The Biogeographical Aspect of the Debate Over Continental Drift

1985 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Continental Drift ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Important Impact

This paper examines the biogeographical component of the sixty-year controversy over the reality of continental drift. It begins with an examination of Wegener's solution to the problem of accounting for the distribution of life forms having a geographically disjunctive distribution and traces the development of the problem through the work of the major as well as many minor participants in the controversy. It closes with a discussion of the most important impact of the acceptance of plate tectonics upon the biogeographical community, namely, the rise of meta-biogeography.

Song of the Earth

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Ervin-Blankenheim
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Historical Maps ◽  
Mountain Building ◽  
Species Extinction ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Relationship

This book is a scientific, historical, and philosophical narrative for general readers that explores the relationship between humans and the Earth and the geologic principles of time, plate tectonics, and change in life forms. Illustrated with striking historical maps, figures, and pictures, this comprehensive work can be read as a thrilling biography of the Earth itself, including narrative sections on the lives of pioneering geologists; the reality and sublimity of geologic time; the birth, destruction, and rebirth of the planet and its atmosphere over repeated cycles spanning some 4-plus billion years; the science underlying both mountain building and oceanic evolution; the influence of climate change and species extinction on the development of the Earth; and the interplay between not only how Earth has influenced life but how life, in turn, has distinctly shaped our planet.

The Biography of the Earth

2021 ◽  
pp. 163-180
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Ervin-Blankenheim
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Snowball Earth ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
Earth Systems ◽  
Organic Life ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Geologic Record

The way the planet has changed through geologic time, and life on it, the account of the Earth, is the topic of this and the next three chapters, starting in this chapter with the Precambrian Supereon. The overarching principles of geologic time, plate tectonics, and evolution worked dynamically to create the biography of the planet. This chapter traces back to the recesses of the geologic record and early Earth, from its birth and the formation of the Moon through seven-eighths of its existence, a huge span of time. Early life forms emerged during this supereon in the Archean Eon and had a profound influence on other Earth systems. Life interacted and changed the chemistry of the atmosphere through photosynthesis, so much so that the changes are thought to have sent planetary systems over an edge into multiple “Snowball Earth” episodes when most of the planet froze over. In addition to the beginning of organic life and climate, the emergence and configuration of the continents during the Precambrian are covered. Events of this supereon set the stage for the burgeoning of life forms in the next eon, the Phanerozoic.

The genus Dirina (Roccellaceae, Arthoniales) revisited

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders TEHLER ◽  
Damien ERTZ ◽  
Martin IRESTEDT
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Continental Drift ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
Phylogenetic Hypothesis ◽  
Long Distance Dispersal ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Incertae Sedis ◽  
Asexual Morphs ◽  
Β Tubulin

AbstractDirina (Roccellaceae, Arthoniales) is a monophyletic genus of crustose, saxicolous or corticolous lichenized fungi. Twenty-four species are accepted in the genus, including nine new species: Dirina angolana, D. arabica, D. astridae, D. canariensis, D. indica, D. madagascariensis, D. pacifica, D. pallescens and D. sorocarpa. A phylogenetic hypothesis is presented based on data from four molecular markers, β-tubulin, ITS 1 and 2, nuLSU and RPB2, including all recognized Dirina species worldwide. New combinations proposed include Dirina badia for Roccellina badia, Dirina jamesii for Roccellina jamesii, Dirina candida for Chiodecton candidum and Dirina teichiodes for Lecidea teichiodes. Two species are reinstated: Dirina approximata and D. monothalamia (as a new name of Chiodecton africanum). Asexual morphs described earlier at the rank forma are no longer recognized as taxonomic units viz., Dirina catalinariae f. sorediata, D. insulana f. sorediata, D. massiliensis f. sorediata, D. paradoxa ssp. paradoxa f. sorediata and D. massiliensis f. aponina. One species, Dirina calcicola, is transferred to Fulvophyton and two other species, Dirina insulae-howensis and Dirina neozelandica, are transferred to Schismatomma. Dirina follmannii is not accepted in Dirina and placed as incertae sedis. A key to the species of Dirina is provided. Vicariance through plate tectonics and continental drift versus long distance dispersal to explain biogeographical patterns is discussed.

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