Origins : the search for our prehistoric past / Frank H.T. Rhodes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rhodes, Frank H. T. (Frank Harold Trevor), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evolution (Biology)--Popular works.

Evolution (Biology).

Life--Origin--Popular works.

Life.

Phylogeny--Popular works.

Phylogeny.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white), map (black and white)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

"Fossils are the fragments from which, piece by laborious piece, the great mosaic of the history of life has been constructed. Here and there, we can supplement these meager scraps by the use of biochemical markers or geochemical signatures that add useful information, but, even with such additional help, our reconstructions and our models of descent are often tentative. For the fossil record is, as we have seen, as biased as it is incomplete. But fragmentary, selective, and biased though it is, the fossil record, with all its imperfections, is still a treasure. Though whole chapters are missing, many pages lost, and the earliest pages so damaged as to be, as yet, virtually unreadable, this-the greatest biography of all-is one in whose closing pages we find ourselves."-from OriginsIn Origins, Frank H. T. Rhodes explores the origin and evolution of living things, the changing environments in which they have developed, and the challenges we now face on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. Rhodes argues that the future well-being of our burgeoning population depends in no small part on our understanding of life's past, its long and slow development, and its intricate interdependencies.Rhodes's accessible and extensively illustrated treatment of the origins narrative describes the nature of the search for prehistoric life, the significance of geologic time, the origin of life, the emergence and spread of flora and fauna, the evolution of primates, and the emergence of modern humans.

Contents:

Defrosting the mammoth

Terrestrial timepieces

From so simple a beginning

Classification : the diversity of life

Spineless wonders

Bones, scales, and fins

The greening of the land

The amphibian foothold

The reign of the reptiles

The air

The blossoming earth

Rise of the mammals

The mammalian explosion

The Leakeys' legacy

Endless forms, most beautiful and most wonderful

On extinction

Have been and are being evolved : the development of life.

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2016.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781501706776

1501706772

9781501706233

1501706233

OCLC:

956737901