The ecological evolution of reefs
Article Abstract:
Modern corals, which in reefs protect coastlines and help shelter harbors, are growing under very different environmental and ecological controls from those that governed the extinct and extant organisms that aggregated to form reefs for more than 3.5 bil years. Major predator groups have arisen, among them limpets, echinoids, and fish, especially, that can rapidly denude algae and excavate. Branching corals, which seem to flourish because of breakage, not in spite of it, seem to have an especially dramatic increase in diversity with increasing predator pressure after the late Mesozoic. This corroborates existence of a reciprocal relationship. Ancient reef ecosystems are described.
Publication Name: Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
Subject: Environmental issues
ISSN: 0066-4162
Year: 1998
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Full of sound and fury: the recent history of ancient DNA
Article Abstract:
The recent history of ancient DNA is intersting. DNA survives in ancient remains and can be amplified using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This has brought new dimensions to evolution studies. Attempts to replicate results with DNA said to be more than a million years old have not been successful. DNA is not likely to survive intact longer than around 100,000 years. Even so, new possibilities have emerged in paleoecology, systematics, origins of diseases and population-level evolutionary processes.
Publication Name: Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
Subject: Environmental issues
ISSN: 0066-4162
Year: 1999
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Origins, evolution, and diversification of zooplankton
Article Abstract:
Research indicates that zooplankton diversity is tied to sequential radiations and extinctions throughout geological history and reflect benthos events. Diversity increased rapidly during the beginning of the Paleozoic period but declined significantly during the end of the period, while marked radiations during the beginning of the Mesozoic influenced diversity throughout the Phanerozoic eon.
Publication Name: Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
Subject: Environmental issues
ISSN: 0066-4162
Year: 2000
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