The Palaeobiology of Trace Fossils

ISBN-13: 9780471948438 / Angielski / Twarda / 1994 / 316 str.

Stephen K. Donovan

Opis

Trace fossils are the products of the activities of ancient organisms, including tracks, trails, burrows, borings, eggs and faecal remains. The importance of these fossils compared with body fossils (shells, bones) is that they provide the palaeontologist with evidence of how the ancient organism actually functioned, including activities such as locomotion, feeding, reproduction and social behaviour, for which no other data exist. They also provide the only evidence of the existence of soft-bodied organisms for which no other fossil material has survived.

Spis treści

Nomenclature and Taxonomy of Invertebrate Trace Fossils (R. Pickerill).

Functional Morphology of Boring and Burrowing Invertebrates (E. Savazzi).

The Paleobiology of Ichnocoenoses in Quaternary Bahamian–Style Carbonate Environments: The Modern to Fossil Transition (H. Curran).

The Period of Early Evolutionary Failure and the Dawn of Evolutionary Success: The Record of Biotic Changes Across the Precambrian–Cambrian Boundary (T. Crimes).

The Paleoecology of Bioerosion (R. Bromley).

The History of Phanerozoic Bioturbation (D. Bottjer & M. Droser).

Plant Roots in Core (J. Bockelie).

Insects and Other Arthropods as Trace–Makers in Non–Marine Environments and Paleoenvironments (S. Donovan).

The Paleobiology of Vertebrate Coprolites (A. Hunt, et al.).

Vertebrate Tracks and the Ichnofacies Concept: Implications for Paleoecology and Palichnostratigraphy (M. Lockley, et al.).

The Fossil Record of Vertebrate Eggs (K. Hirsch).

Index.