD -- 1. The Fossil Record -- What 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 Fossils -- Theme: Variation -- How Do Organisms Vary During Their Lifespans? -- How Do Populations of Organisms Vary? -- Conclusions -- 3. Species and Speciation -- What Is a Species? -- The Species Problem in Paleontology -- Conclusions -- 4. Systematics -- Why Systematics? -- Evolution and Classification -- Competing Systematic Philosophies -- Molecular Systematics -- Codes of Systematic Nomenclature -- Conclusions -- 5. Evolution -- The Evolution of Evolution -- The "Evolutionary Synthesis" -- Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis -- Evolution and the Fossil Record -- Conclusions -- 6. Extinction -- The Fact of Extinction -- The Causes of Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? -- Background Extinctions, the Red Queen and the Court Jester -- The Major Mass Extinctions -- Is There a Common Cause? -- Conclusions -- 7. Functional Morphology -- Form and Function -- Theoretical Morphology -- Functional Hypotheses as Testable Science -- Case Studies in Functional Morphology -- Conclusions -- 8. Paleoecology -- Ecology and Paleoecology -- Ecological Relationships -- Environmental Limiting Factors -- Direct Paleoecological Evidence -- Some Ecological Ideas That Have Been Applied (and Misapplied) to Fossils -- Evolutionary Paleoecology -- Conclusions -- 9. Biogeography -- Organisms In Space and Time -- Ecological Biogeography -- Historical Biogeography -- Conclusions -- 10. Biostratigraphy -- Faunal Succession -- Biostratigraphic Zonations.

Factors Controlling Fossil Distributions -- Biostratigraphic Sampling -- The Time Significance of Biostratigraphic Events -- Northamerican Land Mammal "Ages" and Biochronology -- Quantitative Biostratigraphy -- Resolution, Precision, and Accuracy -- Index Fossils and th Biostratigraphic Standard -- Conclusions -- PART II: LIFE OF THE PAST AND PRESENT -- 11. Life's Origins and Early Evolution -- Concocting the "Primordial Soup" -- Mud and Mosh Pits, Kittly Litter, and Fool's Gold -- Life Is a Commune -- The Earliest Fossils -- Cambrian "Explosion" - Or "Slow Fuse"? -- Why Did Life Change So Slowly Before the Cambrian? -- Rocks, Hox, and Molecular Clocks -- 12. Micropaleontology: Fossil Protistans -- Introduction -- The Kingdoms of Life -- Foraminifera -- Radiolaria -- Diatoms -- Coccolithopores -- 13. Colonial Life: Sponges, Archaeocyathans, and Cnidarians -- Introduction -- Sponges -- Archaeocyathans -- Cnidarians -- 14. The "Lophophorates" : Brachiopods and Byozoans -- Introduction -- Brachiopods -- Bryozoans -- 15. Jointed Limbs: The Arthropods -- Introduction -- Systematics -- Trilobitomorpha -- Chelicerata -- Crustacea -- Myriapoda and Insecta -- 16. Kingdom of the Seashell: The Molluscs -- Introduction -- Systematics -- Mollusc Origins and Diversification -- Gastropods -- Bivalves -- Cephalopods -- 17. Spiny Skins: The Echinoderms -- Introduction -- Systematics -- Crinoids -- Echinoids -- 18. Dry Bones: Vertebrates and Their Relatives -- Introduction -- The Road to Amphioxus -- Getting a Head: The Craniates -- Jaws: The Gnathostomes -- FIsh Bones: The Osteichthyans -- Lobe-Fins: The Sarcopterygians -- Four on the Floor: The Tetrapods -- Land Eggs -- The Amniotes -- Feathered Dinosaurs: The Birds -- Furry Folk: Synapsids and Mammals -- 19. Fossilized Behavior: Trace Fossils -- Introduction -- Preservation -- Classification -- Ichnofacies.

Ichnofabric -- Trace Fossils Through Time -- 20. Traces of the Earth's Green Mantle: Paleobotany -- Introduction -- Plant Taphonomy -- The First Photosynthetic Organisms -- The Plant Kindom -- Vascular Plants -- Tracheophytes -- Naked Seeds: The Gymnosperms -- Flower Power: The Angiosperm Revolution -- Floras Through Time -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- index.