Paleobiology

@misc{meinschein1964biological7,
    author = "Meinschein, W. G. and Barghoorn, E. S. and Schopf, J. W",
    title = "Biological remnants in a Precambrian sediment",
    year = "1964",
    howpublished = "Science, v. 145, no. 3629, p. 262-263",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Meinschein, W. G., Barghoorn, E. S., and Schopf, J. W., 1964, Biological remnants in a Precambrian sediment: Science, v. 145, no. 3629, p. 262-263.}"
}

Investigations have been made of crude oil, pristane, phytane, steranetype and optically active alkanes, porphyrins, microfossils, and the stable isotopes of carbon and of sulfur found in the Nonesuch shale of Precambrian age from Northern Michigan. These sediments are approximately 1 billion years old. Geologic evidence indicates that they were deposited in a nearshore deltaic environment. Porphyrins are found in the siltstones but not in the crude oils of the Nonesuch formation—evidence that these chemical fossils are adsorbed or absorbed and immobile. This immobility makes it highly unlikely that these porphyrins could have moved from younger formations into the Nonesuch sediments, and the widely disseminated particulate organic matters and fossils in this Precambrian shale are certainly indigenous.

@article{barghoorn1965paleobiology,
    author = "Barghoorn, Elso S. and Meinschein, Warren G. and Schopf, J. William",
    title = "Paleobiology of a Precambrian Shale",
    year = "1965",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Investigations have been made of crude oil, pristane, phytane, steranetype and optically active alkanes, porphyrins, microfossils, and the stable isotopes of carbon and of sulfur found in the Nonesuch shale of Precambrian age from Northern Michigan. These sediments are approximately 1 billion years old. Geologic evidence indicates that they were deposited in a nearshore deltaic environment. Porphyrins are found in the siltstones but not in the crude oils of the Nonesuch formation—evidence that these chemical fossils are adsorbed or absorbed and immobile. This immobility makes it highly unlikely that these porphyrins could have moved from younger formations into the Nonesuch sediments, and the widely disseminated particulate organic matters and fossils in this Precambrian shale are certainly indigenous.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.148.3669.461",
    doi = "10.1126/science.148.3669.461",
    number = "3669",
    pages = "461-472",
    volume = "148"
}

@misc{barghoorn1965paleobiology1,
    author = "Barghoorn, E. S. and Meinschein, W. G. and Schopf, J. W",
    title = "Paleobiology of a Precambrian shale",
    year = "1965",
    howpublished = "Science, v. 148, no. 3669, p. 461-472",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Barghoorn, E. S., Meinschein, W. G., and Schopf, J. W., 1965, Paleobiology of a Precambrian shale: Science, v. 148, no. 3669, p. 461-472.}"
}

@article{schopf1969recent,
    author = "Schopf, J. William",
    title = "Recent Advances in Precambrian Paleobiology",
    year = "1969",
    journal = "Grana Palynologica",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/00173136909436433",
    doi = "10.1080/00173136909436433",
    number = "1-3",
    pages = "147-168",
    volume = "9"
}

@incollection{schopf1974paleobiology,
    author = "Schopf, J. William",
    title = "Paleobiology of the Precambrian: The Age of Blue-Green Algae",
    year = "1974",
    booktitle = "Evolutionary Biology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6944-2\_1",
    doi = "10.1007/978-1-4615-6944-2\_1",
    pages = "1-43"
}

@article{schopf1975precambrian,
    author = "Schopf, J. William",
    title = "Precambrian Paleobiology: Problems and Perspectives",
    year = "1975",
    journal = "Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ea.03.050175.001241",
    doi = "10.1146/annurev.ea.03.050175.001241",
    number = "1",
    pages = "213-249",
    volume = "3"
}

@article{awramik1978bibliography,
    author = "Awramik, Stanley M. and Barghoorn, Elso S.",
    title = "Bibliography of Precambrian Palentology and Paleobiology",
    year = "1978",
    journal = "Botanical Museum leaflets, Harvard University",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.5962/p.295214",
    doi = "10.5962/p.295214",
    number = "2-4",
    pages = "65-175",
    volume = "26"
}

@incollection{hoering1978molecular,
    author = "Hoering, Thomas C.",
    title = "MOLECULAR FOSSILS FROM THE PRECAMBRIAN NONESUCH SHALE",
    year = "1978",
    booktitle = "Comparative Planetology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-561340-8.50020-4",
    doi = "10.1016/b978-0-12-561340-8.50020-4",
    pages = "243-255"
}

