Extinctions : how life survives, adapts and evolves
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 262-273) and index.

"In this vast sweep of our Earth's history, Michael Benton brings the deep past to life as never before. Deploying the cutting-edge tools in biology, chemistry, physics and geology that are transforming our understanding of previous environmental cataclysms -- including the discovery of a hitherto unknown extinction event -- he uncovers not only their lethal effects but also the processes that brought about such a large-scale destruction. Beginning with the oldest extinction, Benton investigates the Late Ordovician, which set the evolution of the first animals on an entirely new course; the late Devonian, brought on by global warming; the cataclysmic End-Permian, which wiped out over ninety percent of all life on Earth; and, bookending the age of the dinosaurs, the newly discovered Carnian Pluvial Event, and the End-Cretaceous asteroid. He examines how global warming, acid rain, ocean acidification, erupting volcanoes, and meteoric impact have affected conditions on Earth, the drastic consequences for global ecology, and how life in turn survived, adapted and evolved. This expert retelling of scientific breakthroughs allows us to link long-ago upheavals to our modern crises. As today's climate scientists and political leaders grapple to understand these processes and our planet enters the sixth great extinction, these insights from the past may hold the key to survival." -- Book jacket.