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However, because evolution is a branching process that produces a complex bush pattern of related species rather than a linear process producing a ladder-like progression, and because of the incompleteness of the fossil record, it is unlikely that any particular form represented in the fossil record is a direct ancestor of any other. Cladistics ...
As fossilization is an uncommon occurrence, usually requiring hard body parts and death near a site where sediments are being deposited, the fossil record only provides sparse and intermittent information about the evolution of life. Evidence of organisms prior to the development of hard body parts such as shells, bones and teeth is especially ...
The facts of evolution come from observational evidence of current processes, from imperfections in organisms recording historical common descent, and from transitions in the fossil record. Theories of evolution provide a provisional explanation for these facts. [1] Each of the words evolution, fact and theory has several meanings in different ...
Fossil resin often contains other fossils called inclusions that were captured by the sticky resin. These include bacteria, fungi, other plants, and animals. Animal inclusions are usually small invertebrates , predominantly arthropods such as insects and spiders, and only extremely rarely a vertebrate such as a small lizard.
Fossils of organisms' bodies are usually the most informative type of evidence. The most common types are wood, bones, and shells. [57] Fossilisation is a rare event, and most fossils are destroyed by erosion or metamorphism before they can be observed. Hence the fossil record is very incomplete, increasingly so further back in time.
The functionality of LUCA as well as evidence for the early evolution membrane-dependent biological systems together suggest that LUCA had cellularity and cell membranes. [23] As for the cell's gross structure, it contained a water-based cytoplasm effectively enclosed by a lipid bilayer membrane; it was capable of reproducing by cell division ...
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human evolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46786-5. (Note: this book contains very useful, information dense chapters on primate evolution in general, and human evolution in particular, including fossil history). Leakey, Richard & Lewin, Roger. Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes us Human ...
Bringing Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-07-366170-8 and ISBN 978-0-07-366170-4. An acclaimed book for the novice fossil-hunter and young adults. Mark Ridley, ed. (2004). Evolution. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926794-4 and ISBN 978-1-4051-0345-9. An anthology of analytical ...