Table of Contents

The Fossil Record: A Window on the Past1 The Fossil Record2 Variation in Fossils3 Species and Speciation 4 Systematics5 Evolution6 Extinction7 Functional Morphology8 Paleoecology9 Biogeography 10 BiostratigraphyLife of the Past and Present11 Micropaleontology: Fossil Protistans12 Colonial Life: Sponges, Archaeocyathans, and Cnidarians 13 The Lophophorates: Brachiopods and Bryozoans14 Jointed Limbs: The Arthropods15 Kingdom of the Seashell: The Molluscs16 Spiny Skins: The Echinoderms 17 Dry Bones: Vertebrates and Their Relatives18 Fossilized Behavior: Trace Fossils19 Traces of the Earth's Green Mantle: Paleobotany