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The paleobiology of trace fossils
Reviews
of publications
77re I’aleobiolo~~~ !I/ Tract, hdr, rditrd 1,): Dono\fan> S. K. John \\‘ilcy York, 199-I. Ii+308 pp., 69 illustr., ISBN 0 -1-71 94843 8. Price A39.95.
& Sons.
New
Tract fossils can only rarely bc linked to the organisms that produced them, yet rhcir rvidcncr of in .rik activity is an essential tool for thr interpretation of palaeoen\~ironmcnts. ‘I’his thematic set of imited articles linkrd by a palacobiolo~gical approach co\.crs cli\,crsc topics on inverlebrate, vertebrate and plant traces, and includes two contributions on rclatcd body fossils. Thcrc is a comprchensivc review of tasonomic practice, procedures and problems for in\,crtchratc tract fossils (Pickerill). Evolutionaq perspectives are considered for Precambrian-Cambrian biotic changes (Crimes) and Phanerozoic bioturhation (Bottjer and Droser). A clear account of hioerosion (Bromley) is complemented by discussion of functional morpholo
London:
Chapman
and
Hall,
This book provides the broadest and most balanced review of systematics that I have seen. Minnelli provides a clear and highly readable interpretation of developments in systematics, especially since the 1960s. Many authors have dealt with the same Writing on the subject has subject from a particular, and often extreme, standpoint. been more vitriolic than on most other topics in biology. Whilst Minelli leaves the reader in no doubt of his own views, he provides a careful dissection of the key issues that evolutionary systematists, pheneticists, cladists and others have debated. The great success of the book is that this approach is not directed towards ‘setting the record straight’ but rather at identifying the complex issues at the heart of systematics that make the discipline such an exciting and challenging subject. Minelli’s discussion of how the principle of parsimony is translated into practicality i.n terms of the choice of analytical procedures offered by the main computer programmes provides a good example of his approach and highlights the fact that this book will meet the needs of students and experienced researchers. The differences between the Fitch, Wagner, Dollo and Camin-Sokal parsimony methods are clearly 0024-4066/95/001107+04808.00/0
107
0 I995 The Linnean Society of London
of publications
77re I’aleobiolo~~~ !I/ Tract, hdr, rditrd 1,): Dono\fan> S. K. John \\‘ilcy York, 199-I. Ii+308 pp., 69 illustr., ISBN 0 -1-71 94843 8. Price A39.95.
& Sons.
New
Tract fossils can only rarely bc linked to the organisms that produced them, yet rhcir rvidcncr of in .rik activity is an essential tool for thr interpretation of palaeoen\~ironmcnts. ‘I’his thematic set of imited articles linkrd by a palacobiolo~gical approach co\.crs cli\,crsc topics on inverlebrate, vertebrate and plant traces, and includes two contributions on rclatcd body fossils. Thcrc is a comprchensivc review of tasonomic practice, procedures and problems for in\,crtchratc tract fossils (Pickerill). Evolutionaq perspectives are considered for Precambrian-Cambrian biotic changes (Crimes) and Phanerozoic bioturhation (Bottjer and Droser). A clear account of hioerosion (Bromley) is complemented by discussion of functional morpholo
London:
Chapman
and
Hall,
This book provides the broadest and most balanced review of systematics that I have seen. Minnelli provides a clear and highly readable interpretation of developments in systematics, especially since the 1960s. Many authors have dealt with the same Writing on the subject has subject from a particular, and often extreme, standpoint. been more vitriolic than on most other topics in biology. Whilst Minelli leaves the reader in no doubt of his own views, he provides a careful dissection of the key issues that evolutionary systematists, pheneticists, cladists and others have debated. The great success of the book is that this approach is not directed towards ‘setting the record straight’ but rather at identifying the complex issues at the heart of systematics that make the discipline such an exciting and challenging subject. Minelli’s discussion of how the principle of parsimony is translated into practicality i.n terms of the choice of analytical procedures offered by the main computer programmes provides a good example of his approach and highlights the fact that this book will meet the needs of students and experienced researchers. The differences between the Fitch, Wagner, Dollo and Camin-Sokal parsimony methods are clearly 0024-4066/95/001107+04808.00/0
107
0 I995 The Linnean Society of London