Telling the Evolutionary Time: Molecular Clocks and the Fossil Record

by Donoghue, Philip C. J.; Smith, M. Paul

• ISBN13: 9780203642528
• ISBN10: 020364252X
• Copyright: 2003-12-16
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Summary

This book represents a discussion between molecular biologists and paleontologists, in which they investigate the significance of competing sources of data, explain the nature of molecular clocks and the fossil record, and attempt to develop compromise models that incorporate conflicting opinions. These are presented as a series of case studies dealing with many of the most important groups of complex organisms. Research scientists and advanced undergraduates across the field of evolutionary biology will find Telling Evolutionary Time: Molecular Clocks and Fossil Record a stimulating volume, bringing new insight and perspective to a thorny debate.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. vii
Introduction: molecular clocks and the fossil record - towards consilience?	p. 1
Molecular clocks: whence and whither?	p. 5
Molecular clocks and a biological trigger for Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth events and the Cambrian explosion	p. 27
Phylogenetic fuses and evolutionary 'explosions': conflicting evidence and critical tests	p. 41
The quality of the fossil record	p. 66
Ghost ranges	p. 91
Episodic evolution of nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA gene in the stem-lineage of Foraminifera	p. 107
Dating the origin of land plants	p. 119
Angiosperm divergence times: congruence and incongruence between fossils and sequence divergence estimates	p. 142
The limitations of the fossil record and the dating of the origin of the Bilateria	p. 166
The origin and early evolution of chordates: molecular clocks and the fossil record	p. 190
Bones, molecules, and crown-tetrapod origins	p. 224
The fossil record and molecular clocks: basal radiations within the Neornithes	p. 263
Systematics Association Publications	p. 279
Index	p. 283
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.