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! T.O. Akinsanpe et al. (2024): Molecular and mineral biomarker record of terrestrialization in the Rhynie Chert. Free access, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112101.
"... a wealth of fossil evidence is preserved in the Lower Devonian Rhynie Chert lagerstätte, which is consequently considered to be the world's oldest preserved terrestrial ecosystem
[...] In addition to organic biomarkers, the chert contains mineralogical characters which imply biological activity, including pyrite framboids, strongly leached monazite and garnet, and pitted micas similar to grains altered by modern fungi.

Ana María Alonso-Zarza and Lawrence H. Tanner (2006): Paleoenvironmental Record and Applications of Calcretes and Palustrine Carbonates. GSA Special Papers 416 (Google books).

American Meteorological Society (website supported by the National Science Foundation): Water in the Earth System Learning Files. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Lorna Ash & Brett Poulin, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta: Instructional Multimedia, Multimedia Topics, Introductory Biology. Go to: The Carbon Cycle, The Nitrogen Cycle. Online and downloadable flash movies. Excellent!
Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

A.D. Barnosky et al. (2017): Merging paleobiology with conservation biology to guide the future of terrestrial ecosystems. Abstract, Science, 355.

G. Barth et al. (2014): Late Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) brackish to freshwater habitats at a fluvial-dominated delta plain (Seinstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany). In PDF, Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 94. See also here.

A.R. Bashforth and W.A. DiMichele (2012): Permian Coal Forest offers a glimpse of late Paleozoic ecology. In PDF, PNAS, 109: 4717-4718.

! R.M. Bateman et al. (1998): Early evolution of land plants: phylogeny, physiology, and ecology of the primary terrestrial radiation. PDF file, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 29: 263-292. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

G. Beaugrand (2023): Towards an Understanding of Large-Scale Biodiversity Patterns on Land and in the Sea. Free access, Biology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12030339.

! Anna K. Behrensmeyer (1992; Google books): Terrestrial ecosystems through time.

! J.B. Bennington et al. (2009): Critical issues of scale in paleoecology. PDF file, Palaios, 24: 1-4.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
See also here.

! Museum of Paleontology, University of California,Berkeley, CA: Online exhibits, The world´s biomes. Environmental divisions defined by the community of organisms adapted to live within them.

! H. Beraldi-Campesi (2013): Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems. In PDF, Ecological Processes, 2. See also here.
Note figure 1: Suggested chronology of geological, atmospheric, and biological events during the Hadean, Archean, and Paleoproterozoic eons.

! BioDeepTime:
This project seeks to address one of the central challenges in biodiversity science by compiling and harmonizing ecological time series from modern and fossil sources to investigate how biological dynamics and drivers vary across timescales ranging from months to millions of years. Note likewise here.
Please take notice:
! J. Smith et al. (2023): BioDeepTime: A database of biodiversity time series for modern and fossil assemblages. Open access, Global Ecol Biogeogr.
Note table 1: Approximate temporal grain (the amount of time represented in a sample) for time series, number of time series and number of samples from source databases included in BioDeepTime.
"... The BioDeepTime database enables integrated biodiversity analyses across a far greater range of temporal scales than has previously been possible. It can be used to provide critical insights into how natural systems will respond to ongoing and future environmental changes as well as new opportunities for theoretical insights into the temporal scaling of biodiversity dynamics ..."

Biologie-Schule.de:
! Die Ökologie.
Lecture notes, in German.

! BiologyBrowser (produced by Thomson Scientific). This is a free web site offering resources for the life sciences information community. Go to: Subject > Environmental Sciences > Ecology > Paleoecology.

Biology Online. Information in the Life Sciences. Go to: Tutorials > Freshwater Ecology.

W.J. Bond et al. (2005): The global distribution of ecosystems in a world without fire. Free access, New Phytologist, 165: 525-538.

! D.M.J.S. Bowman et al. (2009): Fire in the Earth System. PDF file, Science, 324: 481-484. See also here (abstract).

Jamie Boyer, The New York Botanical Garden: The Paleoplant Website. An educational resource for students and teachers studying Earth's history, fossils, and evolution.
! Go to: Ecological Concepts. Lecture notes and Power Point presentations.
See especially: Wetland Plants and Ecology. In PDF.

Anthony R. Brach, Missouri Botanical Garden & Harvard University Herbaria (Botany Net): Ecology WWW page. Ecology links sorted in alphabetical order.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Brent H. Breithaupt (1992): The use of fossils in interpreting past environments. PDF file, Pages 147-158, in: Tested studies for laboratory teaching, Volume 13 (C. A. Goldman, Editor). Proceedings of the 13th Workshop/Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education.

! Derek Briggs and Peter Crowther (eds.), Earth Pages, Blackwell Publishing: Paleobiology: A Synthesis (PDF files). Series of concise articles from over 150 leading authorities from around the world. Excellent! Snapshot now taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
Navigate from the content file. There are no restrictions on downloading this material. Worth checking out:
Part 1. Major Events in the History of Life, Pages 1-92.
Part 2. The Evolutionary Process and the Fossil Record, Pages 93-210.
Part 3. Taphonomy, Pages 211-304.
! Part 4. Palaeoecology, Pages 305-414.
Part 5. Taxonomy, Phylogeny and Biostratigraphy, Pages 415-490.

