"... This book is an outstanding contribution to evolutionary biology and paleontology.... Essential." —Choice
(
Choice 2009)
"The topic is one of the most fascinating aspects of the general field of vertebrate paleobiology. The range of chapters and the reputation of the authors as experts in their fields make this a significant contribution." —Bruce MacFadden, Florida Museum of Natural History
(Bruce MacFadden, Florida Museum of Natural History 2009)
"Very topical, particularly from an evo—devo perspective. The authors are top—notch, each appropriate to the topics under consideration." —David S. Weishampel, Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University
(David S. Weishampel, Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University )
Major transitions present some of the most fascinating,
and least understood, problems in the history of
vertebrates. Indeed, some biologists have devoted
their careers to understanding the origins of birds
from theropod dinosaurs and the transition from
aquatic vertebrates to tetrapods. This edited volume
offers updates on several landmark transitions in the
evolution of vertebrates by an outstanding lineup of
authors. The editors' introduction to the volume
hints at some evolutionary developmental biology
("evo-devo") content but, with the possible exception
of one of the ten chapters, this book is decidedly
aimed at paleontologists.
The volume begins with a thorough and lavishly
cited review of vertebrate skeletal tissue types, and subsequent
chapters primarily address the origins of major
lineages through phylogenetic systematics and comparative
morphology. These chapters include treatments
of: the earliest vertebrates; jawed vertebrates and the
innovation of paired appendages; evolutionary relationships
of modern amphibians; the origins of amniotes,
snakes, and birds; evolutionary radiations of
early mammals; and the aquatic transition of cetaceans.
An additional chapter offers a new conceptual framework
to analyze links between developmental and morphological
transformations, and will be especially interesting
to students of limb development. Notably, some
of these chapters challenge previous assumptions
about the concurrent appearance of suites of traits,
such as large eyes, jaws, teeth, a stomach, and paired
fins in gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates). In this and
other cases, new fossil data contradict long-standing
interpretations that such structures evolved in concert
and were originally functionally integrated. A standout
among the ten chapters is Michael Caldwell's contribution
on the evolution of snakes. He includes an intriguing
review of the history of snake paleontology and
systematics, and seamlessly incorporates developmental
data into his discussion of evolutionary morphology.
In summary, Major Transitions in Vertebrate Evolution
presents thorough and much-needed updates
on several critical episodes in vertebrate history.
Paleontologists and systematists will appreciate the
depth of morphological and phylogenetic analyses,
although the density of some chapters might
challenge the stamina of even specialist readers.
Biologists in other fields (for example, evolutionary
developmental biology) will likely find many
parts of the book less approachable.
--The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol 83
Michael D. Shapiro, Biology, University of Utah,
Salt Lake City, Utah
In this day of virulent creationist assaults on science, especially paleontology and evolutionary biology, it is valuable to have an up-to-date summary and synthesis of the important transitions in vertebrate evolution whose very existence the creationists must deny. Major Transitions in Vertebrate Evolution, edited by Jason S. Anderson and Hans-Dieter Sues, has its origins in a symposium at the 2003 Society of Verte- brate Paleontology meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota. Thus, unsurprisingly, it is a fairly technical volume aimed at the specialist audience, and assumes a fairly strong background in vertebrate paleontology, anatomy, and embryology. However, for those who have the training to understand the chapters, it is one of the most complete and current summaries of the topics discussed in the volume.
In an introductory chapter, the editors provide a background for the topics in the volume and a short summary and assessment of each contribution. The first full chapter is by Brian K. Hall and P. Eckhard Witten, who are both authorities on the anatomy and development of the vertebrate skeleton. Their chapter emphasizes the plasticity of the skeletal tissues of vertebrates, and how the simplistic categories of "bone," "cartilage," "dentine," and "enamel" break down when their detailed development is considered. They outline a continuum of intermediate tissues, such as chondroid, chondroid bone, cementum, and different kinds of dentine. They also point out that these tissues are highly plastic, and can be modified or even transformed into another tissue, depending on the dynamic stresses exerted upon them during the lifetime of a vertebrate. This research provides important insight into how such tissues first arose in vertebrates, and how their modification from one group to another is not as difficult as was once assumed.