@misc{fedonkin1981the4,
    author = "Fedonkin, M. A",
    title = "The Byelmorian Vendian Biota (Precambrian Soft-Bodied Fauna of the Northern Russian Platform) [in Russian]",
    year = "1981",
    howpublished = "Vyp, Akad. Nauk SSSR, Geol. Inst., Trudy, 100 p",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Fedonkin, M. A., 1981, The Byelmorian Vendian Biota (Precambrian Soft-Bodied Fauna of the Northern Russian Platform) [in Russian]: Vyp, Akad. Nauk SSSR, Geol. Inst., Trudy, 100 p.}"
}

@article{briggs1985modes2,
    author = "Briggs, D. E. G. and Whittington, H. B",
    title = "Modes of life of arthropods from the Burgess Shale, British Columbia",
    year = "1985",
    journal = "Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, v. 76, p. 149-160",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Briggs, D. E. G., and Whittington, H. B., 1985, Modes of life of arthropods from the Burgess Shale, British Columbia: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, v. 76, p. 149-160.}"
}

@misc{golovenok1985riphean5,
    author = "Golovenok, V. K. and Belova, M. Y",
    title = "Riphean microbiotas in cherts of the Yenesei Ridge [in Russian]",
    year = "1985",
    howpublished = "Paleontol. Zh., v. 2, p. 94-103",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Golovenok, V. K., and Belova, M. Y., 1985, Riphean microbiotas in cherts of the Yenesei Ridge [in Russian]: Paleontol. Zh., v. 2, p. 94-103.}"
}

@misc{gould1985the6,
    author = "Gould, S. J",
    title = "The paradox of the first tier",
    year = "1985",
    howpublished = "An agenda for paleobiology: Paleobiology, v. 11, p. 2-12",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Gould, S. J., 1985, The paradox of the first tier: An agenda for paleobiology: Paleobiology, v. 11, p. 2-12.}"
}

The Hartland Shale Member of the Greenhorn Limestone is predominantly composed of finely laminated calcareous shale with high levels of organic carbon and low levels of fossil diversity and abundance, suggesting a Cretaceous epicontinental anoxic event. At Rock Canyon anticline the Hartland member is conformably underlain by the Lincoln Limestone Member and conformably overlain by the Bridge Creek Limestone Member of the Greenhorn Limestone. A detailed lithostratigraphic, geochemical and paleobiologic study of this interval has identified characteristic lithofacies and biofacies which subdivide the member into three units and suggests a cyclic pattern of oceanographic processes during Hartland deposition. An alternating transgressive pulse/stil1 stand model is proposed to account for these patterns of cyclic sedimentation and oxygen-deficient biofacies distribution.

@incollection{sageman1985highresolution,
    author = "Sageman, B. B.",
    title = "High-Resolution Stratigraphy and Paleobiology of the Hartland Shale Member",
    year = "1985",
    booktitle = "Fine-Grained Deposits and Biofacies of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway",
    abstract = "The Hartland Shale Member of the Greenhorn Limestone is predominantly composed of finely laminated calcareous shale with high levels of organic carbon and low levels of fossil diversity and abundance, suggesting a Cretaceous epicontinental anoxic event. At Rock Canyon anticline the Hartland member is conformably underlain by the Lincoln Limestone Member and conformably overlain by the Bridge Creek Limestone Member of the Greenhorn Limestone. A detailed lithostratigraphic, geochemical and paleobiologic study of this interval has identified characteristic lithofacies and biofacies which subdivide the member into three units and suggests a cyclic pattern of oceanographic processes during Hartland deposition. An alternating transgressive pulse/stil1 stand model is proposed to account for these patterns of cyclic sedimentation and oxygen-deficient biofacies distribution.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2110/sepmfg.04.110",
    doi = "10.2110/sepmfg.04.110",
    pages = "110-121"
}

@misc{farlow1989paleobiology3,
    author = "Farlow, J. O",
    title = "Paleobiology of the Dinosaurs, 238 of GSA Special Paper",
    year = "1989",
    howpublished = "Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, 100 p.; Based on a Meeting, Waco, Tx., March, 1987",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Farlow, J. O., 1989, Paleobiology of the Dinosaurs, 238 of GSA Special Paper: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, 100 p.; Based on a Meeting, Waco, Tx., March, 1987.}"
}

