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XIAO, S. & KAUFMAN, A. J. (eds) 2006. Neoproterozoic Geobiology and Paleobiology. Topics in Geobiology Series Volume 27. xxi + 300 pp.

Berlin, Heidelberg, Dordrecht: Springer-Verlag. Price Euros 109.95, US $149.00, £84.50 (hard covers). ISBN 9781 4020 5201 9.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

There are lots of good reasons for being interested in Neoproterozoic geobiology and palaeobiology. It was during this half-billion-year run-up to the Phanerozoic that the Earth experienced some its greatest convulsions, including supercontinental breakup (and partial reassembly), recurrent bouts of glaciation, unparalleled fluctuations in the carbon cycle, increasing levels of atmospheric oxygen and, of course, the rise and radiation of animals. The emphasis on biology –whether geo or palaeo – is a heartening sign of the times, a recognition that palaeontologists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists have just as much to contribute to the understanding of planetary function as the commandeering geophysicists and geochemists. Biological innovation is of course what defines the end of the Neoproterozoic era, and it this fin de siècle that ties together the diverse contributions of this multi-authored, multidisciplinary volume.

Body fossils offer our most direct, if imperfect, account of ancient life. In Chapter 1 Susannah Porter reviews the early fossil record of (non-metazoan) heterotrophic eukaryotes, noting that heterotrophy is both the primitive condition of this domain and, in terms of kingdom-level diversity, by far the most common means . . . [Full Text of this Article]