Evolution and Ecology
The Pace of Life

Evolutionary synthesis using contribution of recent fossil record to understand mechanisms of macroevolutionary change.

K. D. Bennett (Author)

9780521399210, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 December 1996

260 pages, 90 b/w illus. 8 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.39 kg

'This is a challenging and thought-provoking book.' Mike Walker, Quaternary Science Reviews

The mechanisms of macroevolutionary change have long been a contentious issue. Palaeoecological evidence, presented in this book, shows that evolutionary processes visible in ecological time do not build up into macroevolutionary trends, contrary to Darwin's original thesis. The author discusses how climatic oscillations on ice-age time-scales are paced by variations in the Earth's orbit, and have thus been a permanent feature of Earth history. There is, however, little evidence for macroevolutionary change in response to these climatic changes, suggesting that over geological time macroevolution does not occur as a result of accumulated short term processes. These conclusions are used to construct a post-modern evolutionary synthesis in which evolution and ecology play an equal role. Written by a leading palaeoecologist, this book will be of interest to researchers in both ecology and evolutionary biology.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Development of ideas
3. Orbital-forcing of climatic oscillations
4. Geological evidence for orbital-forcing
5. Biological response: distribution
6. Biological response: evolution
7. Biological response: extinction
8. Evolution and ecology: synthesis
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Evolution [PSAJ], Ecological science, the Biosphere [PSAF]