The Story of LifeIn this attractively illustrated volume, eminent biologist Sir Richard Southwood offers a remarkable survey of life in all its forms, ranging from the earliest single-celled bacteria, to the evolution and extinction of animals such as the dinosaurs, to the variety of life today. The book follows the major geological periods--such as the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian--explaining how great planetary changes such as the movement of the continents, the rising and falling of sea level, and the periods of glaciation, affected the forms of life on Earth. Beginning with the earliest and simplest forms of life, Southwood discusses such amazing creatures as bacteria that live around geysers and thermal vents and can survive in boiling water. He explains how the development of skeletons triggered the Cambrian Explosion, when animals such as trilobites, sea scorpions, shellfish, cephalopods first spread around the earth. He also examines such landmarks of evolution as the appearance of eggs in shells and of insects in flight. We read about the great dinosaurs and the arrival of the mammals and the primates, and the great extinctions, including the Permian (the largest in fossil history, wiping out 95% of animals) and the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) extinction (the one that wiped out the dinosaurs). Southwood concludes by examining the impact of humanity on Earth, considering if we ourselves might not unleash the next major extinction. Southwood's love for his subject, for the life he describes so vividly, shines through this carefully crafted story. Generously illustrated with line drawings showing the fauna and flora of the Earth, both past and present, The Story of Life will enthrall anyone interested in nature and natural history. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Pre and Early Archaean 45503500 Mya | 7 |
Middle and Late Archaean 35002500 Mya | 14 |
Proterozoic 2500600 Mya | 25 |
Late Proterozoic 700545 Mya | 36 |
CambrianOrdovician 545438 Mya | 43 |
SilurianDevonian 438362 Mya | 65 |
CarboniferousPermian 362248 Mya | 89 |
JurassicCretaceous 20665 Mya | 136 |
TertiaryQuaternary 65 MyaToday | 176 |
20 Mya30000 Years Ago | 213 |
The Great Modifiers 40000 Years Ago Today and Tomorrow | 233 |
Further Reading | 257 |
259 | |
261 | |
Triassic 248206 Mya | 118 |
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Common terms and phrases
abundant adaptations Africa algae animals Antarctica asteroid Australia bacteria became extinct birds body Cambrian carbon dioxide Carboniferous carnivorous cell changes China climate conodonts continents corals Cretaceous cyanobacteria deposits Devonian dinosaurs diversity early earth Ediacaran eggs elephants environment evolution evolutionary evolved example fauna feeding ferns fish flowering food chain forests fossil record genes Gondwana habitats herbivores hind hominins humans insects Jurassic lampshells land landmass Laurasia layer legs living major mammals marine metres million years ago Miocene modern molecules Neanderthals North America occurred Ocean Ordovician organisms oxygen Panthalassic Ocean particularly period Permian photosynthesis plankton plants plates Pleistocene pollen predators prey probably protists pterosaurs rainforest reefs relatively reptiles rocks sapiens sauropods sea level seeds seems sharks shells skeleton South species suggested surface survive temperature termed terrestrial Tethys Ocean theropods tion today’s trees Triassic trilobites tropical types warm whales worms