Systematics and the Fossil Record: Documenting Evolutionary Patterns

By Andrew B. Smith

Book Overview

This new text sets out to establish the key role played bysystematics in deciphering patterns of evolution from the fossilrecord. It begins by considering the nature of the species in thefossil record and then outlines recent advances in the methodologyused to establish phylogenetics relationships, stressing why fossilevidence can be crucial. The way species are grouped into highertaxa, and how this affects their utility in evolutionary studies isalso discussed. Because the fossil record abounds with sampling andpreservational biases, the book emphasizes that observed patternscan rarely be taken at face value. It is argued that evolutionarytrees, constructed from combining phylogenetic and biostratigraphicdata, provide the best approach for investigating patterns ofevolution through geologic time.
The only integrated text covering the study of evolutionarypatterns from a phylogenetic stance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0632036427
• ISBN13: 9780632036424
• Release Date: June 1994
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.8" x 9.6"