Introduction. Paleontology at the High Table

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments xi
4. Introduction. Paleontology at the High Table 1
5. Part I. Major Innovations in Paleobiology
6. 1. The Emergence of Paleobiology 15
7. 2. The Fossil Record: Biological or Geological Signal? 43
8. 3. Biogeography and Evolution in the Early Paleozoic 60
9. 4. The Discovery of Conodont Anatomy and Its Importance for Understanding the Early History of Vertebrates 73
10. 5. Emergence of Precambrian Paleobiology: A New Field of Science 89
11. 6. Dinosaurs at the Table 111
12. 7. Ladders, Bushes, Punctuations, and Clades: Hominid Paleobiology in the Late Twentieth Century 122
13. 8. Punctuated Equilibria and Speciation: What Does It Mean to Be a Darwinian? 149
14. 9. Molecular Evolution vis- à- vis Paleontology 176
15. Part II. The Historical and Conceptual Significance of Recent Paleontology
16. 10. Beyond Detective Work: Empirical Testing in Paleontology 201
17. 11. Taxic Paleobiology and the Pursuit of a Unifi ed Evolutionary Theory 215
18. 12. Ideas in Dinosaur Paleontology: Resonating to Social and Political Context 239
19. 13. Reg Sprigg and the Discovery of the Ediacara Fauna in South Australia: Its Approach to the High Table 254
20. 14. The Morphological Tradition in German Paleontology: Otto Jaekel, Walter Zimmermann, and Otto Schindewolf 279
21. 15. “Radical” or “Conservative”? The Origin and Early Reception of Punctuated Equilibrium 301
22. 16. The Shape of Evolution: The MBL Model and Clade Shape 326
23. 17. Ritual Patricide: Why Stephen Jay Gould Assassinated George Gaylord Simpson 346
24. 18. The Consensus That Changed the Paleobiological World 364
25. Part III. Reflections on Recent Paleobiology
26. 19. The Infusion of Biology into Paleontological Research 385
27. 20. From Empirical Paleoecology to Evolutionary Paleobiology: A Personal Journey 398
28. 21. Intellectual Evolution across an Academic Landscape 416
29. 22. The Problem of Punctuational Speciation and Trends in the Fossil Record 423
30. 23. Punctuated Equilibrium versus Community Evolution 433
31. 24. An Interview with David M. Raup 459
32. 25. Paleontology in the Twenty- first Century 471
33. 26. Punctuations and Paradigms: Has Paleobiology Been through a Paradigm Shift? 518
34. Contributors 529
35. Index 537