Geobiology is a rapidly growing and truly interdisciplinary field at the interface between earth and life sciences, and mainstream research in geobiology involves microbes and microbial activities at all scales in different geological environments through time in Earth’s history. This research and its findings have strong implications for the evolution of life on the Earth and potentially in other planets.

Earth is a dynamic planet that has changed continuously during its 4.6 billion years of existence. The size, shape, and geographic distribution of the continents and ocean basins have changed through time, as have the atmosphere and biota. As scientists and concerned citizens, we have become increasingly aware of how fragile our planet is and, more importantly, how interdependent all of its various systems and subsystems are.

Эта книга — увлекательный рассказ о строении и эволюции биосферы, о географических и геологических аспектах планетарной деятельности человека, о том, как знания и научный расчет помогают рационально использовать природные богатства и организовать окружающую среду в соответствии с нашими идеалами.
Предназначена для широкого круга читателей.

Коллективная монография, подготовленная по материалам XII Международного семинара «Геология, геоэкология, эволюционная география», продолжает знакомить читателя с проблемами наук о Земле на фоне коэволюции геологической и географической среды и их общих научных и образовательных задач. Адресуется специалистам в области наук о Земле и естественнонаучного образования, студентам, аспирантам и преподавателям вузов.

Труды XVI Международного семинара «Геология, геоэкология, эволюционная география» продолжают знакомить читателя с проблемами наук о Земле на фоне коэволюции геологической и географической среды и их общих научных и образовательных задач.
Адресуется специалистам в области наук о Земле и естественнонаучного образования, студентам, аспирантам и преподавателям вузов.

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. <...>

Книга известного американского палеонтолога посвящена истории млекопитающих Южной Америки, эволюция которых на протяжении большей части кайнозоя протекала в условиях изоляции. В результате этой эволюции возникло множество совершенно своеобразных животных; многие из них вымерли, но некоторые (броненосцы, ламы, муравьеды) сохранились до наших дней. Южноамериканская фауна дала Чарлзу Дарвину важнейшие сведения, способствовавшие построению его теории происхождения видов.
Предназначена для зоологов, палеонтологов, биогеографов, а также биологов других специальностей.

Mammals, like nearly all other tetrapods (or four- legged animals), evolved on land. Marine mammals are a diverse assemblage of at least seven distinct evolutionary lineages of mammals that independently returned to the sea and include whales, dolphins, and porpoises (Cetartiodactylans); seals, sea lions, and walruses (Pinnipedia); sea cows (Sirenia); extinct sea cow relatives (Desmostylians); polar bears; sea and marine otters; and extinct aquatic sloths. The secondary adaptation of mammals to life in water required various morphological specializations, including for some lineages dramatic changes in body size and shape compared to their terrestrial relatives. Marine mammals are relatively large, with streamlined bodies and reduced appendages (for example, small or no external ears) and thick fur or fat layers for insulation. Other modifi cations for swimming and diving include the transformation of limbs into fl ippers and/or use of the tail for propulsion in water. <...>

Shelley's lines paint a picture of a lost world, a world resurrected from the antiquities of Greek mythology. But Shelley had more than ancient legends to go on; he was acutely aware of the discoveries of great extinct beasts from the writings of contemporary naturalists. It is known that Shelley attended lectures on mineralogy at Oxford and possessed a library of scientific works which included the writings of Newton, Laplace, Herschel, Davy and Erasmus Darwin. By 1812 he was familiar with James Parkinson's Organic remains published in three volumes between 1804 and 1811.

There are about 4,600 species of animals today that are called mammals because, despite an astonishing diversity of form and habitat, they all share a long list of characters not found in any other organisms, such as the presence of mammary glands, the single bone in the lower jaw, and the neocortex of the forebrain. This makes them unambiguously distinct from their closest living relatives, and their unique characters together define a monophyletic taxon, the class Mammalia. Three subgroups are readily distinguished amongst the living mammals.