Extinction: Evolution and the End of Man

Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-0-231-12837-7
Verlag: COLUMBIA UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 144 mm x 205 mm, Gewicht: 254 g

Sixty-five million years ago the dinosaurs were destroyed in a mass extinction that remains unexplained. Out of that devastation, new life developed and the world regained its equilibrium. Until now. Employing radically new perspectives on the science of life, scientists are beginning to uncover signs of a similar event on the horizon: the end of man.

In telling the story of the last sixty-five million years, Michael Boulter reveals extraordinary new insights that scientists are only now beginning to understand about the fossil record, the rise and fall of species, and the nature of life. According to Boulter, nature is a self-organizing system in which the whole is more important than its parts. The system is self-correcting, and one of its tools is extinction. If the system is disrupted, it will do what it must to restore balance.

This book is a thoroughly researched introduction to the new developments in the science of life and a chilling account of the effects that humans have had on the planet. The world will adapt and survive; humanity most probably will not.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Boulter, Michael

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Geologie Paläontologie, Taphonomie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tiergenetik, Reproduktion

Inhaltsverzeichnis

The Past is Not OverExtinctionA System Out of ChaosFrom Dinosaurs to UsWhat's in a Name?A Man-made Extinction EventHumans and the FutureIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Michael Boulter is a professor of paleobiology at the University of East London. He is the head of a team analyzing Fossil Record 2, the largest database of information on extinct animals and plants. For twenty years, Boulter has been secretary and editor for the International Organisation of Palaeobotany.