Echinoderm Paleobiology

The dominant faunal elements in shallow Paleozoic oceans, echinoderms are important to understanding these marine ecosystems. Echinoderms (which include such animals as sea stars, crinoids or sea lilies, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers) have left a rich, and for science, extremely useful fossil record. For various reasons, they provide the ideal source for answers to the questions that will help us develop a more complete understanding of global environmental and biodiversity changes. This volume highlights the modern study of fossil echinoderms and is organized into five parts: echinoderm paleoecology, functional morphology, and paleoecology; evolutionary paleoecology; morphology for refined phylogenetic studies; innovative applications of data encoded in echinoderms; and information on new crinoid data sets.

William I. Ausich is Professor of Earth Sciences and Director of the Orton Geological Museum at The Ohio State University. He is an expert in the study of Paleozoic crinoids with an emphasis on paleobiology and evolutionary paleoecology.

Gary D. Webster is Adjunct Faculty of Geology at Washington State University.

Introduction	p. xi
Functional Morphology, Paleoecology, and Taphonomy	p. 1
Introduction to Part 1	p. 3
Taphonomy as an Indicator of Behavior among Fossil Crinoids	p. 7
Attachment, Facies Distribution, and Life History Strategies in Crinoids from the Upper Ordovician of Kentucky	p. 23
Paleobiology of Carboniferous Microcrinoids	p. 55
The Importance of Echinoids in Late Paleozoic Ecosystems	p. 71
New Observations on Taphonomy and Paleoecology of Uintacrinus socialis Grinnell (Crinoidea; Upper Cretaceous)	p. 93
Taphonomy of the Irregular Echinoid Clypeaster humilis from the Red Sea: Implications for Taxonomic Resolution along Taphonomic Grades	p. 115
Evolutionary Paleoecology	p. 129
Introduction to Part 2	p. 131
Tiering History of Early Epifaunal Suspension-Feeding Echinoderms	p. 133
Evolution and Extinction of a Paleozoic Crinoid Clade: Phylogenetics, Paleogeography, and Environmental Distribution of the Periechocrinids	p. 145
Morphology for Refined Phylogenetic Studies	p. 173
Introduction to Part 3	p. 175
Paedomorphosis as an Adaptive Response in Pinnulate Cladid Crinoids from the Burlington Limestone (Mississippian, Osagean) of the Mississippi Valley	p. 177
Cladid Crinoid Radial Facets, Brachials, and Arm Appendages: A Terminology Solution for Studies of Lineage, Classification, and Paleoenvironment	p. 197
The Origin of Loven's Law in Glyptocystitoid Rhombiferans and Its Bearing on the Plate Homology and Heterochronic Evolution of the Hemicosmitoid Peristomial Border	p. 229
Mississippian Impacts and Biomarkers	p. 243
Introduction to Part 4	p. 245
Mixed-Age Echinoderms, Conodonts, and Other Fossils Used to Date a Meteorite Impact, and Implications for Missing Strata in the Type Osagean (Mississippian) in Missouri, USA	p. 247
Crinoid Biomarkers (Borden Group, Mississippian): Implications for Phylogeny	p. 291
Echinoderm Faunal Studies	p. 307
Introduction to Part 5	p. 309
Overview of Early Ordovician Crinoid Diversity from the Western and Southwestern United States	p. 313
Ever since Ramsbottom: Silurian Crinoids of the British Isles since 1954	p. 331
Overview of Paleozoic Stemmed Echinoderms from China	p. 347
Fossil Echinodermata from Puerto Rico	p. 369
Appendices	p. 397
Index	p. 439
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Echinoderm Paleobiology

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