British Ecological Society. Their mission is to generate, communicate and promote ecological knowledge and solutions. Go to: Learning resources.

! Derek Briggs and Peter Crowther (eds.), Earth Pages, Blackwell Publishing: Paleobiology: A Synthesis (PDF files). Snapshot now taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine. Series of concise articles from over 150 leading authorities from around the world. Navigate from the content file. There are no restrictions on downloading this material. Excellent! Worth checking out:
Part 1. Major Events in the History of Life, Pages 1-92.
Part 2. The Evolutionary Process and the Fossil Record, Pages 93-210.
Part 3. Taphonomy, Pages 211-304.
Part 4. Palaeoecology, Pages 305-414.
Part 5. Taxonomy, Phylogeny and Biostratigraphy, Pages 415-490.

K.A. Brown et al. (2023): Trait-based approaches as ecological time machines: Developing tools for reconstructing long-term variation in ecosystems. Free access, Functional Ecology, 37: 2552–2569.

R.J. Burnham (2009): An overview of the fossil record of climbers: bejucos, sogas, trepadoras, lianas, cipós, and vines. PDF file, Rev. bras. paleontol., 12: 149-160.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Robyn J. Burnham and Kirk R. Johnson (2004): South American palaeobotany and the origins of neotropical rainforests. PDF file, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B 359: 1595-1610.

S.N. Césari et al. (2010): Nurse logs: An ecological strategy in a late Paleozoic forest from the southern Andean region. Abstract, Geology, 38: 295-298.

A. Channing and D. Edwards (2009): Yellowstone hot spring environments and the palaeoecophysiology of Rhynie chert plants: towards a synthesis. In PDF, Plant Ecology & Diversity. See also here.

F.S. Chapin et al. (2011): Principles of terrestrial ecosystem ecology, The Ecosystem Concept. In PDF.
See also here. Book announcement of the second edition.

Citable reviews in the life sciences (Wiley). Go to:
Ecology.

C. Coiffard et al. (2012): Deciphering Early Angiosperm Landscape Ecology Using a Clustering Method on Cretaceous Plant Assemblages. In PDF.

! Committee on the Geologic Record of Biosphere Dynamics, National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (The National Academies Press): The Geological Record of Ecological Dynamics: Understanding the Biotic Effects of Future Environmental Change. 216 pages, 2005. Produced by a committee consisting of both ecologists and paleontologists, the report provides ecologists with background on techniques for obtaining and evaluating geohistorical information, and provides paleontologists with background on the nature of ecological phenomena amenable to analysis in the geological record. The report can be read online for free!

! F.L. Condamine et al. (2013): Macroevolutionary perspectives to environmental change. In PDF, Ecology letters.

! W.K. Cornwell et al. (2009): Plant traits and wood fates across the globe: rotted, burned, or consumed? PDF file, Global Change Biology, 15: 2431-2449.
See also here.
Note figure 1: The five major fates for woody debris.
Table 2: Stem anatomy differences across woody and pseudo-woody plant clades.

N.R. Cúneo et al. (2003): In situ fossil forest from the upper Fremouw Formation (Triassic) of Antarctica: paleoenvironmental setting and paleoclimate analysis. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 197: 239-261.

! Edward DeLong and Penny Chisholm (2009): Ecology I: The Earth System. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Go to Lecture notes (in PDF).

Kevin J. Devito, University of Alberta: Wetland Ecology and Management. Lecture notes and readings for anyone interested in water management issues.

S. Díaz and Y. Malhi (2022): Biodiversity: Concepts, patterns, trends, and perspectives. Free access, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 47: 31-63.

! G.P. Dietl et al. (2015): Conservation paleobiology: leveraging knowledge of the past to inform conservation and restoration. In PDF, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 43: 79-103.
See likewise here.

G.P. Dietl and K.W. Flessa (2011): Conservation paleobiology: putting the dead to work. In PDF, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 26.
See likewise here.
"... Conservation paleobiology is a relatively new, synthetic field of research that applies the theories and analytical tools of paleontology to the solution of problems concerning the conservation of biodiversity ..."

W.A. DiMichele et al. (2023): A paleontological perspective on ecosystem assembly rules in the terrestrial Paleozoic. Free access, Evolving Earth.
Note figure 1: Early Devonian (Emsian) flora from Gaspé, Canada.
Figure 2C: Edaphosaurus feeding on Supaia plants on stream bank, with background vegetation dominated by conifers. Early Permian (Wolfcampian/Asselian), New Mexico.

! W.A. DiMichele and R.A. Gastaldo (2008): Plant Paleoecology in Deep Time. PDF file, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 95: 144-198. See also here (abstract).

W.A. DiMichele et al. (2006): Paleoecology of Late Paleozoic pteridosperms from tropical Euramerica. In PDF, The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 133: 83-118. See also here.

! W.A. DiMichele and T.L. Phillips (2002): The ecology of Paleozoic ferns. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 119: 143-159.
See also here.

! W.A. DiMichelle, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and T.L. Phillips, University of Illinois: The Response of Hierarchially Structured Ecosystems to Long-Term Climatic Change: A Case Study using Tropical Peat Swamps of Pennsylvanian Age. From:
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.,1995: Effects of Past Global Change on Life.

