The Bivalvia

Bivalves are key components of recent marine and freshwater ecosystems and have been so for most of the Phanerozoic. Their rich and long fossil record, combined with their abundance and diversity in modern seas, has made bivalves the ideal subject of palaeobiological and evolutionary studies. Despite this, however, topics such as the early evolution of the class, relationships between various taxa and the life habits of some key extinct forms have remained remarkably unclear. This volume integrates palaeontological and zoological approaches and sheds new light on the course of bivalve evolution.

Sir Charles Maurice Yonge who died in 1986 was the foremost authority on the Bivalvia and one of the greatest marine biologists of this century. The volume is a memorial to his achievements and comprises 22 papers presented at a symposium in his honour during the IX International Malacological Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1986. It contains 4 sections: Evolution, Feeding and Digestion, Functional Morphology, and Ecology, and will be of interest to all students of the Mollusca.

"An immensely useful manual with many attractive features: comprehensive and lucid keys, precise diagrams, annotated checklists and up-to-date references. ... there is no doubt that it should be seen as an example of the type of manual which is so badly needed in the study of the fauna of many shores around the world."--Journal of Animal Ecology "Congratulations to the editors, contributors, and publisher for a job well done. The third edition has been rewritten, corrected, and enlarged, so that while retaining the basic organization of the earlier ones, it is more useful, informative and up-to-date. The meticulous scholarship of Smith and Carlton is just what the revision needed."--Systematic Zoology "This revision should serve for many years. It is therefore particularly commendable that the editing has been meticulous, perhaps flawless. ... thanks are due to the many contributors for a job well done."--The Quarterly Review of Biology "As the Pacific Coast intertidal zone undergoes increasingly profound changes, knowing the sentinel invertebrates can foretell the future of the sea, and hence, of our species. Jim Carlton's hefty new update of The Light & Smith Manual, the comprehensive compendium of who's who between the tides, is the best and quickest way to do so."--Elliot A. Norse, President, Marine Conservation Biology Institute "This much-anticipated modernization of "Light's Manual" is an astonishing accomplishment, blending state-of-the-art taxonomy with profusely illustrated and user-friendly keys to who's whom on marine shores from its stated boundaries of mid-California through Oregon, and clearly, much further north. It's also an informative, well referenced read. Marine biologists should not leave home without it."--Robert Paine, Professor Emeritus of Biology, University of Washington "At this time of environmental change and loss of biodiversity, species identification has never been more important. The fourth edition of Light and Smith is more than just a field guide--it is a masterwork of research and description with a strong focus on morphological detail. No other book has such a broad scope, newly expanded to include even the most obscure taxa. The revised keys and beautiful anatomical illustrations make this classic guide more indispensable than ever. As taxonomists become extinct, there are fewer students to receive the vast body of knowledge accumulated by generations of careful study. I hope that the beauty and depth of this guide will inspire a generation of young scientists to continue this critical taxonomic work. It will have a place of honor in all marine labs."--Paul K. Dayton, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The incidence of existing marine fauna by latitude and depth is recorded for the Eastern Pacific Ocean and offshore islands. Hypotheses concerning long and short term factors influencing the coast-wide distribution of the bivalve fauna are formulated and examined. Consideration is given to global effects of plate tectonics, continental displacement and environmental factors. Ordination and clustering techniques are used to examine the size and distribution of zoogeographic provinces. Provincial boundaries are presented and the characteristics of these provinces are described.

Since their origin in the Early Cambrian, the bivalve molluscs have evolved a remarkable variety of forms that reflect their diverse habits through the Phanerozoic Eon. The thirty papers in this volume represent the proceedings of an international symposium on the paleobiology and evolution of the bivalves held at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Canada, from September 29 through October 2, 1995. An international group of authors, representing a dozen countries, draw on diverse aspects of both fossil and living bivalves, including their forms, functional morphology, morphogenesis, taphonomy, shell microstructure, cladistic relationships, biostratigraphic distributions, and molecular sequences. The result is an authoritative and comprehensive collection of studies dedicated to Dr. Norman D. Newell, an eminent paleontologist whose ongoing contributions to the study of bivalve evolution spans six decades. With more than 200 illustrations and a foreword by renowned paleobiologist and author Stephen Jay Gould, Bivalves: An Eon of Evolution presents a broad spectrum of current research on fossil and living bivalves.