The Emergence of Animals: The Cambrian Breakthrough [Hardcover]

Mark A. S. McMenamin (Author), Dianna L. Schulte McMenamin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1990

The authors explore the late Precambrian and earliest Cambrian fossil record to explain the Cambrian phenomenon and discuss the possibility of a major turnover in marine ecology at the beginning of the Cambrian period or whether a new, improved type of animal appeared at this time. They support their often controversial conclusions with photos and illustrations of fossils, some never before published.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The excitement of the investigator working on a frontier of science glows through the pages of this [volume]. . . . It fills an important niche, and it will be found to be highly readable by all who are scientifically literate. -- American Scientist --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr (January 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231066465
• ISBN-13: 978-0231066464
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,352,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Points to ponder about the emergence of animals on earth, September 7, 2000

By 

Alan R. Holyoak - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Emergence of Animals (Paperback)

In this book McMenamin and McMenamin set the stage and provide their thoughts about the emergence of animals on earth. Contents of the book include the following:

1) The Cambrian explosion -- this section provides a brief introduction to the "explosion" of shelled animal fossils in Cambrian rock formations, following the Precambrian rocks that lack such fossils, and leaves off talking a bit about the Ediacaran fauna -- a fauna that is found in Precambrian rock strata.

2) Aliens here on earth? -- this section deals with the issue of trace fossils vs body fossils, and continues discussing the relevance and significance of the Ediacaran fauna as evidence of Precambrian (animal?) life. The authors also provide a helpful overview of Ediacaran fauna including photos and illustrations of them.

3) The mudeaters -- this section deals with psuedofossils (apparently disturbances in ancient mud/sediment layers), misidentifications of those as being fossils when they are not, etc. The authors then go on to discuss possibilities of animal life that were real makers or Precambrian trace fossils.

4) Small shelly fossils -- this section presents ideas about the earliest assemblages of shelly fossils at the Precambrian - Cambrian boundary, including the "Tommotian fauna."

5) The golden spike -- this section addresses the process and uncertainty of identifying a definitive boundary marker that hails the beginning of the Cambrian era. (This is no small issue, and the beginning time mark of this era has shifted farther and farther back in time as we learn more about the history of life.)

6) Rifting of Rodinia -- this section addresses the possibility that the emergence of animal life may well have been associated with a period of glaciation, as well as other pieces of evidence that help to unravel the sticky problem of describing the emergence of metazoan animal life.

7) The garden of Ediacara -- this section addresses trophic strategies for acquiring energy and nutrients anomg early animal life on earth.

8) Ecological feedback and intelligence -- this section addresses the effects of feedback mechanisms on the emergence of life. For example, the emergence of grazing herbivores led to the demise of previously ungrazed stromatolite beds...nothing had eaten them before. That consequently opened up more open space on the substrate, and in ecological and evolutionary space for other kinds of autotrophs to gain a toe-hold in new community structures. This section also addressed the significance of symmetrical animals bearing eyes and better developed nervous systems than ever before.

9) Precambrian oxygen -- this section provides an overview of the development of an atmosphere on earth that is suitable for sustaining animals that rely on respiration. By the Cambrian, the atmosphere attained an O2 level of about 2%...apparently a critical level needed to sustain respiring life.

10) Ecological chaos and innovation -- this section addresses ideas about the nature of the emergence of life on earth...was it a gradual or a fast process of emergence...as the authors put it, "did the Cambrian come in with a whimper or a bang?" In either case, the consequence of an apparent age of chaotic ecological activities, extinctions and emergences of many kinds of animals (and presumably other forms of life, too) led to a fossil record that includes evidence of rapid and wide-spread innovation. Thus, the emergence of animal life that gave rise to the kinds of animal diversity we have today.

Though now 10 years old, this is still a good book. Evolutionary biologists and paleontologists will nod in agreement at some points, shake their fists at others. But, all in all, this is an excellent book if you are interested in ideas and information describing possible scenarios about the emergence of life on earth. There are good photos and abundant illustrations that help the reader see and start to understand the forms of animals being discussed.

Give it a look.

5 stars for the informed lay-naturalist as well as for the professional biologist/paleontologist!

Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little out of date but still very good, May 4, 2004

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Emergence of Animals: The Cambrian Breakthrough (Hardcover)

Although it's a little out of date now, The Emergence of Animals: the Cambrian Breakthrough by McMenamin and McMenamin is a very nice, easy to read overview of the PreCambrian-Cambrian diversification of animal populations. Both the Edicarian and the Burgess Shale fauna are discussed extensively as are stromatolites, as one would expect, since these are the primary fossil and trace fossil representations of the biota of the period. The limitations of this material, and the rarity of fossilization of animals without hard body parts is also pointed out to the reader. In particular, the difficulty of positively identifying remains of early life is pointed out by the primary author who himself misidentified a geological phenomenon for a biological one. The likelihood that there existed a long era of evolution prior to the apparent "explosion" in the Cambrian is discussed as is the chemical and geological evidence for such precursors.

While the book by J. William Schopf, Cradle of Life : The Discovery of Earth's Earliest Fossils, is more current and goes into greater detail about the discovery of early life, what forms evidence takes, how it can be mistaken, what information is derived from study of the remains, and what indirect evidence tells us about the early earth, it might be a little too much information for those who are only casually interested in the topic of fossils. The McMenamin book might be a better place to begin, while the Schopf book would be a good follow-up for those who want more information.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good read!, July 20, 2011

By 

Robert Eichen "DikDaBruzr" (Alton, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Emergence of Animals (Paperback)

Everything I wanted to know about small shelly fossils, but was afraid to ask. Support science, buy this book. You won't be sorry.