The nature of the fossil record
Proceedings of the Geologists AssociationPublished 1 January 1976
D.V. Ager
Citations67
SJR quartileQ2
SJR score0.39
SNIP0.60
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
Abstract
The fossil record, like the stratigraphical record, is thought to be episodic with long periods of quiescence separated by short periods of explosive evolution, expropriations and extinctions. Examples are discussed mainly from the bivalves, the cephalopods, the brachiopods and the vertebrates. Terrestrial and extraterrestrial causes are discussed and the balance of the evidence is thought to put the blame firmly on marine transgressions and regressions, controlled by plate movements and mantle plume activity. Conservation, whether it be of species, environments, nations or languages, is doomed, but the author remains cheerful.
Keywords
Earth and Planetary SciencesAgricultural and Biological Sciences
LethaiaTHE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF LOWER SILURIAN MARINE COMMUNITIES
259 Citations1968A. M. Ziegler, L. Robin M. Cocks +1 more
Five benthic communities occupied the shelf regions of the British Isles, Norway, and North America in Upper Llandovery times and the Clorinda Community is the most diverse, with a great variety of small brachiopods which were probably able to attach to small objects in this quiet off-shore environment.
The nature of the stratigraphical record
241 Citations1973D.V. Ager
NatureEvidence for Global Synchronism in Mantle Plume Convection, and Possible Significance for Geology
206 Citations1972Peter Vogt
PaleobiologyEcological succession as an aspect of structure in fossil communities
192 Citations1975Kenneth R. Walker, Leonard P. Alberstadt
The Journal of GeologyGlobal Tectonics and the Fossil Record
177 Citations1972James W. Valentine, Eldridge M. Moores
The Journal of GeologyPermo-Triassic Extinctions: Relation to Sea-Floor Spreading
171 Citations1974Thomas J. M. Schöpf
NatureAnatomical and Ecological Evidence of Endothermy in Dinosaurs
168 Citations1972Robert T. Bakker
Recognition of endothermy in dinosaurs can explain both the success and the extinction of this group in the Mesozoic.
Geological Society of America BulletinGlacio-Eustatic Control of Late Ordovician–Early Silurian Platform Sedimentation and Faunal Changes
155 Citations1973William B. N. Berry, A. J. Boucot
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology PalaeoecologyThe adaptation of mesozoic brachiopods to different environments
149 Citations1965D.V. Ager
LethaiaThe relation of Late Ordovician glaciation to the Ordovician‐Silurian changeover in North American brachiopod faunas
124 Citations1973Peter M. Sheehan
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology PalaeoecologyEvolution of Paleozoic benthic marine invertebrate communities
89 Citations1969Peter W. Bretsky
Biodiversity Heritage Library (Smithsonian Institution)A functional analysis of jaw mechanics in the dinosaur Triceratops
87 Citations1964John H. Ostrom
Yale University provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes only and makes no warranty that your distribution, reproduction, or other use of these materials will not infringe the rights of third parties.
Deep Blue (University of Michigan)An Upper Cretaceous Ammonite Bitten by a Mosasaur
87 Citations1960Erle G. Kauffman, R. V. Kesling
Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical SocietyEVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION OF AMMONOIDS AT MESOZOIC SYSTEM BOUNDARIES
85 Citations1973Jost Wiedmann
It is believed that the more detailed data now available can give a clearer impression of evolutionary events at these boundaries, and the evolution of ammonites at the boundaries of Mesozoic stratigraphical Systems is reviewed.
Biodiversity Heritage Library (Smithsonian Institution)Paleoecology of a late Cretaceous vertebrate community from Montana
85 Citations1970Richard Estes, P.A. Berberian
Geological Society of America BulletinFaunal Extinctions and Reversals of the Earth's Magnetic Field
83 Citations1971James D Hays
Journal of PaleontologyStructural adaptation in two Permian brachiopod genera, Salt Range, West Pakistan
71 Citations1968Richard E. Grant
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciencesCroonian Lecture, 1973 On buoyancy and the lives of modern and fossil cephalopods
68 Citations1974E. J. Denton
There are striking similarities on the ways in which the shells of Nautilus, Spirula and Sepia are formed and used that give a firm base on which hypotheses about the lives of the fossil nautiloids, ammonoids and belemnoids can be made.
