We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2021
Starting in 1860, there have been many attempts to document levels of ancient biodiversity using the fossil record. I review four attempts, starting with John Phillips in 1860, followed by Jack Sepkoski’s classic study from 1984. John Alroy’s 2008 work updates Sepkoski’s work but presents problems of its own. The final review is of a study by Fan et al. (2020) who used a supercomputer to produce the most detailed analysis of ancient biodiversity so far. The four studies taken together demonstrate how palaeontologists are using increasingly sophisticated statistical techniques and an improved geological time scale to address the limitations of the fossil record. But more than that, they reveal mass extinctions as powerful agents of biotic change. These events directly influence not only the level of the planet’s biodiversity, but also the composition of its biota.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
