Palaeobiogeography & Biodiversity

The study of biodiversity through geological time provides important information for the understanding of diversity patterns at the present day. Hitherto, much effort has been paid to studying the mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic but the research emphasis has now changed to focus on what occurred between these spectacular catastrophic events. After the Cambrian 'explosion' of marine organisms with readily preservable skeletons, there have been two intervals when life radiated dramaticall...