The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (The Critical Moments and Perspectives in Earth History and Paleobiology)

Two of the greatest evolutionary events in the history of life on Earth occurred during Early Paleozoic time. The first was the Cambrian explosion of skeletonized marine animals about 540 million years ago. The second was the "Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event," which is the focus of this book. During the 46-million-year Ordovician Period (489--443 m.y.), a bewildering array of adaptive radiations of "Paleozoic- and Modern-type" biotas appeared in marine habitats, the first animals (arthropods) walked on land, and the first non-vascular bryophyte-like plants (based on their cryptospore record) colonized terrestrial areas with damp environments.This book represents a compilation by a large team of Ordovician specialists from around the world, who have enthusiastically cooperated to produce this first globally orientated, internationally sponsored IGCP (International Geological Correlation Program) project on Ordovician biotas. The major part is an assembly of genus- and species-level diversity data for the many Ordovician fossil groups. The book also presents an evaluation of how each group diversified through Ordovician time, with assessments of patterns of change and rates of origination and extinction. As such, it will become the standard work and data source for biotic studies on the Ordovician Period. (12/1/2004) Stratigraphic Framework And Time Slices / Barry D. Webby [and Others] -- Calibration Of The Ordovician Timescale / Peter M. Sadler, Roger A. Cooper -- Measures Of Diversity / Roger A. Cooper -- Major Terranes In The Ordovician / L. Robin M. Cocks, Trond H. Torsvik -- Isotopic Signatures / Graham A. Shields, Ján Veizer -- Ordovician Oceans And Climate / Christopher R. Barnes -- Was There An Ordovician Superplume Event? / Christopher R. Barnes -- End Ordovician Glaciation / Patrick J. Brenchley -- Ordovician Sea Level Changes : A Baltoscandian Perspective / Arne Thorshøj Nielsen -- Radiolarians / Paula J. Noble, Taniel Danelian -- Sponges / Marcelo G. Carrera, J. Keith Rigby -- Stromatoporoids / Barry D. Webby -- Conulariids / Heyo Van Iten, Zdenka Vyhlasová -- Corals / Barry D. Webby [and Others] -- Bryozoans / Paul D. Taylor, Andrej Ernst -- Brachiopods / David A.t. Harper [and Others] -- Polyplacophoran And Symmetrical Univalve Mollusks / Lesley Cherns, David M. Rohr, Jiří Frýda -- Gastropods / Jiří Frýda, David M. Rohr -- Bivalve And Rostroconch Mollusks / John C.w. Cope -- Nautiloid Cephalopods / Robert C. Frey [and Others] -- Tube-shaped Incertae Sedis / John M. Malinky [and Others] -- Worms, Wormlike And Sclerite-bearing Taxa / Olle Hints [and Others] -- Trilobites / Jonathan M. Adrain [and Others] -- Eurypterids, Phyllocarids, And Ostracodes / Simon J. Braddy [and Others] -- Crinozoan, Blastozoan, Echinozoan, Asterozoan, And Homalozoan Echinoderms / James Sprinkle, Thomas E. Guensburg -- Graptolites : Patterns Of Diversity Across Paleolatitudes / Roger A. Cooper [and Others] -- Chitinozoans / Florentin Paris [and Others]. Conodonts : Lower To Middle Ordovician Record / Guillermo L. Albanesi, Stig M. Bergström -- Vertebrates (agnathans And Gnathostomes) / Susan Turner, Alain Blieck, Godfrey S. Nowlan -- Receptaculitids And Algae / Matthew H. Nitecki [and Others] -- Acritarchs / Thomas Servais [and Others] -- Miospores And The Emergence Of Land Plants / Philippe Steemans, Charles H. Wellman -- The Ichnologic Record Of The Ordovician Radiation / M. Gabriela Mángano, Mary L. Droser -- The Ordovician Radiation : Toward A New Global Synthesis / Arnold I. Miller. Edited By Barry D. Webby ... [et Al.]. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 395-466) And Index. Cover ......Page 1 The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event......Page 2 ISBN: 0231126786 ......Page 3 Contents ......Page 4 Acknowledgments ......Page 6 1. Introduction ......Page 8 PART I: Scaling of Ordovician Time and Measures for Assessing Biodiversity Change......Page 46 2. Stratigraphic Framework and Time Slices ......Page 48 3. Calibration of the Ordovician Timescale......Page 55 4. Measures of Diversity ......Page 59 PART II: Conspectus of the Ordovician World......Page 66 5. Major Terranes in the Ordovician ......Page 68 6. Isotopic Signatures ......Page 75 7. Ordovician Oceans and Climate ......Page 79 8. Was There an Ordovician Superplume Event? ......Page 84 9. End Ordovician Glaciation ......Page 88 10. Ordovician Sea Level Changes: A Baltoscandian Perspective......Page 91 PART III: Taxonomic Groups ......Page 102 11. Radiolarians ......Page 104 12. Sponges ......Page 109 13. Stromatoporoids ......Page 119 14. Conulariids ......Page 126 15. Corals ......Page 131 16. Bryozoans ......Page 154 17. Brachiopods ......Page 164 18. Polyplacophoran and Symmetrical Univalve Mollusks......Page 186 19. Gastropods ......Page 191 20. Bivalve and Rostroconch Mollusks ......Page 203 21. Nautiloid Cephalopods ......Page 216 22. Tube-Shaped Incertae Sedis ......Page 221 23. Worms, Wormlike and Sclerite-Bearing Taxa ......Page 230 24. Trilobites ......Page 238 25. Eurypterids, Phyllocarids, and Ostracodes ......Page 262 26. Crinozoan, Blastozoan, Echinozoan, Asterozoan, and Homalozoan Echinoderms ......Page 273 27. Graptolites: Patterns of Diversity Across Paleolatitudes......Page 288 28. Chitinozoans ......Page 301 29. Conodonts: Lower to Middle Ordovician Record ......Page 319 30. Vertebrates (Agnathans and Gnathostomes) ......Page 334 31. Receptaculitids and Algae ......Page 343 32. Acritarchs ......Page 355 33. Miospores and the Emergence of Land Plants ......Page 368 PARTE IV: Aspects of the Ordovician Radiation......Page 374 34. The Ichnologic Record of the Ordovician Radiation......Page 376 35. The Ordovician Radiation: Toward a New Global Synthesis......Page 387 Figures and Tables ......Page 396 References ......Page 402 Contributors ......Page 474 Index ......Page 480 Two of the greatest evolutionary events in the history of life on Earth occurred during Early Paleozoic time. The first was the Cambrian explosion of skeletonized marine animals about 540 million years ago. The second was the "Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event," which is the focus of this book. During the 46-million-year Ordovician Period (489--443 m.y.), a bewildering array of adaptive radiations of "Paleozoic- and Modern-type" biotas appeared in marine habitats, the first animals (arthropods) walked on land, and the first non-vascular bryophyte-like plants (based on their cryptospore record) colonized terrestrial areas with damp environments. This book represents a compilation by a large team of Ordovician specialists from around the world, who have enthusiastically cooperated to produce this first globally orientated, internationally sponsored IGCP (International Geological Correlation Program) project on Ordovician biotas. The major part is an assembly of genus- and species-level diversity data for the many Ordovician fossil groups. The book also presents an evaluation of how each group diversified through Ordovician time, with assessments of patterns of change and rates of origination and extinction. As such, it will become the standard work and data source for biotic studies on the Ordovician Period. This introductory chapter presents the scope, aims, and organization of the volume; outlines previous work on Ordovician biodiversity topics; and gives an overview of the chapters in the volume, from those briefly appraising the Ordovician World to those more comprehensively surveying the diversification patterns of the main Ordovician taxonomic groups.