From the authors of The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs, comes a general introduction to the study of dinosaurs for non-specialists, designed to excite readers about science by using the ever-popular animals - the dinosaurs- to illustrate and discuss geology, natural history and evolution. While it focuses on dinosaurs, it also uses them to convey other aspects of the naturalsciences, including fundamental concepts in evolutionary biology, physiology,life history, and systematics. Considerable attention is devoted the nature of science itself: what it is, what it is not, and how science can be used to investigate particular kinds of questions. Dinosaurs is unique because it fillsa gap between the glossy, fact-driven dinosaur books for younger readers, andthe higher-level academic books, addressing the palaeontology of dinosaurs exactly as professionals in the field do. Readers gain a meaningful understanding of phylogenetic systematics, the lingua franca of modern evolutionary biology, through a logical introduction of cladistic methods. Unlike other introductory books, Dinosaurs is not a list of facts and figures and instead is concept-based to allow a true understanding of the origins, diversity, behaviour, andextinction of these magnificent animals. The dinosaurs are brought to life incommissioned drawings from the acclaimed dinosaur illustrator, John Sibbick INDICE: Preface: why this book?; Part I. Reaching Back in Time: 1. To catch a Dinosaur; 2. Dinosaur days; 3. Who's related to whom - and how do we know?; 4. Who are the Dinosaurs?; Part II. Ornithischia: Armored, Horned, and Duckbilled Dinosaurs: 5. Thyreophora: the armor-bearers; 6. Marginocephalia: bosses, bumps, and beaks; 7. Ornithopoda: the Tuskers, Antelopes and 'Mighty Ducks' of the Mesozoic; Part III. Saurischia: Meat, Might, and Magnitude: 8. Sauropodomorpha: the big, the bizarre, and the majestic; 9. Theropoda I: Nature red intooth and claw; 10. Theropoda II: The origin of birds; 11. Theropoda III: Early birds; Part IV. Endothermy, Endemism, and Extinction: 12. Dinosaur thermoregulation: some like it hot; 13. The flowering of the Mesozoic; 14. Thoughts ofa Paleontologist: A history of ideas in paleontology; 15. The Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction: the frill is gone
- ISBN: 978-0-521-71902-5
- Editorial: Cambridge University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 394
- Fecha Publicación: 12/01/2009
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés