1st Edition

Palaeobiogeography of Marine Fossil Invertebrates Concepts and Methods

By Fabrizio Cecca Copyright 2002

    Sitting squarely at the interface between earth and life sciences, palaeobiogeographic information is scattered throughout many publications. Until now. Palaeobiogeography of Marine Fossil Invertebrates covers important theoretical concepts relating to palaeobiogeography together with descriptions of analytical methods.

    Fabrizio Cecca discusses general biogeographical concepts and the factors influencing distributional patterns and provides case histories that illustrate the concepts covered. Cecca uses the palaeobiogeography of fossil organisms to generate hypotheses on continental drifting, past migration routes, palaeobiodiversity gradients, geographic barriers, palaeoclimatic and paleooceanographic conditions. He explores the biogeographical dimension of biodiversity through the analysis of existing latitudinal and longitudinal gradients of biodiversity and discusses the biodiversity/area relationship with particular reference to sea-level variations.

    Much of the material in the book has been drawn from the author's personal research and experience in ammonites and the Mesozoic pelagic biotas. To avoid lack of balance, he includes carefully selected case histories based on other fossil groups and geologic periods. The book is primarily for students and researchers of geology and palaeontology who whish to gain an understanding of palaeobiogeography, but will also be of interest to marine biologists concerned with the biogeographic aspects of palaeontology and evolution.

    INTRODUCTION
    Processes of Speciation and Biogeography
    Biogeography: Neo-and Palaeobiography
    The Aims of Palaeobiography
    The Different Biogeographies

    GENERAL BIOGEOGRAPHICAL CONCEPTS
    The Main Distributional Patterns
    The Three Main Categories of Biogeographical Processes

    CLASSICAL THEORETICAL MODELS: DISPERSAL AND VARIANCE
    Barriers and Filters
    The Dispersal Model and the "Centre of Origin"
    Panbiogeography
    The Variance Model
    Centres of Origin in Palaeobiogeography

    BIOGEOGRAPHIC ANALYSES AND BIOGEOGRAPHICAL CLASSIFICATION
    Rationales
    Limits and Constraints of Paleobiogeography
    Definition of Biogeographic Units: Qualitative Criteria
    Quantitative Criteria (Phenetics)
    Are Biotic Provinces Objective?

    ANALYTICAL METHODS OF HISTORICAL PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHY
    The Method of Cladistics Biogeography
    Brook's Parsimony Analysis (BPA)
    Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity (PAE)
    Retrovicariance Biogeography

    LARVAL BIOGEOGRAPHY
    Types of Larval Development
    Larval Development in Some Groups of Marine Invertebrates
    Rates of Dispersion
    Palaeocurrents
    Larval Development and Evolutionary Implications

    PALAEOBIODIVERSITY AND PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHY
    Biodiversity in Palaeontology
    Communities and Guilds
    Biogeographical Patterns of Biodiversity
    Equilibrium Theory and Species-Area Relationships
    Are Extinctions Related to Sea-Level Falls? The Biogeography of Mass Extinctions
    Disturbance Events and Deviations from Specie-Area Predictions

    PALAEOGEOGRAPHY AND PALAEOGEOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTIONS
    Geological Assemblages
    Marine Corridors and Routes
    The Problem of the Terranes
    Longitudinal Patterns: Newton's Model of Pantropical Faunas
    Index

    Biography

    Fabrizio Cecca