The Story of Life

Front Cover
OUP Oxford, Jan 16, 2003 - Science - 276 pages
How did life begin? What was 'snowball earth'? Why did the dinosaurs become extinct? Are we all descended from 'African Eve'? Will humans be responsible for the next major extinction? These and many other fundamental questions are addressed in this masterly account of The Story of Life, by eminent biologist and teacher Richard Southwood. The story unfolds with the formation of the earth around four thousand million years ago. Life first emerged a hundred million years later, and it took another fifteen million years for more complex life-forms to appear. Periods of relative calm were punctuated by five major extinctions, with innumerable minor jolts along the way. Then, five million years ago, an able ape evolved that gradually came to dominate and control the other animals and plants. The future now lies in the hands of this single species, Homo sapiens. In this carefully crafted story, Southwood's love of his subject, and for the life he describes, shines through, to engage and inform scientist and general reader alike.
 

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
Figure Acknowledgements
259
Index
261
Copyright

Triassic 248206 Mya
118

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About the author (2003)

Professor Sir Richard Southwood FRS, was head of both Imperial College and Oxford Zoology Departments, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, holder of thirteen honorary degrees and, above all, a life-long natural historian with an enduring curiosity about the lives of the other inhabitants of Earth. As well as writing and researching, he played a major role in public policy related to the environment.

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