Biogeography, Time and Place: Distributions, Barriers and Islands (Topics in Geobiology) (Topics in Geobiology)

Paleontology and zoology have much to offer one another, but exchanges betweenthese fields have been limited. Prejudices that the fossil record is too scattered andpoorly preserved, and that zoologists think on irrelevant evolutionary time scales,have often formed barriers in their cooperation. In this book we hope to show thateven in poorly fossilising taxa, the inclusion of geological data in the analysis canimprove the outcome.Patterns of biodiversity have long attracted the attention of both biologists andpalaeontologists. Although many taxonomic groups have their origins in thePalaeozoic, their current distribution patterns are usually dominated by Cenozoicoverprints, making even the breakup of Gondwana (Late Jurassic) relevant tounderstanding present distributional patterns. The inclusion of geological data inany analysis of present-day distribution patterns leads to a better understandingof them. An Updated Review Of The Fish Faunas From The Green River Formation, The World's Most Productive Freshwater Lagerstätten / Lance Grande -- Paleontological Investigations At The Eocene Locality Of Mahenge In North-central Tanzania, East Africa / Terry Harrison [and Others] -- Early Wasatchian Mammals From The Gulf Coastal Plain Of Mississippi : Biostratigraphic And Paleobiogeographic Implications / K. Christopher Beard And Mary R. Dawson -- Paleocene-eocene Microvertebrates In Freshwater Limestone Of The Willwood Formation, Clarks Fork Basin, Wyoming / Jonathan I. Block And Gabirel J. Bowen -- Unusual Vertebrate Microfaunas From The Willwood Formation, Early Eocene Of The Bighorn Basin, Wyoming / Mary T. Silcox And Kenneth D. Rose -- Stratigraphy And Taphonomy Of Grizzly Buttes, Bridger Formation, And The Middle Eocene Of Wyoming / John P. Alexander And Benjamin J. Burger -- Taphonomic Analysis Of The Messel Formation (germany) / Jens Lorenz Franzen --^ Paleobiological Implications Of The Messel Mammalian Assemblage / Gerhard Storch -- The Eocene Mammalian Fauna Of Chambi (tunisia) In Its Geological Context / Jean-louis Hartenberger [and Others] -- Gandhera Quarry, A Unique Early Eocene Assemblage From The Early Eocene Of Baluchistan (pakistan) / Philip D. Gingerich [and Others] -- Paleoecology And Biostratigraphy Of Marginal Marine Gulf Coast Eocene Vertebrate Localities / James W. Westgate -- Taphonomic Interpretation Of Gnat-out-of-hell, An Early Uintan Small Mammal Locality In The Uinta Basin, Utah / Meg L. Thornton And D. Tab Rasmussen -- A Mass Death Accumulation Of Coryphodon Anthracoideus (mammalia, Pantodonta) At Roehler's Coryphodon Catastrophe Quarry (lower Eocene, Wasatch Formation), Washakie Basin, Wyoming / Elizabeth Mcgee -- Meniscotherium Mass-death Assemblages / Thomas E. Williamson --^ Taphonomy, Fauna, And Depositional Environment Of The Omomys Quarry, An Unusual Accumulation From The Bridger Formation (middle Eocene) Of Southwestern Wyoming (usa) / Paul; C. Murphey [and Others] -- Basin Margins, Biodiversity, Evolutionary Innovation, And The Origin Of New Taxa / Gregg F. Gunnell And William S. Bartels. Edited By Gregg F. Gunnell. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Global Disjunctions And Flying Insects / Rienk De Jong And Cees Van Achterberg -- Zoogeography Of Freshwater Invertebrates Of Southeast Asia, With Special Reference To Odonata / Jan Van Tol And Dirk Gassmann -- Distribution And Speciation Of Megapodes (megapodiidae) And Subsequent Development Of Their Breeding Behaviour / René W.r.j. Dekker -- The Influence Of Land Barriers On The Evolution Of Pontoniine Shrimps (crustacea, Decapoda) Living In Association With Molluscs And Solitary Ascidians / Charles H.j.m. Fransen -- Delineation Of The Indo-malayan Centre Of Maximum Marine Biodiversity : The Coral Triangle / Bert W. Hoeksema -- Fauna Development Of Larger Benthic Foraminifera In The Cenozoic Of Southeast Asia / Willem Renema -- The Role Of Spain In The Development Of The Reef Brachiopod Faunas During The Carboniferous / Cor F. Winkler Prins -- Contrasting Patterns And Mechanisms Of Extinction During The Eocene-oligocene Transition In Jamaica / Stephen K. Donovan, Roger W. Portell, And Daryl P. Domning -- Long-lived Lake Molluscs As Island Faunas : A Bivalve Perspective / Frank P. Wesselingh -- Patterns In Insular Evolution Of Mammals : A Key To Island Palaeogeography / John De Vos, Lars W. Van Den Hoek Ostende, And Gert D. Van Den Bergh -- Islands From A Snail's Perspective / E. Gittenberger -- Morphological And Genetical Differentiation Of Lizards (podarcis Bocagei And P. Hispanica) In The Ria De Arosa Archipelago (galicia, Spain) Resulting From Vicariance And Occasional Dispersal / J.w. Arntzen And P. Sá-sousa. Edited By Willem Renema. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Initially, this work was designed to document and study the diversification of modern mammalian groups and was quite successful and satisfying. However, as field and laboratory work continued, there began to develop a suspicion that not all of the Eocene story was being told. It became apparent that most fossil samples, especially those from the American West, were derived from similar preservational circumstances and similar depositional settings. A program was initiated to look for other potential sources of fossil samples, either from non-traditional lithologies or from geographic areas that were not typically sampled. As this program of research grew it began to demonstrate that different lithologies and different geographic areas told different stories from those that had been developed based on more typical faunal assemblages. This book is conceived as an introduction to non-traditional Eocene fossils samples, and as a place to document and discuss features of these fossil assemblages that are rare or that come from rarely represented habitats. Biogeography considers the distribution of biological units over a wide range of scales. The units range from genotypes, populations and species to families and higher taxa. Processes can be local, such as the isolation on islands due to sea-level fluctuations, or large-scale tectonic processes that separates continents and creates oceans. In all processes time is an important factor and by combining data on recent patterns with paleontological data the understanding of the distribution of extant taxa can be improved. This volume focuses on speciation due to isolation in island-like settings, and the evolution of large-scale diversity as the result of origination, maintenance and extinction. This book offers exchanges between the fields of paleontology and zoology as patterns of biodiversity have long attracted the attention of both biologists and paleontologists. It covers the development of isolated island faunas, paleogeography and zoomorphology. The book shows that patterns are not always what they seem if looked at without a spatial or temporal reference. The aims of this book are two-fold: (i) to document unusual or rare samples of Eocene fossils, and (ii) to examine what sorts of new and different information can be gathered from these samples that is traditionally not available The Green River Formation has provided what is clearly the richest, most diverse sample of Early Tertiary freshwater vertebrate faunas in the world (see numerous illustrations in Grande, 1984, for example).