Preface

The history of life is documented by fossils through the past 3.5 billion years. We need this

long-term perspective for three reasons: ancient life and environments can inform us about how

the world might change in the future; extinct plants and animals make up 99% of all species

that ever lived, and so we need to know about them to understand the true scope of the tree of

life; and extinct organisms did amazing things that no living plant or animal can do, and we

need to explore their capabilities to assess the limits of form and function.

Every week, astonishing new fossil fi nds are announced – a 1 ton rat, a miniature species of

human, the world’s largest sea scorpion, a dinosaur with feathers. You read about these in the

newspapers, but where do these stray fi ndings fi t into the greater scheme of things? Studying

fossils can reveal the most astonishing organisms, many of them more remarkable than the

wildest dreams (or nightmares) of a science fi ction writer. Indeed, paleontology reveals a seemingly

endless catalog of alternative universes, landscapes and seascapes that look superfi cially

familiar, but which contain plants that do not look quite right, animals that are very different

from anything now living.

The last 40 years have seen an explosion of paleontological research, where fossil evidence is

used to study larger questions, such as rates of evolution, mass extinctions, high-precision dating

of sedimentary sequences, the paleobiology of dinosaurs and Cambrian arthropods, the structure

of Carboniferous coal-swamp plant communities, ancient molecules, the search for oil and gas,

the origin of humans, and many more. Paleontologists have benefi ted enormously from the

growing interdisciplinary nature of their science, with major contributions from geologists, chemists,

evolutionary biologists, physiologists and even geophysicists and astronomers. Many areas

of study have also been helped by an increasingly quantitative approach.

There are many paleontology texts that describe the major fossil groups or give a guided tour

of the history of life. Here we hope to give students a fl avor of the excitement of modern paleontology.

We try to present all aspects of paleontology, not just invertebrate fossils or dinosaurs,

but fossil plants, trace fossils, macroevolution, paleobiogeography, biostratigraphy, mass extinctions,

biodiversity through time and microfossils. Where possible, we show how paleontologists

tackle controversial questions, and highlight what is known, and what is not known. This shows

the activity and dynamism of modern paleobiological research. Many of these items are included

in boxed features, some of them added at the last minute, to show new work in a number of

categories, indicated by icons (see below for explanation).

The book is intended for fi rst- and second-year geologists and biologists who are taking

courses in paleontology or paleobiology. It should also be a clear introduction to the science for

keen amateurs and others interested in current scientifi c evidence about the origin of life, the

history of life, mass extinctions, human evolution and related topics.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the following for reading chapters of the book, and providing feedback and comments

that gave us much pause for thought, and led to many valuable revisions: Jan Audun Rasmussen

(Copenhagen), Mike Bassett (Cardiff), Joseph Botting (London), Simon Braddy (Bristol), Pat

Brenchley (formerly Liverpool), Derek Briggs (Yale), David Bruton (Oslo), Graham Budd

(Uppsala), Nick Butterfi eld (Cambridge), Sandra Carlson (Davis), David Catling (Bristol),

Margaret Collinson (London), John Cope (Cardiff), Gilles Cuny (Copenhagen), Kristi Curry

Rogers (Minnesota), Phil Donoghue (Bristol), Karen Dybkjær (Copenhagen), Howard Falcon-

Lang (Bristol), Mike Foote (Chicago), Liz Harper (Cambridge), John Hutchinson (London), Paul

Kenrick (London), Andy Knoll (Harvard), Bruce Liebermann (Kansas), Maria Liljeroth

(Copenhagen), David Loydell (Portsmouth), Duncan McIlroy (St John’s), Paddy Orr (Dublin),

Alan Owen (Glasgow), Kevin Padian (Berkeley), Kevin Peterson (Dartmouth), Emily Rayfi eld

(Bristol), Ken Rose (New York), Marcello Ruta (Bristol), Martin Sander (Bonn), Andrew Smith

(London), Paul Taylor (London), Richard Twitchett (Plymouth), Charlie Wellman (Sheffi eld),

Paul Wignall (Leeds), Rachel Wood (Edinburgh), Graham Young (Winnipeg) and Jeremy Young

(London).

We are grateful to Ian Francis and Delia Sanderson together with Stephanie Schnur and Rosie

Hayden for steering this book to completion, and to Jane Andrew for copy editing and to Mirjana

Misina for guiding the editorial process. Last, but not least, we thank our wives, Mary and

Maureen, for their help and forbearance.

Mike Benton

David Harper

February 2008