W.A. DiMichele (1994): Ecological patterns in time and space. PDF file, Paleobiology, 20: 89-92.
See also here.

! dmoz: Science: Biology: Ecology.

M.J. Donoghue and E.J. Edwards (2014): Biome shifts and niche evolution in plants. In PDF, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst., 45: 547-572.

Earth Learning Idea (James Devon, London). Free PDF downloads for Earth-related teaching ideas. Go to:
Environmental detective (in PDF). Imagining how the evidence of modern environments could become preserved.

Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD). A service of USRA, sponsored by NASA Goddard. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. Browse EPODs by Related Fields, such as Coccolithophore bloom in the Celtic Sea.

Ecological Abstracts. Ecological Abstracts is a comprehensive reference source for literature in the fields of marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecology.

The Ecological Society of America (ESA):
ESA, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of scientists promote ecological science by improving communication among ecologists. Fact Sheets. See also:
ESA Family of Journals. ESA publishes a suite of publications, from peer-reviewed journals to newsletters.

Brian J. Enquist et al. (2002): General patterns of taxonomic and biomass partitioning in extant and fossil plant communities. PDF file, Nature.

The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program (ETE), Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program investigates Earth´s land biotas throughout their 400 million year history. Their goal is to understand how terrestrial ecosystems have been structured and how they change over geologic time. Using the fossil record, ETE scientists study the characteristics of ecological communities and the changing dynamics of ecosystems. Go to:
ETE Relational Database and ETE DataNet.
The ETE relational database is now partially united with the Paleobiology Database Project´s (PBDB) relational database. All primary database functions (queries, entries and updates) are available through the PBDB home page. The new combined database compiles information from the terrestrial and marine record, but lacks some of the data fields present in the original ETE database.

EnchantedLearning.com: All About Nature, Biomes - Habitats.

! Encyclopedia of Earth (supported by the Environmental Information Coalition and the National Council for Science and the Environment). Expert-reviewed information about the Earth. For everyone, please take notice. The scope of the Encyclopedia of Earth is the environment of the Earth broadly defined, with particular emphasis on the interaction between society and the natural spheres of the Earth. Excellent! Go to:
Ecology.
Biomes.
See also:
AP Environmental Science Chapter 5- The Biosphere. About organisms, populations and communities, ecosystems, biomes and the evolution of life. More articles here.

ENDS (Environmental Data Services Ltd), London: ENDS Environment Daily. ENDS publishes an in-depth monthly professional journal and a daily internet-based news briefing on European environmental affairs.

! European Commission: European Atlas of Forest Tree Species. Scientists and forestry professionals have contributed in the many stages of the production of this atlas, through the collection of ground data on the location of tree species, elaboration of the distribution and suitability maps, production of the photographic material and compilation of the different chapters. Excellent!
! Don´t miss the Atlas Download Page. Plenty of downloadable PDFs, e.g. about Past forests of Europe, an ecological overview, about forest classifications and European forest tree species.

Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program (ETE). Page hosted by Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

H.J. Falcon-Lang and W.A. DiMichele (2010): What happened to the coal forests during Pennsylvanian glacial phases? PDF file, Palaios, 25: 611-617. See also here.
Including a reconstruction of the Late Pennsylvanian ecosystem (fig 4).
"... plant assemblages in this paleoclimatic context suggests that coal forests dominated during humid interglacial phases, but were replaced by seasonally dry vegetation during glacial phases. After each glacial event, coal forests reassembled with largely the same species composition. ..."

! H.J. Falcon-Lang et al. (2006): The Pennsylvanian tropical biome reconstructed from the Joggins Formation of nova Scotia, Canada. In PDF, Journal of the Geological Society, London, 163: 561–576. See also here.
Note fig. 5: Ecosystem reconstruction of retrograding coastal plain and open water facies associations.

! S.G.A. Flantua et al. (2023): A guide to the processing and standardization of global palaeoecological data for large-scale syntheses using fossil pollen. Open access, Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 32: 1377-1394.
Note figure 1: Essential data processing components needed to create a standardized, harmonized, palaeoecological dataset compilation before macro-scale data analysis.
Figure 3: Summary figure of FOSSILPOL workflow providing an overview of the inputs, main workflow steps and outputs.
"... With our FOSSILPOL workflow and R-package, we provide a protocol for optimal handling of large compilations of fossil pollen datasets and workflow reproducibility ..."

T.J. Flowers et al. (2010): Evolution of halophytes: multiple origins of salt tolerance in land plants. PDF file, Functional Plant Biology, 37: 604-612. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! D.A. Fordham et al. (2020): Using paleo-archives to safeguard biodiversity under climate change. In PDF, Science, 369.
See likewise here.
"... Fordham et al. review when and where rapid climate transitions can be found in the paleoclimate record
[...] They also highlight how recent developments at the intersection of paleoecology, paleoclimatology, and macroecology can provide opportunities to anticipate and manage the responses of species and ecosystems to changing climates in the Anthropocene ..."

