What Bugged the Dinosaurs?: Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous - Hardcover

Poinar Jr., George; Poinar, Roberta

 
9780691124315: What Bugged the Dinosaurs?: Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0691124310 ISBN 13: 9780691124315
Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

Millions of years ago in the Cretaceous period, the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex--with its dagger-like teeth for tearing its prey to ribbons--was undoubtedly the fiercest carnivore to roam the Earth. Yet as What Bugged the Dinosaurs? reveals, T. rex was not the only killer. George and Roberta Poinar show how insects--from biting sand flies to disease-causing parasites--dominated life on the planet and played a significant role in the life and death of the dinosaurs. The Poinars bring the age of the dinosaurs marvelously to life. Analyzing exotic insects fossilized in Cretaceous amber at three major deposits in Lebanon, Burma, and Canada, they reconstruct the complex ecology of a hostile prehistoric world inhabited by voracious swarms of insects. The Poinars draw upon tantalizing new evidence from their amazing discoveries of disease-producing vertebrate pathogens in Cretaceous blood-sucking flies, as well as intestinal worms and protozoa found in fossilized dinosaur excrement, to provide a unique view of how insects infected with malaria, leishmania, and other pathogens, together with intestinal parasites, could have devastated dinosaur populations. A scientific adventure story from the authors whose research inspired Jurassic Park, What Bugged the Dinosaurs?? offers compelling evidence of how insects directly and indirectly contributed to the dinosaurs' demise.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

George Poinar, Jr., is currently in the Zoology Department at Oregon State University. He is well known internationally in various fields, including paleobiology, nematology, and insect pathology. He became familiar with tropical diseases while serving as a consultant for the United Nations and World Health Organization. Roberta Poinar is a retired research scientist. They are the coauthors of "The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World" (Princeton) and "The Quest for Life in Amber". Their research has been featured in leading publications worldwide and on television programs such as "Nova".

Von der hinteren Coverseite

"This is an excellent book. There is no doubt Poinar and Poinar have admirable track records and they are well known for their sustained and high-quality work on fossil insects, and especially on insects in amber."--Michael J. Benton, author of When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time

"Interesting and engaging. This book presents evidence that insects interacted as prey, as competitors for plant food, and as vectors of dinosaur diseases. It develops the intriguing and plausible hypothesis that insects contributed to the extinction of dinosaurs."--Timothy D. Schowalter, author of Insect Ecology: An Ecosystem Approach

Aus dem Klappentext

"This is an excellent book. There is no doubt Poinar and Poinar have admirable track records and they are well known for their sustained and high-quality work on fossil insects, and especially on insects in amber."--Michael J. Benton, author ofWhen Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time

"Interesting and engaging. This book presents evidence that insects interacted as prey, as competitors for plant food, and as vectors of dinosaur diseases. It develops the intriguing and plausible hypothesis that insects contributed to the extinction of dinosaurs."--Timothy D. Schowalter, author of Insect Ecology: An Ecosystem Approach

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Verlag
Princeton University Press
Erscheinungsdatum
2008
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0691124310
ISBN 13 
9780691124315
Einband
Tapa dura
Anzahl der Seiten
280
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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Verantwortliche Person
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