Great Moments in the History of Life

• Main Author: Shaw, George H. (Author, http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer, 2018.
• Edition: 1st ed. 2018.
• Series: Popular Science,
• Subjects: Life sciences.; History.; Nature.; Environment.; Earth.; Geology.; Astrobiology.; Historical geology.; Popular Life Sciences.; History of Science.; Popular Science in Nature and Environment.; Popular Earth Science.; Historical Geology.

A non-technical (but serious) treatment of those parts of Earth history leading up to human history, as well as some pre-historical aspects of humanity. Many "events" in Earth's history necessarily preceded the emergence of human beings (and intelligence). Geology has provided us with...

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• In the beginning...and somewhat later
• How to make a habitable planet
• Prebiotic chemical synthesis
• The origin of life
• Interlude
• Photosynthesis - the game changer
• The rise of oxygen and the origin of the eukaryotic cell
• Earliest plants and animals
• The Cambrian explosion and emergence of "modern" body plans
• The end of the Ordovician and the colonization of the land
• The Permian extinction and the rise of the dinosaurs
• End of Cretaceous extinction - the end of the dinosaurs
• The rise of mammals, the Genus Homo, and the ongoing extinction event
• Conclusion.