Dinosaur Extinction And The End Of An Era

Broadening the basis of information on the topic of the Cretaceous extinction, this book particularly highlights evidence that points away from the global catastrophic scenario, towards a fossil based theory suggesting that a multitude of factors resulted in the period's radical changes.

The End of the Dinosaurs gives a detailed account of the great mass extinction that rocked the Earth 65 million years ago, and focuses on the discovery of the culprit: the Chicxulub impact crater in Mexico. It recounts the birth of the cosmic hypothesis, the controversy that preceded its acceptance, the search for the crater, its discovery and ongoing exploration, and the effect of the giant impact on the biosphere. Other mass extinctions in the fossil record are reviewed, as is the threat of asteroids and comets to our planet today. The account of the impact and its aftermath is suitable for general readers. The description of the crater geology is in enough detail to interest students of the earth sciences. A detailed index and bibliography are included.

In 1980 Nobel Laureate Luis Alvarez announced his theory of the dinosaurs final demise: a gigantic meteorite crashed into the earth and raised a cloud of dust that caused darkness for years, suppressing photosynthesis, which impeded plant growth, and eventually starved the dinosaurs. This idea exploded into common awareness with almost unprecedented speed, and was instantly embraced by the media and the public. Almost without question, it quickly became the hottest scientific "fact". Unfortunately for Alvarez, many in the scientific community did to support this theory, and in fact later research showed the impossibility of such an idea. The Great Dinosaur Extinction Controversy chronicles the fantastic story of how this hypothesis became so widespread, the way it became "common knowledge" - from the pages of Science to The New York Times to Parade Magazine, the controversy it caused, and the ample scientific research that proves the theory wrong. Officer and Page also present an attractive and carefully investigated alternative explanation for the mass extinctions that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period. Through this account they show the ways that sound science should be performed and the findings transmitted.

Archaeologist Brandon Thackery and his rival Miles 'Klicks' Jordan fulfill a dinosaur lover's dream with history's first time-travel jaunt to the late Mesozoic. Hoping to solve the extinction mystery, they find Earth's gravity is only half its 21st century value and dinosaurs that behave very strangely. Could the slimey blue creatures from Mars have something to do with both? At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Geared toward a broad variety of students, Dinosaurs: The Textbook offers a concise and lucid presentation of the core biological and geological concepts of dinosaur science. Revised throughout to reflect recent fossil discoveries and the current scientific consensus, this seventh edition details the evolution, phylogeny, and classification of various dinosaur species while modeling the best approach for navigating new and existing research. Spencer G. Lucas takes readers through the major taxonomic groups, including theropods, sauropodomorphs, ornithopods, ceratopsians, pachycephalosaurs, stegosaurs, and ankylosaurs. He also examines the behavior and extinction of the dinosaurs, their biological relationship to birds, and their representation (or misrepresentation) in art, literature, film, and other forms of popular culture. This seventh edition of the leading text for introductory courses on dinosaurs incorporates comprehensive updates based on the latest research. Lucas highlights how dinosaur science is rapidly evolving, exploring how new discoveries, methods, and ideas are expanding the frontiers of knowledge. The book features cutting-edge and scientifically rigorous illustrations by leading paleoartists. It also includes extensive and reader-friendly end-of-chapter summary tools, review questions, a detailed glossary, a dinosaur dictionary, and a comprehensive index.

A paleontologist awakens us to the "extinction event" that human activity is bringing about today The natural world as humans have always known it evolved close to 100 million years ago, with the appearance of flowering plants and pollinating insects during the age of the dinosaurs. Its tremendous history is now in danger of profound, catastrophic disruption. In Terra, a brilliant synthesis of evolutionary biology, paleontology, and modern environmental science, Michael Novacek shows how all three can help us understand and prevent what he (and others) call today's "mass extinction event." Humanity's use of land, our consumption, the pollution we create, and our contributions to global warming are causing this crisis. True, the fossil record of hundreds of millions of years reveals that wild and bounteous nature has always evolved not quietly but thunderously, as species arise, flourish, die off, and are replaced by new species. We learn from paleontology and archaeology that for 50,000 years, human hunting, mining, and agriculture have changed many localities, sometimes irrevocably. But today, Novacek insists, our behavior endangers the entire global ecosystem. And if we disregard—through ignorance, antipathy, or apathy—the theory of evolution that developed with our modern understanding of the Earth's past, we not only impede enlightenment but threaten any practical strategy for our own survival. The evolutionary future of the entire living planet depends on our understanding this.

This 2005 edition of The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs is a unique, comprehensive treatment of this fascinating group of organisms. It is a detailed survey of dinosaur origins, their diversity, and their eventual extinction. The book can easily be used as a teaching textbook for a class, but it is also written as a series of readable, entertaining essays covering important and timely topics appealing to non-specialists and all dinosaur enthusiasts: birds as 'living dinosaurs', the new feathered dinosaurs from China, 'warm-bloodedness'. Along the way, the reader learns about dinosaur functional morphology, physiology, and systematics using cladistic methodology - in short, how professional paleontologists and dinosaur experts go about their work, and why they find it so rewarding. The book is spectacularly illustrated by John Sibbick, a world-famous illustrator of dinosaurs, commissioned exclusively for this book.

Award-winning author-illustrator Drew Sheneman brings budding paleontologists the truth about dinosaurs in this informative and hilarious nonfiction picture book that will teach kids everything they didn't know (and never thought to ask) about their favorite subject--Dinosaurs! A long, long time ago, planet Earth was full of dinosaurs. Giant dinosaurs that ate plants, meat-eating dinosaurs that walked on two feet, dinosaurs with armored frills--all KINDS of dinosaurs. Until an asteroid appeared in the sky. A big one. A hot one. A moving-very-fast one. When it hit, most of the plants and animals on Earth went extinct. It was the end of the dinosaurs . . . . . . Or was it? Actually, the latest research shows that the dinosaurs didn't all go extinct. They're still around us now. In fact, you've probably seen dinosaurs at the park, eaten dinosaurs for dinner, and maybe even cleaned dinosaur poop off your family's car. Who are these dinosaurs living all around us? Find out in this informative, hilarious, and 100 percent factual nonfiction picture book by award-winning author, illustrator, and beloved syndicated cartoonist Drew Sheneman.