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. 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. 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," the focus of this book. During the 46-million-year Ordovician Period (489-443 m.y.), a remarkable array of adaptive radiations of "Paleozoic- and Modern-type" biotas appeared in marine habitats, the first animals (arthropods) walked on land, and the first nonvascular bryophyte-like plants colonized the land. This is the first book devoted specifically to establishing the global patterns of differentiation of Ordovician biotas through time and space. It provides extensive genus- and species-level diversity data for the many Ordovician fossil groups and presents an evaluation of how each group diversified, with assessments of patterns of diversity change, and rates of origination and extinction. 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.