Driving evolution forward, the Earth's physical environment has
challenged the very survival of organisms and ecosystems throughout the
ages. With a fresh new perspective, Evolution on Planet Earth
shows how these physical realities and hurdles shaped the primary
phases of life on the planet. The book's thorough coverage also includes
chapters on more proximate factors and paleoenvironmental events that
influenced the diversity of life. A team of notable ecologists,
evolutionary biologists, and paleontologists join forces to describe
drifting continents, extinction events, and climate change -- important
topics that continue to shape Earth's inhabitants to this very day. In a
world where global change has become an international issue, this book
provides a several billion-year evolutionary perspective on what the
environment and environmental change means to life.
The authors have done a splendid job of bringing the physical
environment back into evolutionary studies. Geared toward educated
laymen and high school through graduate level scholars, each chapter
looks at a different physical environment, e.g., radiation, plate
tectonics. Instead of all evolution being caused only by genetics, this
book reminds us that all the forces of the universe shape life!
