1st Edition

Fossil Behavior Compendium

By Arthur J. Boucot, Jr. Poinar Copyright 2010
    424 Pages
    by CRC Press

    424 Pages
    by CRC Press

    In this complete and thorough update of Arthur Boucot’s seminal work, Evolutionary Paleobiology of Behavior and Coevolution, Boucot is joined by George Poinar, who provides additional expertise and knowledge on protozoans and bacteria as applied to disease. Together, they make the Fossil Behavior Compendium wider in scope, covering all relevant animal and plant groups and all epochs, and providing a detailed review of animal and plant fossil behavior in terrestrial and aquatic environments.





    Fossil behavior encompasses not only past evidence of the life history of an organism but also behavioral, predation, and symbiotic interactions, including parasitism. This book compares patterns of behavior and coevolution in the past with those of the present-day descendants. It also discusses how to evaluate the rates of evolution of behavior and coevolution at various taxonomic levels. The compendium emphasizes the interactions between fossils and compares these interactions with present-day counterparts. It also provides new discussions on topics related to fossils in amber.





    Keeping Boucot’s trademark, easy-to-read style, the book includes new findings never published previously, reports not easily accessed, numerous examples, 40 tables, 285 illustrations—some published here for the first time—and a four-page color insert. The book provides a concise account of the evidence for varied disease types recognized to date in the fossil record.



    Functional Morphology. Specialized, Potentially Interacting Biological Substrates. Mutualism. Host–Parasite and Host–Parasitoid Relationships and Disease. Density and Spacing. Predation and Feeding Behaviors. Communication. Trace Fossils and Their Formers. Specialized Substrates. Sexual Behavior. Parental Care. Depth Behavior. Phoresy. Carrier Shells. Pollination Ecology. Social Insects. Long-Range Migration. Molting. Sensitive Plants. Reptilian and Mammalian Burrows and Dens. Vertebrate Endocranial Casts. Preening. Grain-Size Selectors. The Seagrass Community Complex. Shelter. Flying and Gliding Vertebrates. Possible Genetic–Developmental Defects. Teratologies. Disease. Marine Molluscan Larval Types and Their Behavior. Competition Involving Bryozoans. “Lost” Behaviors and Their Vestigial Evidence. Stunting. Oceanic vs. Neritic. Human Behavior. Summary and Conclusions. References.

    Biography

    Boucot, Arthur J.; Poinar, Jr.