Book description
Evolution on islands differs in a number of important ways from
evolution on mainland areas. Over millions of years of isolation,
exceptional and sometimes bizarre mammals evolved on islands, such as
pig-sized elephants and hippos, giant rats and gorilla-sized lemurs that
would have been formidable to their mainland ancestors.
This timely and innovative book is the first to offer a much-needed
synthesis of recent advances in the exciting field of the evolution
and extinction of fossil insular placental mammals. It provides a
comprehensive overview of current knowledge on fossil island mammals
worldwide, ranging from the Oligocene to the onset of the Holocene.
The book addresses evolutionary processes and key aspects of insular
mammal biology, exemplified by a variety of fossil species. The
authors discuss the human factor in past extinction events and loss of
insular biodiversity.
This accessible and richly illustrated textbook is written for
graduate level students and professional researchers in evolutionary
biology, palaeontology, biogeography, zoology, and ecology.
Alexandra van der Geer is an independent
researcher, presently guest researcher at Naturalis, the National
Museum of Natural History of the Netherlands and at the Department of
Geology and Geoenvironment at the University of Athens, Greece. She
publishes on various subjects, including insularity, primatology and
the relation between humans and animals. Among her previous books are
Animals in Stone and Hoe dieren op eilanden evolueren.
George Lyras is curator of the Museum of Geology and
Palaeontology of the University of Athens, Greece. His research
focuses primarily on the evolution of carnivores and of insular
mammals. He currently specialises in evolutionary processes of the
mammalian skull under strong selective forces.
John de Vos is curator of the Dubois Collection and the
Collection of Pleistocene mammal fossils from the Netherlands and the
North Sea at Naturalis, the National Museum of Natural History of the
Netherlands. His expertise and field of research include the
taxonomic, systematic, geographic and stratigraphic research of the
Pleistocene mammals of Southeast Asia in relation to fossil humans and
fossil island faunas.
Michael Dermitzakis is emeritus professor in the Department of
Geology and Geoenvironment at the University of Athens, Greece, and
former vice-rector of the same university. He is a recognized expert
in the field of island biogeography of the Aegean Archipelago and the
advocate of international research on the palaeo-ecology of Greek
islands.