Paläontologische ZeitschriftMechanische Simulation und funktionelle Evolution des Ammoniten-Septums
68 Citations1975Adolf Seilacher
PaleobiologyBrachiopod Synecology in a Time of Crisis (Late Ordovician-Early Silurian)
66 Citations1975Peter M. Sheehan
ScienceBiologic Effects of Supernovae
62 Citations1968K. D. Terry, W. H. Tucker
Estimates of the probability that nearby explosions of supernovae have occurred during the earth's history and the biologic effects of the radiation therefrom are presented suggest that cosmic radiation from supernova could have caused the extinction of many exposed animals without the simultaneous extinction of plant life.
EvolutionMORPHOLOGY AND BIOLOGY OF REPTILES
62 Citations1978Malcolm Jollie
Many of Dawkins' arguments approach circularity as, for example, his discussion of why some male elephant seals win and hold harems, and I fear that arguments of this nature will add more anecdotes to that body of misconceptions known as the "common wisdom."
Geological Society of America BulletinAn Essay on Genetic-Adaptive Strategies and Mass Extinctions
58 Citations1970Peter W. Bretsky, Douglas M. Lorenz
It is argued that the genetic-adaptive strategy employed by a species population depends in large part on the regularity, direction, and rate of change in environmental stability, and a prolonged period of stability could significantly reduce a species' potential for survival in a more rigorous environment, and hence might be expected to precede a time of widespread or mass extinction.
Systematic ZoologyPlate Tectonics and Shallow Marine Diversity and Endemism, an Actualistic Model
58 Citations1971James W. Valentine
It is suggested that trophic resource stability is the fundamental regulator of species diversity within communities because it is related to tectonic as well as climatic patterns, presumably because the stability of shallow marine environments varies with the influence of continentality.
Geological Society of America BulletinEVOLUTIONARY PULSATIONS AND GEOMAGNETIC POLARITY1
51 Citations1966John F. Simpson
Geological Society of America BulletinClimatic Regulation of Species Diversification and Extinction
51 Citations1968James W. Valentine
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology PalaeoecologyPalaeoecologie des formations a rudistes du cretace superieur - l'exemple du sud-est de la France
48 Citations1972Jean Philip
American Journal of SciencePossible Permian climatic zonation and its implications
43 Citations1957F. G. Stehli
NatureSupernovae and the Extinction of the Dinosaurs
39 Citations1971Dale A. Russell, W. H. Tucker
It is suggested that a nearby supernova explosion might produce climatic effects so drastic as to cause the extinction of many animals, including the dinosaurs.
Proceedings of the Geologists AssociationThe Western High Atlas of Morocco and their significance in the history of the North Atlantic
39 Citations1974D.V. Ager
Paläontologische ZeitschriftÜber Nahrung und Ernährungsweise von Ammoniten
39 Citations1975Ulrich Lehmann
Geological Society of America BulletinExtinction of the Shasta Ground Sloth
36 Citations1974Austin Long, Richard M. Hansen +1 more
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)The gastric contents of an ichthyosaur from the Lower Lias of Lyme Regis, Dorset
35 Citations1968Pollard, John E
Biodiversity Heritage Library (Smithsonian Institution)The Bradycnemidae, a new family of owls from the upper Cretaceous of Romania
35 Citations1975C. J. O. Harrison, C. A. Walker
Journal of PaleontologyBody temperature of dinosaurs and its relationships to their extinction
34 Citations1965Loris S. Russell
Dinosaurs may have had separate arterial and venous circulations and may have been to some extent homoiothermic, but were vulnerable to low temperatures such as appeared with the advent of seasonal climates in Late Cretaceous time.
LethaiaDiversity and density characteristics of Pliensbachian‐Toarcian molluscan and brachiopod faunas of the North Atlantic margins
33 Citations1972Anthony Hallam
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology PalaeoecologyEndosymbiotic algae in rudists?
33 Citations1975Klaus Vogel
The supposition that rudists may have lived in association with endosymbiotic zooxanthellae has been tested by comparing the shell wall structure of the radiolitid genus Osculigera with the recent bivalve Corculum.
