Driving evolution forward, the Earth''s physical environment has challenged the very survival of organisms and ecosystems throughout the ages. With a fresh new perspective, Evolution on Planet Earth shows how these physical realities and hurdles shaped the primary phases of life on the planet. The book''s thorough coverage also includes chapters on more proximate factors and paleoenvironmental events that influenced the diversity of life. A team of notable ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and paleontologists join forces to describe drifting continents, extinction events, and climate change -- important topics that continue to shape Earth''s inhabitants to this very day. In a world where global change has become an international issue, this book provides a several billion-year evolutionary perspective on what the environment and environmental change means to life.* Provides thorough background information on each topic while introducing cutting-edge research* Features original material solicited from the leading minds in evolutionary biology and geology today* Emphasizes the influence of massive geological forces - continental drift, volcanic activity, sea and tides

Charles Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle was a journey that would revolutionise our understanding of the natural world and our place in it.The magisterial work it spawned, On the Origin of Species, is widely associated with the flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands. Less well known is Darwin's passion for geology and how his fossil discoveries in South America - by demonstrating the relationship between extinct lifeforms and living species - shaped his theory of evolution.This is the story of those fossil-hunting adventures in the 1830s, the pioneering science behind the fossils he found, and how these remarkable discoveries played a crucial role in forging Darwin's revolutionary ideas.

Driving evolution forward, the Earth''s physical environment has challenged the very survival of organisms and ecosystems throughout the ages. With a fresh new perspective, Evolution on Planet Earth shows how these physical realities and hurdles shaped the primary phases of life on the planet. The book''s thorough coverage also includes chapters on more proximate factors and paleoenvironmental events that influenced the diversity of life. A team of notable ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and paleontologists join forces to describe drifting continents, extinction events, and climate change -- important topics that continue to shape Earth''s inhabitants to this very day. In a world where global change has become an international issue, this book provides a several billion-year evolutionary perspective on what the environment and environmental change means to life.* Provides thorough background information on each topic while introducing cutting-edge research* Features original material solicited from the leading minds in evolutionary biology and geology today* Emphasizes the influence of massive geological forces - continental drift, volcanic activity, sea and tides

Charles Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle was a journey that would revolutionise our understanding of the natural world and our place in it.The magisterial work it spawned, On the Origin of Species, is widely associated with the flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands. Less well known is Darwin's passion for geology and how his fossil discoveries in South America - by demonstrating the relationship between extinct lifeforms and living species - shaped his theory of evolution.This is the story of those fossil-hunting adventures in the 1830s, the pioneering science behind the fossils he found, and how these remarkable discoveries played a crucial role in forging Darwin's revolutionary ideas.