Hominid Adaptations and Extinctions

Hominid Adaptations and Extinctions PDF

Author: David W. Cameron

Publisher: UNSW Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780868407166

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Looking at a period of history 22 to 2.5 million years ago, this title examines the record of the Neogene fossil apes: their adaptive trends, their morphologies and their relationships to the environment, their evolution and their extinctions, to provideinsights into the evolution of our most distant and our most immediate fossil ancestors.

Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution

Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2010-04-17

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 0309148383

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The Earth's geological record suggests that some evolutionary events were coincident with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the possibility that critical junctures in human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected by the environmental characteristics of the areas where hominins evolved. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution explores the opportunities of using scientific research to improve our understanding of how climate may have helped shape our species. Improved climate records for specific regions will be required before it is possible to evaluate how critical resources for hominins, especially water and vegetation, would have been distributed on the landscape during key intervals of hominin history. Existing records contain substantial temporal gaps. The book's initiatives are presented in two major research themes: first, determining the impacts of climate change and climate variability on human evolution and dispersal; and second, integrating climate modeling, environmental records, and biotic responses. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution suggests a new scientific program for international climate and human evolution studies that involve an exploration initiative to locate new fossil sites and to broaden the geographic and temporal sampling of the fossil and archeological record; a comprehensive and integrative scientific drilling program in lakes, lake bed outcrops, and ocean basins surrounding the regions where hominins evolved and a major investment in climate modeling experiments for key time intervals and regions that are critical to understanding human evolution.

Evolution of Island Mammals

Evolution of Island Mammals PDF

Author: Alexandra van der Geer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-02-14

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 1444391283

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Evolution on islands differs in a number of important ways from evolution on mainland areas. Over millions of years of isolation, exceptional and sometimes bizarre mammals evolved on islands, such as pig-sized elephants and hippos, giant rats and gorilla-sized lemurs that would have been formidable to their mainland ancestors. This timely and innovative book is the first to offer a much-needed synthesis of recent advances in the exciting field of the evolution and extinction of fossil insular placental mammals. It provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge on fossil island mammals worldwide, ranging from the Oligocene to the onset of the Holocene. The book addresses evolutionary processes and key aspects of insular mammal biology, exemplified by a variety of fossil species. The authors discuss the human factor in past extinction events and loss of insular biodiversity. This accessible and richly illustrated textbook is written for graduate level students and professional researchers in evolutionary biology, palaeontology, biogeography, zoology, and ecology.

The Last Human

The Last Human PDF

Author: Esteban E. Sarmiento

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9780300100471

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Creates three-dimensional scientific reconstructions for twenty-two species of extinct humans, providing information for each one on its emergence, chronology, geographic range, classification, physiology, environment, habitat, cultural achievements, coex

Extinct Humans

Extinct Humans PDF

Author: Ian Tattersall

Publisher: Westview Press

Published: 2000-06-15

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

An assessment of human evolution that theorizes that many more species of humans than previously thought have existed during the six million year history of the hominid family.

Handbook of Paleoanthropology

Handbook of Paleoanthropology PDF

Author: Winfried Henke

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-05-10

Total Pages: 2057

ISBN-13: 3540324747

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This 3-volume handbook brings together contributions by the world ́s leading specialists that reflect the broad spectrum of modern palaeoanthropology, thus presenting an indispensable resource for professionals and students alike. Vol. 1 reviews principles, methods, and approaches, recounting recent advances and state-of-the-art knowledge in phylogenetic analysis, palaeoecology and evolutionary theory and philosophy. Vol. 2 examines primate origins, evolution, behaviour, and adaptive variety, emphasizing integration of fossil data with contemporary knowledge of the behaviour and ecology of living primates in natural environments. Vol. 3 deals with fossil and molecular evidence for the evolution of Homo sapiens and its fossil relatives.

What Does it Mean to be Human?

What Does it Mean to be Human? PDF

Author: Richard Potts

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 1426206062

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This generously illustrated book tells the story of the human family, showing how our species' physical traits and behaviors evolved over millions of years as our ancestors adapted to dramatic environmental changes. In What Does It Means to Be Human? Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, and Chris Sloan, National Geographic's paleoanthropolgy expert, delve into our distant past to explain when, why, and how we acquired the unique biological and cultural qualities that govern our most fundamental connections and interactions with other people and with the natural world. Drawing on the latest research, they conclude that we are the last survivors of a once-diverse family tree, and that our evolution was shaped by one of the most unstable eras in Earth's environmental history. The book presents a wealth of attractive new material especially developed for the Hall's displays, from life-like reconstructions of our ancestors sculpted by the acclaimed John Gurche to photographs from National Geographic and Smithsonian archives, along with informative graphics and illustrations. In coordination with the exhibit opening, the PBS program NOVA will present a related three-part television series, and the museum will launch a website expected to draw 40 million visitors.

The Humans Who Went Extinct

The Humans Who Went Extinct PDF

Author: Clive Finlayson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-11-11

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 0199239193

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Originally published in hardcover: Oxford; New York: Oxford Universtiy Press, 2009.

The Evolutionary Biology of Extinct and Extant Organisms

The Evolutionary Biology of Extinct and Extant Organisms PDF

Author: Subir Ranjan Kundu

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2021-03-23

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 0128232838

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Evolutionary Biology of Extinct and Extant Organisms offers a thorough and detailed narration of the journey of biological evolution and its major transitional links to the biological world, which began with paleontological exploration of extinct organisms and now carries on with reviews of phylogenomic footprint reviews of extant, living fossils. This book moves through the defining evolutionary stepping stones starting with the evolutionary changes in prokaryotic, aquatic organisms over 4 billion years ago to the emergence of the modern human species in Earth’s Anthropocene. The book begins with an overview of the processes of evolutionary fitness, the epicenter of the principles of evolutionary biology. Whether through natural or experimental occurrence, evolutionary fitness has been found to be the cardinal instance of evolutionary links in an organism between its ancestral and contemporary states. The book then goes on to detail evolutionary trails and lineages of groups of organisms including mammalians, reptilians, and various fish. The final section of the book provides a look back at the evolutionary journey of "nonliving" or extinct organisms, versus the modern-day transition to "living" or extant organisms. The Evolutionary Biology of Extinct and Extant Organisms is the ideal resource for any researcher or advanced student in evolutionary studies, ranging from evolutionary biology to general life sciences. Provides an updated compendium of evolution research history Details the evolution trails of organisms, including mammals, reptiles, arthropods, annelids, mollusks, protozoa, and more Offers an accessible and easy-to-read presentation of complex, in-depth evolutionary biology facts and theories