Evolution and Escalation

An Ecological History of Life

Geerat Vermeij

• Editorial: Princeton University Press
• Año: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780691224244
• Categoría: Biowissenschaften
• Categoría: Biologie

Here is one biologist's interpretation of the chronology of life during the last six hundred million years of earth history: an extended essay that draws on the author's own data and a wide-ranging literature survey to discuss the nature and dynamics of evolutionary change in organisms and their biological surroundings. Geerat Vermeij demonstrates that escalation--the process by which species adapt to, or are limited by, their enemies as the latter increase in ability to acquire and retain resources--has been a dominant theme in the history of life despite frequent episodes of extinction.