Publisher's Synopsis
Mass extinctions of animals and plants in the geological past are a topic of continuing interest and debate. This volume reviews some of the major changes that are seen in important groups of organisms in the fossil record. Our present understanding of the nature and causes of these changes is examined, together with the problems of defining such changes. The available data on a variety of fossil plants and animals are considered in relation to major extinction events that have been recognized in the geological record for Phanerozoic time (i.e. approximately the past 600 million years). The question of whether there is a regular periodicity in extinction events is considered, as are the problems posed by the incompleteness of the palaeontological and stratigraphical evidence.;This book will interest research workers and advanced students in systematic and evolutionary biology, paleontology, geology, biogeography, botany and zoology.
