Following the Cambrian Explosion and the appearance in the fossil record of most animal
phyla associated with a range of new body plans, the Ordovician and Silurian periods …

The large Palaeozoic continent of Laurentia was largely in North America, but included parts
of modern Europe. It was independent from late Neoproterozoic times at about 570Ma until it …

Ecologists are making increasing use of computer methods in analyzing ecological data on
plant and animal communities. Ecological problems naturally involve numerous variables …

A new scheme for the description and analysis of bioturbation and the resultant ichnofabrics
is proposed. This system can be used in core and field-based studies and consists of two …

Patterns in the diversity of species begin to make sense when we reduce them to well-
known biological processes and take care to specify the scale of the pattern. Doing this …

The discreteness or otherwise of major Ordovician and Silurian terranes can be recognised
by the shallow-water benthic faunas which lived upon them. Their borders are often …

Although most adult-byssate bivalve taxa of the Recent live epifaunally (are epibyssate), a
few live partly or entirely buried in soft sediment (are endobyssate). Recent endobyssate …

Whether the fossil record should be read at face value or whether it presents a distorted view
of the history of life is an argument seemingly as old as many fossils themselves. In the late …

Does the ecological theater influence the staging of the evolutionary play? What roles do
biotic interactions have in influencing evolutionary patterns? This chapter presents a system …

Tiering is the vertical distribution of organisms within the benthic boundary layer. Primary
tierers are suspension-feeding organisms with a body or burrow that intersects the seafloor …