@incollection{schopf2009emergence,
    author = "Schopf, J. William",
    title = "Emergence of Precambrian Paleobiology",
    year = "2009",
    booktitle = "The Paleobiological Revolution",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226748597.003.0006",
    doi = "10.7208/chicago/9780226748597.003.0006",
    pages = "89-110"
}

In 1859, C. R. Darwin highlighted the “inexplicable” absence of evidence of life prior to the beginning of the Cambrian. Given this lack of evidence and the natural rather than theological unfolding of life’s development Darwin espoused, over the following 50 years his newly minted theory was disputed. At the turn of the 19th century, beginning with the discoveries of C. D. Walcott, glimmerings of the previously “unknown and unknowable” early fossil record came to light – but Walcott’s Precambrian finds were also discounted. It was not until the breakthrough advances of the 1950’s and the identification of modern stromatolites (1956), Precambrian phytoplankton in shales (1950’s), stromatolitic microbes in cherts (1953), and terminal-Precambrian soft-bodied animal fossils (1950’s) that the field was placed on firm footing. Over the following half-century, the development and application of new analytical techniques coupled with the groundbreaking contributions of the Precambrian Paleobiology Research Group spurred the field to its international and distinctly interdisciplinary status. Significant progress has been made worldwide. Among these advances, the known fossil record has been extended sevenfold (from ∼0.5 to ∼3.5 Ga); the fossil record has been shown consistent with rRNA phylogenies (adding credence to both); and the timing and evolutionary significance of an increase of environmental oxygen (∼2.3 Ga), of eukaryotic organisms (∼2.0 Ga), and of evolution-speeding and biota-diversifying eukaryotic sexual reproduction (∼1.2 Ga) have been identified. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned. Such major unsolved problems include the absence of definitive evidence of the widely assumed life-generating “primordial soup”; the timing of the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis; the veracity of postulated changes in global photic-zone temperature from 3.5 Ga to the present; the bases of the advent of eukaryotic sexuality-requiring gametogenesis and syngamy; and the timing of origin and affinities of the small soft-bodied precursors of the Ediacaran Fauna.

@article{schopf2021precambrian,
    author = "Schopf, J. William",
    title = "Precambrian Paleobiology: Precedents, Progress, and Prospects",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution",
    abstract = "In 1859, C. R. Darwin highlighted the “inexplicable” absence of evidence of life prior to the beginning of the Cambrian. Given this lack of evidence and the natural rather than theological unfolding of life’s development Darwin espoused, over the following 50 years his newly minted theory was disputed. At the turn of the 19th century, beginning with the discoveries of C. D. Walcott, glimmerings of the previously “unknown and unknowable” early fossil record came to light – but Walcott’s Precambrian finds were also discounted. It was not until the breakthrough advances of the 1950’s and the identification of modern stromatolites (1956), Precambrian phytoplankton in shales (1950’s), stromatolitic microbes in cherts (1953), and terminal-Precambrian soft-bodied animal fossils (1950’s) that the field was placed on firm footing. Over the following half-century, the development and application of new analytical techniques coupled with the groundbreaking contributions of the Precambrian Paleobiology Research Group spurred the field to its international and distinctly interdisciplinary status. Significant progress has been made worldwide. Among these advances, the known fossil record has been extended sevenfold (from ∼0.5 to ∼3.5 Ga); the fossil record has been shown consistent with rRNA phylogenies (adding credence to both); and the timing and evolutionary significance of an increase of environmental oxygen (∼2.3 Ga), of eukaryotic organisms (∼2.0 Ga), and of evolution-speeding and biota-diversifying eukaryotic sexual reproduction (∼1.2 Ga) have been identified. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned. Such major unsolved problems include the absence of definitive evidence of the widely assumed life-generating “primordial soup”; the timing of the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis; the veracity of postulated changes in global photic-zone temperature from 3.5 Ga to the present; the bases of the advent of eukaryotic sexuality-requiring gametogenesis and syngamy; and the timing of origin and affinities of the small soft-bodied precursors of the Ediacaran Fauna.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.707072",
    doi = "10.3389/fevo.2021.707072",
    volume = "9"
}