Advances in Quaternary Entomology: Volume 12

ISBN-13: 9780444534248 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 288 str.

S. A. Elias

Opis

Advances in Quaternary Entomology addresses the science of fossil insects by demonstrating their immense contribution to our knowledge of the paleoenvironmental and climatological record of the past 2.6 million years. In this comprehensive survey of the field, Scott A. Elias recounts development of scholarship, reviews the fossil insect record from Quaternary deposits throughout the world, and points to rewarding areas for future research. The study of Quaternary entomology is becoming an important tool in understanding past environmental changes. Most insects are quite specific as to habitat requirements, and those in non-island environments have undergone almost no evolutionary change in the Quaternary period. We therefore can use their modern ecological requirements as a basis for interpreting what past environments must have been like.

• Describes and identifies principal characteristics of fossil insect groups of the Quaternary period
• Ties Quaternary insect studies to the larger field of paleoecology
• Offers global coverage of the subject with specific regional examples
• Illustrates specific methods and procedures for conducting research in Quaternary Entomology
• Offers unique insight into overlying trends and broader implications of Quaternary climate change based on insect life of the period

Spis treści

1. The History of Quaternary Insect Studies 2. Methods 3. Important fossil insect groups and their identification 4. The Value of Insects in Paleoecology5. Paleoclimatic Studies Using Insects6. Insect Zoogeography in the Quaternary7. The Use of Insect Fossils in Archeology8. European Studies 9. Siberian Studies10. Eastern Beringian Studies11. Other Studies in the New World12. Japanese Studies13. Studies in Australia and New Zealand 14. Beetle Chitin Isotope Studies 15. Ancient DNA Studies16. Conclusions and Prospectus

O autorze

Scott Elias grew up in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountain region of the western United States. He attended the University of Colorado, and got BA degree in Environmental Biology. He continued his academic career at the same university, and received his PhD in Environmental Biology in 1980. His thesis topic concerned paleoecology of Holocene-age peat deposits in arctic Canada, focusing on insect fossil analyses.

Following his PhD, Scott became a post-doctoral fellow under Prof. Alan Morgan in the Earth Science Department of the University of Waterloo, Ontario. He also spent six months as a visiting scientist at the Geobotanical Institute of the University of Berne, Switzerland, in 1981. Scott returned to the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado, in 1982, and was a research associate and fellow of the institute during the next 20 years. His research continued to focus on paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on fossil insect assemblages. He has authored six books on paleoecology and natural history of Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, and the arid Southwest. In 2000, Scott accepted a lectureship in the Geography Department of Royal Holloway, University of London. He also has maintained an affiliation with INSTAAR. He is now a Reader in Physical Geography at Royal Holloway.