! A. Free and N.H. Barton (2007): Do evolution and ecology need the Gaia hypothesis? Trends in ecology & evolution, 22.
See likewise here.
Note figure 2: Illustration of the range of spatial and temporal scaling necessary to extrapolate from molecular and cellular processes to the biosphere.
"... Gaia theory, which describes the life–environment system of the Earth as stable and self-regulating, has remained at the fringes of mainstream biological science
[...] The key issue is whether and why the biosphere might tend towards stability and self-regulation. We review the various ways in which these issues have been addressed by evolutionary and ecological theory, and relate these to ‘Gaia theory’ ..."

J.-C. Gall and L. Grauvogel-Stamm (2005): The early Middle Triassic "Grès à Voltzia" Formation of eastern France: a model of environmental refugium. Free access, C. R. Palevol, 4: 637-652.

! J.M. Galloway and S. Lindström (2023): Impacts of large-scale magmatism on land plant ecosystems. Open access, Elements, 19: 289–295.
! Note figure 1: Summary figure of changes in the diversity of land plants over geological time.
Figure 2: Flow chart showing the myriad of ways large-scale magmatism may impact land plants.
"... Emplacement of large igneous provinces (LIPs) is implicated in almost every mass extinction and smaller biotic crises in Earth’s history, but the effects of these and other large-scale magmatic events on terrestrial ecosystems are poorly understood
[...] We review existing palynological literature to explore the direct and cumulative impacts of large-scale magmatism, such as LIP-forming events, on terrestrial vegetation composition and dynamics over geological time ..."

R.A. Gastaldo et al. (2009): Ecological persistence in the Late Mississippian (Serpukhovian, Namurian A) megafloral record of the Upper Silesian Basin, Czech Republic. PDF file, Palaios, 24: 336-350.
See likewise here.

L. Gillson and R. Marchant (2014): From myopia to clarity: sharpening the focus of ecosystem management through the lens of palaeoecology. In PDF, Trends in ecology & evolution.

Google directory:
! Science > Biology > Ecology.
Science > Biology > Ecology > Education.
Link directories, with ratings (Google page rank).
These expired links are available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Steven Goldsmith, Austin College, Sherman, TX:
Evolution, Behavior, and Ecology. and Systematics. For a fundamental understanding of the conceptual framework that biologists use to make sense of the complexity and diversity of organisms. Note e.g.:
! Biomes. Powerpoint presentation.

J.E. Gordon et al. (2023): Valuing the Quaternary – Nature conservation and geoheritage. Open access, Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 134: 375–387.

S.F. Greb et al. (2006): Evolution and Importance of Wetlands in Earth History. PDF file, In: DiMichele, W.A., and Greb, S., eds., Wetlands Through Time: Geological Society of America, Special Publication, 399: 1-40.
Rhacophyton and Archaeopteris in a Devonian wetland as well as Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic and Cretaceous wetland plant reconstructions.
Note figure 1: Evolution of wetland types in the Silurian and Devonian.
See also here.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

M. Grey and Z.V. Finkel (2011): The Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage site: a review of recent research. In PDF. Carboniferous forest reconstruction on page 192.

Gujarat Technological University Library, Chandkheda, Ahmedabad, India:
Environments and Life. Powerpoint presentation.

D.J. Hallett and R.C. Walker (2000): Paleoecology and its application to fire and vegetation management in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. In PDF, Journal of Paleolimnology, 24: 401-414. See also here.

! Stephen T. Hasiotis (2004): Using Trace Fossils to Differentiate between Alluvial, Lacustrine, Eolian, and Marine Paleoenvironments. PDF file, AAPG HEDBERG CONFERENCE, May 2004; Baku, Azerbaijan.

Scott A. Heckathorn, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA:
Biodiversity lecture notes, Powerpoint presentations. See especially:
An Introduction to Ecology and The Biosphere.
Community Ecology.
Ecosystems.
These expired links are available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

J. Hill and K. Davis, Geology Rocks: The Use Of Diatoms As Palaeoenvironmental Indicators.

Home Ground (by Trinity University Press): A searchable, definitive database of 850 American landscape term. Go to:
! All Definitions. Excellent!
See for example:
Alluvial Fan
Crevasse
Lacustrine Deposit
Overbank deposit.
Website outdated. These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Stephen D. Hopper (2009): OCBIL theory: towards an integrated understanding of the evolution, ecology and conservation of biodiversity on old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapes. PDF file, Plant Soil, 322: 49-86.
See likewise here.

! J. Huang et al. (2021): The oxygen cycle and a habitable Earth. In PDF, Science China Earth Sciences, 64: 511–528. See also here.
! Note figure 1: The status of the oxygen cycle in Earth system science and its relationship with other biogeochemical cycles.
! Figure 2: The evolution of atmospheric O₂ and maximum organismal sizes through geological time.
! Figure 3: Sketch of the modern geologic oxygen cycle showing the principal sources and sinks.
! Figure 4: Reconstructed O₂ content during the Phanerozoic Eon.
! Figure 5: Global oxygen cycle in the modern Earth system.

R.B. Huey et al. (2002): Plants versus animals: do they deal with stress in different ways? PDF file, Integrative and Comparative Biology, 42: 415-423.

Dafeng Hui, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Life & Physical Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN:
Biol 4120 Principles of Ecology. Go to: Recap: Ecological Succession. Lecture notes, Powerpoint presentations.

! C.E. Hughes et al. (2015): Evolutionary plant radiations: where, when, why and how? In PDF, New Phytologist. See also here.

