Earth and Life

John Talent's degrees are from the University of Melbourne. After brief periods as UNESCO Professor at the University of Dhaka, and Caltech he taught at Macquarie University, Sydney, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences. His fieldwork has been undertaken in many parts of southern and central Asia and Australia. He was President of the International Paleontological Association and is now a member of Geological Society of Australia and India.

• Phanerozoic marine biodiversity: a fresh look at data, methods, patterns and processes.-Coordinated stasis reconsidered: a perspective after fifteen years.-Whilst this planet has gone cycling on: what role for periodic astronomical phenomena in large-scale patterns in the history of life?.-Climate change through time.-Development of intertidal biotas through Phanerozoic time.-Marine sclerobiofacies: encrusting and endolithic communities on shells through time and space.-Brachiopods and their auloporid epibionts in the Devonian of Boulonnais (France).-Fossil fish taphonomy and the contribution of microfossils to documenting Devonian vertebrate history.-The Messel Pit fossil site ? the legacy of the environment and life of the Eocene.-Evolutionary scenario of the early history of the Animal Kingdom: evidence from Precambrian (Ediacaran) Weng’an and Early Cambrian Maotianshan biotas, China.-The Ordovician Radiation: macroevolutionary crossroads of the Phanerozoic.-Phylogeny of Palaeozoic gastropods inferred from their ontogeny.-Palaeozoic innovations in the micro- and megafossil plant record: from the earliest plant spores to the earliest seeds.- Tentaculitids ? an enigmatic group of Palaeozoic fossils.-Palaeozoic ammonoids ? diversity and development of conch morphology.-Quantitative approach to diversity and decline in Late Palaeozoic trilobites.-Devonian cladid crinoid evolution, diversity, and first and last occurrences: summary observations.-Palaeoecology, aerodynamics and the origins of avian flight.-The Ireviken Event in the Boree Creek Formation, New South Wales, Australia.-Isotope geochemistry and plankton response to the Ireviken (earliest Wenlock) and Cyrtograptus lundgreni events, Cape Phillips Formation, Arctic Canada.-Late Ludfordian (Silurian) correlations and the Lau Global ExtinctionEvent.-The late Middle Devonian (Givetian) global Taghanic Biocrisis in its type area (northern Appalachian Basin): geologically rapid faunal transitions driven by global and local environmental changes.-The Permian ? a time of major evolutions and revolutions in the history of life.-Millennial physical events and the end-Permian mass mortality in the western Palaeo-Tethys: timing and primary causes.-Chicxulub Impact, Deccan Traps and the K-T mass extinction.-After mass extinction but no recovery: new tales of ‘Dead Clade Walking’ from Austral and Boreal post-K-Pg (Danian) assemblages.-Fungi, a driving force in normalization of the terrestrial carbon cycle following the end-Cretaceous extinction.-Changes in the pattern of brachiopod biogeography in northern Asia through Early and Middle Devonian times.-The paleogeography of Pennsylvanian crinoids and blastoids.-Biogeography of Jurassic and Early Cretaceous ostracods from Western Australia and what they reveal about the evolution of the Indian Ocean.-Cretaceous continental bridges, insularity, and vicariance in the southern hemisphere: which route did dinosaurs take?.-Palaeobiogeography of Mesozoic mammals?revisited.-Cenozoic environmental shifts.-Miocene asteroid impacts: proposed effects on the biogeography and extinction patterns of eastern North American gastropods.-The rise of Australian marsupials: a synopsis of biostratigraphic, phylogenetic, palaeoecologic and palaeobiogeographic understanding.-A Perspective.-

From the reviews:“This volume is outstanding, and I have no hesitation in thoroughly recommending it. … John hand-picked the contributors, ensuring that (almost) all manuscripts sought for the volume were submitted in the required timeframe, reviewed, and edited to the highest standard. … This volume is amazingly good value considering the research that has gone into the chapters, and the editorial diligence that has resulted in such a high-quality monumental work. Encourage your institutional library to invest in the hardbound edition … .” (Ian Percival, Nomen Nudum, Issue 33, December, 2013)“Earth and Life has hit the bookshelves! … All the included chapters are excellently written and provide a state-of-the-art insight into the various evolutionary phenomena observable, and the dynamics and interaction of fossil ecosystems. … This is clearly a ‘must have’ for Palaeontologists, Palaeobiologists and everyone interested in the evolutionary aspects of the development of life on our planet. It should also not be missed by university libraries … it’s simply too fascinating and inspiring!” (Michael Montenari, The Bulletin Your Magazine from the British Ecological Society, August, 2013)“Seventy-four authors contributed to its thirty-six chapters, each a major figure in their own field. The result is a book with much to attract those with a general interest in palaeontology, those who are more specialized, and those who are concerned with biodiversity conservation. … The chapters in this extensively illustrated book provide an excellent opportunity for readers to compare extinction events.” (Geology Today, Vol. 28 (5), September-October, 2012)“This huge volume was published as part of the UNESCO International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) scientific programme, a joint initiative of UNESCO and the International Union of Geosciences. … The present volume is said to be aimed at Earth Scienceprofessionals and students. … There is a huge wealth of important material in the volume, which is a must for Earth Science libraries.” (Tony Wright, Geological Magazine, 2012)