The Cambrian explosion : the construction of animal biodiversity / Douglas H. Erwin, Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC and Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, James W. Valentine, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley
The geological context of Ediacaran and Cambrian events -- The environmental context of the Ediacaran and early Cambrian -- The Metazoan tree of life -- Dawn of animals : the Ediacara biota -- Metazoan architectures of the Cambrian explosion -- The origin and evolution of Metazoan ecosystems -- The evolution of the Metazoan genome an dthe Cambrian explosion -- Ghostly ancestors -- Constructing the Cambrian
Summary
"The Cambrian Period records one of the most extraordinary transitions in the history of life. Although animals may have first appeared nearly 700 million years ago, with the earliest sponges, their initial diversifications appear to have been modest until a richly diverse fossil fauna appeared relatively abruptly about 170 million years later. In The Cambrian Explosion, Erwin and Valentine synthesize research from many fields to explain why there was such remarkable novelty of animal forms"-- Provided by publisher