P.M. Hull et al. (2016): Rarity in mass extinctions and the future of ecosystems. In PDF, Nature 528: 345–351. See also here (abstract).

R.B. Irmis and J.H. Whiteside (2010): Newly integrated approaches to studying Late Triassic terrestrial ecosystems. Abstract, Palaios, 25: 689-691.

! J.B.C. Jackson and D.H. Erwin (2006): What can we learn about ecology and evolution from the fossil record? PDF file, Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
See also here.

Carlos Jaramillo et al. (2010): The origin of the modern Amazon rainforest: implications of the palynological and palaeobotanical record. PDF file, Amazonia, Landscape and Species Evolution: A Look into the Past, 1st edition. Edited by C. Hoorn and F.P. Wesselingh.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

K.G. Johnson et al. (2011): Climate Change and Biosphere Response: Unlocking the Collections Vault. In PDF, BioScience, 61: 147-153. This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

K.R. Johnson (2007): Forests frozen in time. In PDF. Fig. 1 shows the reconstruction of a lycopsid forest.

Julia K. Johnson, Stephen J. Reynolds (Dept. of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University), Nicholas J. Olejniczak, and Jonathan A. Foley (Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, University of Wisconsin, Madison) Biosphere 3D. The Biosphere 3D site (mostly using maps from the "Atlas of the Biosphere") has links to QuickTime movies of maps of the Biosphere draped over digital topography in globes that you can spin and tilt. Globes may be rotated using the mouse, zoomed using the shift-key, and unzoomed using the crtl-key.

Kania´s Science Page, Lake Central High School, St. John, IN:
Biology Page. Lecture notes, Powerpoint presentations. See for instance:
Ecology Introduction.

! Kerry S. Kilburn, Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University: Principles of Ecology, Notes and Links.
Websites outdated. Links lead to versions archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! C. King (2022):
Exploring Geoscience across the globe. In PDF (42 MB), Excellent!
Provided by The International Geoscience Education Organisation (IGEO). Chapters that may be of interest:
Chapter 3.2 (starting on pdf-page 30): e.g. Relative dating, Absolute dating.
Chapter 4.1.2.2 (starting on pdf-page 56): e.g. Sedimentary processes.
Chapter 4.3 (starting on pdf-page 115): e.g. Atmospheric change.
Chapter 4.4.1 (starting on pdf-page 122): e.g. Evolution.

M. Alan Kazlev, Palaeos: Terrestrial Mesozoic Ecosystems. See also: Mesozoic Terrestrial Life note form.

V.A. Krassilov (2003): Terrestrial palaeoecology and global change. PDF file (35.6 MB), Russian Academic Monographs No. 1, 464 p., (Pensoft), Sophia.

E. Kustatscher et al. (2006): The Kühwiesenkopf/Monte Pra della Vacca (Prags/Braies Dolomites, Northern Italy): An attempt to reconstruct an Anisian (lower Middle Triassic) palaeoenvironment. PDF file, 9th International Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota, 27-29.05.06, Manchester, Abstract and Proceedings Volume, p. 63-66, 164.
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Jonathan B. Losos and D. Luke Mahler (2010): Chapter 15, Adaptive radiation: the interaction of ecological opportunity, adaptation, and speciation. PDF file.
Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

J. Louys (2012; ed.): Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation. In PDF, Springer Earth System Sciences, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-25038-5_3, See also here. Note especially:
! Starting on PDF page 1: Chapter 1 Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation: An Introduction (by J. Louys).
! Starting on PDF page 23: Chapter 3 Ecology Needs a Paleontological Perspective (by J.Louys, D.M. Wilkinson, and L.C. Bishop).
! Starting on PDF page 39: Chapter 4 Reconciling Scale in Paleontological and Neontological Data: Dimensions of Time, Space, and Taxonomy (by J.B. Bennington and M.F.J. Aronson).

Yuandan MA et al. (2009): Carbon storage of cycad and other gymnosperm ecosystems in China: implications to evolutionary trends. PDF file, Polish Journal of Ecology, 57: 635-646.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

R.E. Martin et al. (1999): Taphonomy as an environmental science. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 149.
"... Over the last decade, however, the applied Earth sciences have moved from an emphasis on resource exploration and exploitation toward one of resource conservation and management. In this respect, paleontology holds a tremendous advantage over ecology in that most ecologic studies are of too short a duration to assess the long-term (time-averaged) impact of environmental perturbations ..."

C. Martín-Closas (2003): The fossil record and evolution of freshwater plants: a review. PDF file, Geologica Acta, 1: 315-338.

D. Mauquoy et al. (2010): A protocol for plant macrofossil analysis of peat deposits. PDF file, Mires and Peat, 7.
Website outdated. The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! N.G. McDowell (2011): The interdependence of mechanisms underlying climate-driven vegetation mortality. In PDF, Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
This expired link is now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! J.C. McElwain et al. (2024): Functional traits of fossil plants. Open access, New Phytologist.
Note figure 2: Examples of fossil plant functional traits.
Figure 4: A ranked list of paleo-functional traits that can be applied to fossil plants.
"What plant remnants have withstood taphonomic filtering, fragmentation, and alteration in their journey to become part of the fossil record provide unique information on how plants functioned in paleo-ecosystems through their traits. Plant traits are measurable morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical, or phenological characteristics
[...] We demonstrate how valuable inferences on paleo-ecosystem processes (pollination biology, herbivory), past nutrient cycles, paleobiogeography, paleo-demography (life history), and Earth system history can be derived through the application of paleo-functional traits to fossil plants ..."

