Vertebrate Microfossil Assemblages – Their Role in Paleoecology and Paleobiogeography – Book

The minute remains of animals and plants have proven very useful to paleontologists as tools for helping to date larger fossils, describe the environments which existed at the time, and identify and map the extent of local floras and faunas, among other things. Due to the large sample sizes that can be obtained, the chance to recover rare taxa in a sample is much higher than during a search for skeletal remains. Analysis of the data produced from microvertebrate localities can address a wide range of questions.

This volume presents state-of-the-art essays on important topics and methods in the analysis of vertebrate microfossil assemblages. Part I contains contributions related to methodology. These chapters treat certain aspects of the formation of microvertebrate localities and the statistical methods used to study them. This section can be seen as a toolbox for the scientist working on microvertebrate localities. Part II presents investigations related to paleobiology. Chapters address paleoecological and paleogeographical questions as well as questions regarding the evolution of taxa.