Living dinosaurs : the evolutionary history of modern birds / edited by Gareth Dyke and Gary Kaiser.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dyke, Gareth.

Kaiser, Gary W.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Birds--Evolution.

Birds.

Paleobiology.

Physical Description:

xv, 422 p. : ill., maps.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chichester, West Sussex ; Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Living Dinosaurs offers a snapshot of our current understanding of the origin and evolution of birds. After slumbering for more than a century, avian palaeontology has been awakened by startling new discoveries on almost every continent. Controversies about whether dinosaurs had real feathers or whether birds were related to dinosaurs have been swept away and replaced by new and more difficult questions: How old is the avian lineage? How did birds learn to fly? Which birds survived the great extinction that ended the Mesozoic Era and how did the avian genome evolve? Answers to these questions may help us understand how the different kinds of living birds are related to one another and how they evolved into their current niches. More importantly, they may help us understand what we need to do to help them survive the dramatic impacts of human activity on the planet.

Contents:

Introduction : changing the questions in avian paleontology / Gary Kaiser and Gareth Dyke

Theropod diversity and the refinement of avian characteristics / Peter J. Makovicky and Lindsay E. Zanno

Why were there dinosaurs? Why are there birds? / Peter Ward and Robert Berner

Pre-modern birds : avian divergences in the Mesozoic / Jingmai O'Connor, Luis M. Chiappe, and Alyssa Bell

Progress and obstacles in the phylogenetics of modern birds / Bradley C. Livezey

The utility of fossil taxa and the evolution of modern birds : commentary and analysis / Gareth Dyke and Eoin Gardiner

Penguins past, present, and future : trends in the evolution of the Sphenisciformes / Daniel T. Ksepka and Tatsuro Ando

Phorusrhacids : the terror birds / Herculano Alvarenga, Luis Chiappe, and Sara Bertelli

The pseudo-toothed birds (Aves, Odontopterygiformes) and their bearing on the early evolution of modern birds / Estelle Bourdon

Phylogeny and diversification of modern passerines / F. Keith Barker

Morphological and behavioral correlates of flapping flight / Bret W. Tobalske ... [et al.]

Evolution of the avian brain and senses / Stig Walsh and Angela Milner

Evolving perceptions on the antiquity of the modern avian tree / Joseph W. Brown and M. Van Tuinen

Major events in avian genome evolution / Chris L. Organ and Scott V. Edwards

Bird evolution across the K-Pg boundary and the basal neornithine diversification / Bent E.K. Lindow

Functional and phylogenetic diversity in marine and aquatic birds / Gary Kaiser

The state of the world's birds and the future of avian diversity / Gavin H. Thomas.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613405227

9781283405225

1283405229

9781119990451

1119990459

9781119990475

1119990475

OCLC:

922975795