Natural Science Forum / Biology / Paleontology / April 2008

Well, even though it is primarily about the end-Permian extinction,
<i>Gorgon</i> by Peter Ward does describe quite an array of Permian
fauna found in South Africa.  It's a really well-written book as well.

As far as pre-Permian arthropods go, <i>Wonderful Life</i> by Stephen
Gould is a great text as arthropods figured predominate in the Burgess
Shale.  Also, <i>Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution</i> by Richard
Fortey is a wonderful description of trilobites.

Look at "The Great Dying". As far as the accessibility of professional
monographs
on this material, they're as close as interlibrary loan or a larger
university.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Not a book, but try this:

http://www.palaeos.com/

Here's one book on the Permian extinction itself:
_Extinction:  How Life on Earth nearly ended 250 million years ago_, Douglas
H. Erwin

Someone else mentioned _Gorgon_, Peter Ward.  As I recall this book takes
issue with the theories of a famous lady researcher out of California (sorry
for the vagueness.  If someone can summarize his argument, mostly contained
in the last couple chapters of the book, I'd appreciate it.  It had to do
with the O2 levels at the time, that they dropped dramatically at the
Permian transition.  If someone could go over or give links why Triassic
rocks are red worldwide and Jurassic generally yellow I'd appreciate that
too).

Anyway, in regards to this lady researcher, a recent Discovery Channel
special called The Day the Earth Nearly Died
http://shopping.discovery.com/product-38903.html?jzid=40588004-59-0
covered her (and other's) recent theories about how a large asteroid hit on
one side of the earth caused the creation of the Siberian Traps lava fields
on the other side, causing global warming, this allowing lethal
hydrogen-sulfide-producing organisms in the seas to multiply, wiping out
most sealife.

By the way, early in this same show a diamond mine in Canada was discussed,
and how these diamonds were almost certainly created by a large asteroid
impact, I believe well before the Permian.  This is interesting because I
distinctly recall these diamonds being mentioned in one of the John McPhee
_Annals of the Former World_ books:   how they were created by a fluke
internal event, a super-heated shaft directly from the mantle to the surface
(there was a technical term for it).  A wild, what-the-hell-I-have-no-idea
theory probably from before large asteroid impacts were taken seriously.

Also, you mentioned the ancestors of mammals.  There is a book called _After
the Dinosaurs: the age of mammals_, Prothero

rms