! J.C. McElwain (2018): Paleobotany and global change: Important lessons for species to biomes from vegetation responses to past global change, In PDF, Annual review of plant biology, 69: 761–787. See also here

K. McGarigal (2001): Landscape Ecology. In PDF.

J.L. McGuire et al. (2023): The past as a lens for biodiversity conservation on a dynamically changing planet. Free access, PNAS, 120.

! K.K. McLauchlan et al. (2020): Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers: Free access, Journal of Ecology, 108: 2047–2069.

Jacqueline S. McLaughlin and Stam M. Zervanos, Pennsylvania State University: Biodiversity of World Biomes. Powerpoint presentation.
This expired link is now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

M.M. Mendes et al. (2014): Vegetational composition of the Early Cretaceous Chicalhão flora (Lusitanian Basin, western Portugal) based on palynological and mesofossil assemblages. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 200: 65-81. See also here (abstract).

! NASA Astrobiology Institute:
What are Microbial Mats? Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
What are Stromatolites?
See also: Microbial Mats Offer Clues To Life on Early Earth. Worth checking out:
! Life in the Extremes.

! NASA, Earth Observatory. The purpose of NASA's Earth Observatory is to provide a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth's climate and environmental change. By activating the glossary mode, you can view each page with special terms highlighted that, when selected, will take you to the appropriate entry in the glossary. Use the full-text search engine, or go to: Data and Images. To view a particular dataset, select one of the data types in this column, e.g. Vegetation, or Landcover Classification.

NASA: Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). GCMD is a comprehensive directory of descriptions of data sets of relevance to global change research. It includes descriptions of data sets (DIFs) covering climate change, the biosphere, hydrosphere & oceans, geology, geography, and human dimensions of global change. Go to Solid Earth, Biosphere, or Paleoclimate.

National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), Warrenton, VA.
Recommended Resources.
NABT has created a searchable table of online Peer-Recommended Resources. You can filter by category and audience to get just what you need when you need it. Note escecially:
! Evolution.
! Ecology/Environment.
! General Biology.

The National Science Foundation, Arlington: Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn). The LExEn research program will explore the relationships between organisms and the environments within which they exist, with a strong emphasis upon those life-supporting environments that exist near the extremes of planetary conditions.

Dennis W. Nyberg, University of Illinois at Chicago:
Biology of Populations and Communities. Lecture notes. Navigate from EXAM 1, 2, or 3 Material (chiefly PDF files). Go to:
Ecological Restoration.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), Ithaca, NY: (PRI was founded by Gilbert Dennison Harris, 1865-1952):
The Paleontological Research Institution pursues and integrates education and research, and interprets the history and systems of the Earth and its life. Go to:
Conservation Paleobiology. Opportunities for the Earth Sciences. In PDF, Report of an NSF-Funded Workshop, 2011. Table of contents on PDF page 04. Worth checking out:
PDF page 09: "Major Science Themes in Conservation Paleobiology".
PDF page 17: "Frontiers in Conservation Paleobiology".
PDF page 19: "Emerging Opportunities for the Earth Sciences" (i.e. Analysis and Modeling of the Near-time Fossil Record, Scaling and Other Issues for Merging Neo- and Paleobiological Data, etc.).

! Past Global Changes (PAGES).
PAGES, a registered paleoscience association, supports research which aims to understand the Earth's past environment in order to obtain better predictions of future climate and environment. PAGES publishes two journals:
the Past Global Changes Magazine.
Past Global Changes Horizons.
! Don't miss the Publications database, which contains publications, meeting products and outreach material emerging from PAGES activities.

! J.G. Pausas et al. (2017): Flammability as an ecological and evolutionary driver. In PDF, Journal of Ecology, 105: 289–297.

! J.G. Pausas et al. (2016): Towards understanding resprouting at the global scale. Free access, New Phytologist, 209: 945–954.

R. Toby Pennington et al. (2004): Introduction and synthesis: Plant phylogeny and the origin of major biomes. PDF file, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, Biol. Sci., 359: 1455-1464. See also here.

! N. Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. (2013): New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. In PDF, Australian Journal of Botany, 61: 167-234.

P. David Polly, Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN:
Historical Geology. Life through time. Lecture notes. Topics are paleontology, geologic time, biological evolution, plate tectonics, ancient environments, and climate change, principles of interpreting earth history from geological data, etc. Go to:
Lecture 15: Paleobiology, and
Lecture 21: Mesozoic 2: Terrestrial environments and extinction. Lecture slides (PDF files).
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Peter H. Raven and Paul H. Zedler: Chapter 31: The Dynamics of Communities and Ecosystems and Chapter 32: Global Ecology (PDF files). Chapters thoroughly updated for the seventh edition of "Biology of Plants", Peter H. Raven et al. (2005).
These expired links are available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! G.J. Retallack and E.S Krull (1999): Landscape ecological shift at the Permian-Triassic boundary in Antarctica. In PDF, Australian Journal of Earth Sciences.

