Preface vii
About the Companion Website x
1 The Origin of Life on Earth 1
2 Earliest Life on Earth 17
3 Sex and Nuclei: Eukaryotes 30
4 The Evolution of Metazoans 41
5 The Metazoan Radiation 54
6 Changing Life in a Changing World 66
7 The Early Vertebrates 84
8 Leaving the Water 98
9 Tetrapods and Amniotes 112
10 Early Amniotes and Thermoregulation 122
11 The Triassic Takeover 134
12 Dinosaurs 144
13 The Evolution of Flight 164
14 The Modernization of Land and Sea 183
15 The Origin of Mammals 199
16 The End of the Dinosaurs 212
17 Cenozoic Mammals 220
18 Geography and Evolution 236
19 Primates 249
20 Evolving Toward Humans 259
21 Life in the Ice Age 276
Index 294
Richard Cowen learned how to write and think critically at Cambridge University, and how to teach and think creatively at the University of California, Davis. He received a campus Distinguished Teaching Award in 1993 and designed the course “History of Life” there. The book was written specifically for that course, and has gone on to become a best-selling textbook.
“Though biogeographical patterns take a backseat to the grand narrative of descent, as an entry‐level textbook this is hard to surpass.” (Frontiers of biogeography, 5 February 2013)
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