The remaining chapters deal with issues of specific taxa and transitions between major vertebrate groups. Philippe Janvier offers a masterly summary of the origin of vertebrates, the current status of many primitive craniates and chordates (including the Cambrian vertebrates of China, the agnathans and the cyclostomes), and the issue of how vertebrate jaws arose (not from simple gill arches, as we have long been taught). Mark V. H. Wilson, Gavin F. Hanke, and Tiiu Märss examine the origin of paired fins in jawless vertebrates, basing their findings on the large number of new specimens that show various combinations of fin folds, unpaired fins, and other features. Hans C. E. Larsson writes about MODEs (modules of developmental evolution) and discusses how such developmental modules might help us understand the skeletal features of the sarcopterygian fin. Jason S. Anderson reviews the evidence for how the embryology and development of modern amphibians helps us understand the phylogeny of the nonamniote tetrapods—according to his analysis, the lissamphibians are not all descendants of the dissorophids (only the frogs and salamanders are related to them; other groups apparently had origins in nontemnospondyl amniotes).
Robert R. Reisz reviews the status of the basal diadectomorphs and how they fit in the complicated transition from anthracosaurs to amniotes. Although his coverage was very thorough, I was a little surprised to find no mention of Westlothiana in the context of the most primitive known amniotes. Reisz sees the diadectomorphs as a monophyletic sister taxon to amniotes, closer than conventional anthracosaurs like Seymouria or Gephyrostegus. This implies some very long ghost lineages to account for the topology of his tree, which is no surprise since most anthracosaurs and diadectomorphs are known from the excellent specimens of the rich fossil beds of the Permian, yet the transition took place in the Early Carboniferous, from which well-preserved fossils were much less common.
Moving up into the amniotes, Michael W. Caldwell gives a review and update of the conflicting hypotheses on the origin of snakes, including some of the amazing complete Cretaceous specimens with vestigial limbs found since 1979. Luis M. Chiappe and Gareth J. Dyke review the controversies about the origin of birds, including the recent discoveries that further amplify and illuminate the "birds are dinosaurs" hypothesis. Naturally, their sympathies lie with the bird-dinosaur school of thought, but they do a good job of rebutting recent arguments by Feduccia, Martin, and others that birds are descended from some other group of archosaurs.
Although Major Transitions in Vertebrate Evolution is dedicated to Robert L. Carroll (who was a teacher or mentor to many of the contributors of the volume) and thus focuses mostly on the more primitive groups of amphibians and reptiles that he spent his career studying, there are also two chapters that review evolutionary transitions in mammals. Zhe-Xi Luo gives a broad overview of Mesozoic mammalian evolution, boiling down the much longer volume that he recently coauthored with Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska and Richard L. Cifelli (Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure, Columbia University Press, 2004). This is a very valuable contribution, since the number of new specimens and the understanding of Mesozoic mammals has exploded in the past two decades. If you haven't kept up with it, there is much new material to learn (and unlearn). Finally, Mark D. Uhen briefly summarizes the now classic example of the origin of whales from terrestrial mammals. He gives summaries of nearly all the functional and ecological parameters as well, and compares them to primitive artiodactyls rather than to mesonychids. Surprisingly, he doesn't spend much time talking about the molecular evidence for whale-hippo affinities.
Major Transitions in Vertebrate Evolution is beautifully produced, with numerous color plates in the center, and typographical errors or problems in the reproduction of the halftones were very nearly absent. The volume is complete and up-to-date on the transitions within the vertebrates, although it does not give a complete picture because it focuses on the lower vertebrates. In particular, many more well-documented examples exist of transitional fossils in the synapsids, and especially within the placental mammals. These would have been nice to include in a complete volume, but at 422 pages of dense, technical text, it was probably too much to ask that this volume be comprehensive. However, any scientist who wants to get a quick update on the current thinking about the transitions mentioned above would do well to consult the chapters in this book.Donald R. Prothero, Department of Geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California., BioScience, February 2008 / Vol. 58 No. 2
(Donald R. Prothero, Department of Geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.
BioScience )
"... this is a useful volume – the individual chapters offer a combination of reviews and important new data that will interest an audience that should extend beyond vertebrate
palaeontology to zoologists and evolutionary biologists." —Paul M. Barrett, Geological Magazine, 2009
(Paul M. Barrett
Geological Magazine )
"...the volume as a whole offers a good deal more than just overviews of new fossils, namely a window into the contemporary Zeitgeist of vertebrate palaeontology itself... Major Transitions in Vertebrate Evolution reviews the rapidly growing knowledge in several of the most pertinent cases, and it also epitomises much that is good about the present state of the art." —T.S. Kemp, Zoological Jrnl Linnean Society, 157 2009
(T.S. Kemp
Zoological Jrnl Linnean Society )
"[This] book is a fine snapshot of current research on vertebrate macroevolution." —The Systematist, 2010 No. 31
(
The Systematist )