J.J. Ringelberg et al. (2023): Precipitation is the main axis of tropical plant phylogenetic turnover across space and time. Free access, Science Advances, 9.
"... 95% of speciation occurs within a precipitation niche, showing profound phylogenetic niche conservatism, and that lineage turnover boundaries coincide with isohyets of precipitation. We reveal similar patterns on different continents, implying that evolution and dispersal follow universal processes ..."

C. Román-Palacios et al. (2022): The origins of global biodiversity on land, sea and freshwater. In PDF, Ecology letters, 25: 1376-1386.
See also here.
"... Most plant and animal species are terrestrial, although these habitats cover only ~28% of Earth's surface.
[...] Freshwater habitats have relatively high richness and exceptional phylogenetic diversity given their tiny area (2%). ..."
[...] most marine species are descended from marine ancestors and most terrestrial species from freshwater ancestors. ..."

P.D. Roopnarine (2009): Ecological modeling of paleocommunity food webs.
In: Conservation Paleobiology: Using the Past to Manage for the Future, Paleontological Society Short Course, October 17th, 2009. The Paleontological Society Papers, Volume 15, Gregory P. Dietl and Karl W. Flessa (eds.).

M. Roscher: Environmental reconstruction of the Late Palaeozoic. Numeric modelling and geological evidences. In PDF. Dissertation, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg.

Nick Rowe and Thomas Speck (2005): Plant growth forms: an ecological and evolutionary perspective. PDF file, New Phytologist, 166: 61-72. See also here.

Valentí Rull (2010): Ecology and Palaeoecology: Two Approaches, One Objective. PDF file, The Open Ecology Journal, 3: 1-5.

H.M. Sachs et al. (1977): Paleoecological transfer functions. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Vol. 5. See also here (abstract).

H. Sakio (ed., 2020): Long-Term Ecosystem Changes in Riparian Forests. Open access, Ecological Research Monographs (Springer).
This book represents the results of more than 30 years of long-term ecological research in riparian forest ecosystems.

! P. Szabó (2015): Historical ecology: past, present and future. In PDF, Biological Reviews, 90: 997-1014. See also here.

S.R. Schachat et al. (2022): Generating and testing hypotheses about the fossil record of insect herbivory with a theoretical ecospace. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 297. See also here.
"... a discussion of the most appropriate uses of a theoretical ecospace for insect herbivory, with the overlapping damage type diversities of Paleozoic gymnosperms and Cenozoic angiosperms as a brief case study. ..."

! Schmidt, Diane, Allison, Melody M., Clark, Kathleen A., Jacobs, Pamela F. and Porta, Maria A., Libraries Unlimited (a member of the Greenwood Publishing Group): Guide to Reference and Information Sources in Plant Biology. This directory contains the URLs and annotations for Web-accessible resources. Go to:
Ecology.

Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Erwin Beck, Klaus Müller-Hohenstein (2005): Sample pages, Plant Ecology. Keywords for this textbook are e.g. autecology, ecophysiology, ecosystem ecology, plant ecology, synecology. Worth checking out: Table of contents (PDF file). Go to: 4.1 Historic-Genetic Development of Phytocenoses and Their Dynamics (PDF file).

J.O. Shaw et al. (2021): Disentangling ecological and taphonomic signals in ancient food webs. Free access, Paleobiology, 47: 85–401.

George Sly, Union High School, Dugger, Indiana (Classrooms of the 21th Century):
Teaching Tropical Rainforest Biology.
Archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

R.A. Spicer and A.B. Herman (2010): The Late Cretaceous Environment of the Arctic: A Quantitative Reassessment based on Plant Fossils. PDF file, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Open Courseware.
Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT. No registration required. Go to:
John Southard: Special Topics in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences: The Environment of the Earth´s Surface. PDF files.
The course combines aspects of geology, climatology, hydrology, and soil science to present a coherent introduction to the surface of the Earth.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Els Slots, The Netherlands: World Heritage Site, Categories. Go to: Geological formation, Paleontology.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

StartLocal. An Australian search engine and web directory. Go to: You are here: Home > Educational Articles > Ultimate guide to Biomes Ultimate guide to Biomes.

! W. Steffen et al, (2020): The emergence and evolution of Earth System Science. In PDF, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1: 54–63.
See also here. "... ESS [Earth System Science] has produced new concepts and frameworks central to the global-change discourse, including the Anthropocene, tipping elements and planetary boundaries. Moving forward, the grand challenge for ESS is to achieve a deep integration of biophysical processes and human dynamics to build a truly unified understanding of the Earth System ..."

P.E. Tarasov et al. (2013): The biome reconstruction approach as a tool for interpretation of past vegetation and climate changes: application to modern and fossil pollen data from Lake El´gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic. In PDF, Clim. Past Discuss., 9: 3449-3487.

! T.N. Taylor and J.M. Osborn (1992): The Role of Wood in Understanding Saprophytism in the Fossil Record. PDF file, Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 147: 147-153.

T.N. Taylor and J.M. Osborn (1996): The importance of fungi in shaping the paleoecosystem. Abstract, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.

! R.C. Terry (2009): Palaeoecology: Methods. Abstract. See also here (in PDF), and there.

