Evolution is one of the fundamental underlying concepts of modern science. This powerful theory explains such phenomena as the history of life preserved in the fossil record; the genetic, molecular, and physical similarities and differences among organisms; and the geographic distribution of organisms today and in the past. Indeed, evolution forms the foundation of modern biology and paleontology and is well documented by evidence from a variety of scientific disciplines. <...>

Most simply put, taphonomy is the study of processes affecting the transition of the remains of past living organisms and their traces into the lithosphere as seen in the prehistoric record. It has many aspects, from processes affecting individual organisms to those affecting whole communities, but at its most basic level, the processes on which taphonomic interpretations are based are the same. Process is thus defined as the action of a taphonomic agent (Lyman 1994a), the agent being the immediate cause of modifications. The evidence by which process is identified in the fossil record is the effect it has on fossils, the biological, chemical and physical modifications preserved on the fossils. These modifications may be identified and interpreted through comparisons with observed processes produced by known agents acting on previously unmodified bones at the present time, either in experimentally controlled conditions or by naturalistic monitoring projects where agents and processes are known. <...>

Thomas Henry Huxley proclaimed the Origin of Species to be “the most potent instrument for the extension of the realm of knowledge which has come into man’s hands since Newton’s Principia.” Ernst Mayr, arguably the greatest evolutionary theorist since Darwin, asserted that the Origin of Species triggered the greatest paradigm shift in the history of science. The late paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, who inherited Huxley’s mantle as public intellectual, called the theory of evolution one of the half dozen most important ideas in the entire history of Western thought. The philosopher of science Daniel Dennett called evolution the most dangerous idea in the history of science.<...>

It was very cold. The countryside was blanketed in snow, intermittently dotted by drab houses and small villages. We were traveling in a van to Chaoyang, an ancient city and birthplace of Chinese culture, some five hours northeast of Beijing, in the western portion of Liaoning Province. What brought us there was the promise of a treasure trove of birds of stone: a large collection of ancient fossils housed in a small local museum. Since the early 1990s, a wealth of extraordinary fossils of birds and other organisms had been unearthed from this region in the northeastern corner of China. Dating back more than 120 million years, these spectacular fossils were rewriting the evolutionary history of many groups of animals and plants in deep time <...>

This is a course book – meaning that it intends to confer not knowledge, but skill. The need for this skill becomes obvious if we look at the changing role of trace fossils during the last decades. From objects that were treated in standard paleontology textbooks, at best, under “Miscellanea”, together with problematica, coprolites and pseudofossils useless as index fossils, they have become subject of a special field, paleoichnology.

THIS VOLUME is in three parts. Part I contains the text of papers given at the symposium meeting; in this sense it is what is generally understood by a symposium in that each paper is the responsibility of the author, who although invited to contribute in a particular field has nevertheless decided for himself how to do this. It thus consists of a series of loosely related papers. Part II, on the other hand, is an integrated compilation, and the introduction explains how this effort in documentation was organized. It does not comment, however, on the labour which made this publication possible;

Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur skeleton? With your head tilted back, eyes wide open, and experiencing that overwhelming, uncontrollable “wow” factor? For many of us, coming face to face with an intimidating colossus of bones and teeth, an animal unlike anything alive today, would have filled you with an incredible sense of wonder and excitement.
But have you ever pondered what dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals did in their daily lives? Maybe what they ate or if they got sick? Perhaps how the animals cared for their babies and whether they laid eggs or gave birth to live young? Finding answers to these apparently simple questions is an almighty, complex challenge for paleontologists studying fossils. Some fossils, however, are so remarkable that they record direct evidence of such behaviors, capturing specific moments in the lives of long-extinct species. These are among the most fascinating, awe-inspiring, and exceptional of all fossils ever found <...>

Атлас фаций и ископаемых остатков палеозоя составлен впервые в Кыргызстане. На основе ранее проведенных биостратиграфических работ составлены схемы корреляции палеозойских отложений Срединного Тянь-Шаня по магистральным профилям. Построена детальная биостратиграфическая схема по фораминиферам для каменноугольных и нижнепермских отложений на основании анализа распространения 632 видов, которая дополнена схемой по конодонтам, определениями кораллов, мшанок и водорослей. Составлены палеонтологические таблицы зональных комплексов фораминифер позднего девона – ранней перми, конодонтов раннего – среднего ордовика и визейского века, а также кораллов раннего-среднего карбона. Для различных фаций определены обстановки осадконакопления, проведено их детальное описание и выявлен их предполагаемый нефтегазовый потенциал.
В пределах Нарынской впадины выделены и описаны несколько рифовых массивов. На основе результатов химико-битуминологического анализа в 160 пробах по карбонатным и карбонатно-терригенным породам палеозоя определены наиболее благоприятные возрастные уровни для образования нефтематеринских пород.

Атлас рассчитан на геологов, палеонтологов, литологов, изучающих палеозойские отложения Срединного Тянь-Шаня Кыргызстана. Он может быть использован как определитель фораминифер при биостратиграфических исследованиях в других регионах.

Третья книга из серии иллюстрированных определителей геологических объектов, выпускаемых в ГДР («Определитель горных пород» и «Определитель минералов» в русском переводе вышли в издательстве «Мир» соответственно в 1977 и 1978 гг.), в отличие от первых двух содержит не только материалы по определению ископаемой фауны и флоры, но и указания по их правильному сбору, препарированию и использованию. В общедоступной форме авторы знакомят читателя с основными группами вымерших организмов, многими другими вопросами, с которыми столкнется начинающий палеонтолог. На русском языке подобные издания отсутствуют.

Книга полезна не только для геологов всех специальностей, но также для студентов, туристов, школьников старших классов и всех любителей природы