NatureEvolutionary Processes and Reversals of the Earth's Magnetic Field
32 Citations1968C. G. A. Harrison
GeobiosThe evolution of themesozoic Rhynchonellida
32 Citations1972D.V. Ager, Alan Childs +1 more
La classification est entierement revisee et les lignees evolutives sont tracees pour chaque division, utilisant toutes les informations sur les caracteres externes and internes des coquilles fossiles.
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology PalaeoecologyVertebrates and the Permo-Triassic extinction
30 Citations1973Charles W. Pitrat
The fossil record of vertebrates in the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic is investigated in an attemp to evaluate their participation in the Permo-Triassic faunal crisis, finding that the record of the marine fishes is similar to that of marine invertebrates with a pronounced diversity minimum at the end of the Permian.
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology PalaeoecologyBrachiopod ecology in mid-Palaezoic sediments near Khenifra, Morocco
28 Citations1976D.V. Ager, Stephen P. J. Cossey +2 more
NatureAfrica and Pleistocene Overkill?
26 Citations1966L. S. B. Leakey
The author's paper1 calls for comment, both on questions of fact and of interpretation, at least in regard to what he writes about Africa.
Journal of PaleontologyThe allegedly Danian dinosaur-bearing rocks of the globe and the problem of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic boundary
23 Citations1962J A Jeletzky
SciencePaleontologic Technique for Defining Ancient Pole Positions
22 Citations1963F. G. Stehli, Charles E. Helsley
A vailable data on diversity fit a present earth mizodel better than one based on Permian paleomagnetic results and therefore it may be necesary to consider a model for the earth's magnetic field which does not require coincidence of the magnetic and rotational poles.
Geological Society of America BulletinMass Extinctions Correlated with Periodic Galactic Events
18 Citations1970Craig Bond Hatfield, Mark J. Camp
AAPG BulletinThe Zone of Exogyra Cancellata Traced Twenty-five Hundred Miles
18 Citations1933Lloyd W. Stephenson
The Journal of GeologyA Natural Experiment to Test the Hypothesis That Loss of Genetic Variability was Responsible for Mass Extinctions of the Fossil Record
17 Citations1972Thomas J. M. Schöpf, James L. Gooch
Journal of PaleontologyPaleoecology; retrospect and prospect, [Part 6] of [Stumm, E. C., ed.] Symposium on fifty years of paleontology
15 Citations1959Preston E. Cloud
THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF "BIZARRE" STRUCTURES: ANTLER SIZE AND SKULL SIZE IN THE "IRISH ELK,"
12 Citations2016Megaloceros Giganteus, Stephen Jay Gould
The fame of the "Irish Elk" rests squarely on the immensity of its antlers, the largest the world has ever known, and there is scarcely a textbook in evolutionary biology that does not illustrate some important principle with a well chosen pair of antlers.
NatureOverkill at Olduvai Gorge
12 Citations1967Patrice Martin
It is not seen how the omission of the genera Leakey adds to the Early Pleistocene group “… puts the whole picture out of balance”1, and the overall change in the amount of later Pleistsocene megafaunal extinction in Africa is from thirty-nine to forty-one per cent.
NatureOne, Two or Three Connecting Links between Triassic and Jurassic Ammonoids?
8 Citations1971E. T. Tozer
The phylloceratids provide the only link between the faunas of the Triassic and the Jurassic and are expressed by Arkell et al.5 as follows: Jurassic and Cretaceous ammonoids comprise suborders Phyllocerratina, Lytoceratina and Ammonitina.
Journal of PaleontologyOxygen consumption rates and their paleontologic significance
8 Citations1971Thomas J. M. Schöpf, A. Farmanfarmaian +1 more
Acta Geologica PolonicaMegalodon limestones in the sub-tatric Rhaetian of the Tatra Mts
4 Citations1971Andrzej Gaździcki
Journal of PaleontologyOxygen consumption rates and their paleontologic significance; reply
2 Citations1971A. Lee McAlester
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)Association of Ursus arctos and Arctodus simus (Mammalia: Ursidae) in the late Pleistocene of Wyoming
1 Citations1974Kurtén, Björn, Anderson, Elaine +1 more