! Topics For Seminar.
Topics For Seminar PPT's contents and Seminar Reports are collected from various public domains available free on the internet.
! Biology Topics for Presentation & Research.
100+ Interesting Biology Presentation Topics with PPT.

! TRY Plant Trait Database. Quantifying and scaling global plant trait diversity.
TRY is a network of vegetation scientists headed by Future Earth and the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, providing a global archive of curated plant traits. Please take notice:
! J. Kattke et al. (2011): TRY – a global database of plant traits. Global Change Biology, 17: 2905–2935.

TutorVista.com. TutorVista provides online tutoring to students across the world. Go to:
Ecology.

A. Tyukavina et al. (2015): Pan-tropical hinterland forests: mapping minimally disturbed forests. Open access, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25.
"... Hinterland forest extent was mapped using forest cover loss data from 2000 to 2012 and hinterland forest loss was quantified from 2007 to 2013
[...] The largest extent of hinterland forests and of hinterland forest loss was found in Latin America, followed by Africa and Southeast Asia, respectively ..."

! D. Uhl (2006): Fossil plants as palaeoenvironmental proxies - some remarks on selected approaches. PDF file, Acta Palaeobotanica, 46: 87-100.

From the Universities Space Research Association´s Earth System Science Education (USRA): Earth System Science Online. Earth system science views the Earth as a synergistic physical system of interrelated phenomena, governed by complex processes involving the geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

U.S. Salinity Laboratory (USSL): Visit the Salt Tolerance Bibliography Database. Also see the related Crops and Ornamentals Salt Tolerance Database.

G.J. Vermeij (2015): Paleophysiology: From Fossils to the Future. Trends in ecology & evolution.

P.E. Verslues et al. (2023): Burning questions for a warming and changing world: 15 unknowns in plant abiotic stress. Open access, The Plant Cell, 35: 67–108.
"... We present unresolved questions in plant abiotic stress biology as posed by 15 research groups with expertise spanning eco-physiology to cell and molecular biology ..."

Elizabeth Anne Viau, Charter College of Education, California State University, Los Angeles: World Builders, Session Eight, Terrestrial Botany, Plants on Land. Go to: Introduction to Biomes.

Jun Wang et al. (2012): Permian vegetational Pompeii from Inner Mongolia and its implications for landscape paleoecology and paleobiogeography of Cathaysia. In PDF, PNAS. See also: Ash-covered forest is "Permian Pompeii" (S. Perkins, Nature).
Penn researcher helps discover and characterize a 300-million-year-forest.
The Lost Forest.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Open Courseware. Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT. No registration required. Go to:
Kelin Whipple and Ben Crosby: Surface Processes and Landscape Evolution. The course (PDF files) offers an introduction to quantitative analysis of geomorphic processes, and examines the interaction of climate, tectonics, and surface processes in the sculpting of Earth´s surface.

! E.A. Wheeler and P. Baas (1991): A Survey of the Fossil Record for Dicotiledonous Wood and its Significance for Evolutionary and Ecological Wood Anatomy. Free access, IAWA Bulletin n.s., 12: 275-332.
Note figure 1: Major ecophyletic trends of vessel element specialisation.

Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, and Montana State University, Bozeman, MT: Microbial Life - Educational Resources. This site contains a variety of educational and supporting materials for students and teachers of microbiology. You will find information about microorganisms, extremophiles and extreme habitats, as well as links to online resources, teaching and learning activities.

! Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection: High School Earth Science.
Contributed by John Benner et al. Worth checking out:
<Ecosystems and Human Populations.

! Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection: Ecology. Contributed by Eric Guinther et al.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
! Ecology.
! Category:Ecology.
! Category:Ecology terminology.

Peter Wilf et al. (1998): Portrait of a Late Paleocene (Early Clarkforkian) Terrestrial Ecosystem: Big Multi Quarry and Associated Strata, Washakie Basin, Southwestern Wyoming. PDF file, Palaios, 13: 514-532.

D.M. Wilkinson and T.N. Sherratt (2016): Why is the world green? The interactions of top-down and bottom-up processes in terrestrial vegetation ecology. In PDF, Plant Ecology & Diversity, 9: 127-140. See also here.

D.M. Wilkinson (2012): Paleontology and Ecology: Their Common Origins and Later Split. In PDF.
In: J. Louys (ed.): Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation.
See also here (in PDF, slow download, 277 pages) and there.

! J.W. Williams and S.T. Jackson (2007): Novel climates, no-analog communities, and ecological surprises. In PDF, Front. Ecol. Environ., 5: 475-482.
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Susan Woodward, Physical Geography Working Group, Department of Geography, Radford University: Major Biomes of the World. This module presents basic content on the distribution and nature of the world's major biomes. It considers the structure, characteristic growthforms, and taxonomic affiliations of the vegetation; major soil order(s); and common adaptive characteristics of the fauna of the tundra, boreal forest, temperate broadleaf deciduous forest, tropical broadleaf evergreen forest, tropical savanna, temperate grasslands, desertscrub, and Mediterranean shrub biomes.

The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Ecology and Biodiversity.

James D. Wright, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ:
Environments and Life. Powerpont presentation.
These expired links are available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! J. Zalasiewicz et al. (2008): Are we now living in the Anthropocene? In PDF.

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