Ecological shifts along the Florida reef tract: the past as a key to the future
Precht WF, Miller SL, Ecological Sciences Program; The University of North Carolina at Wilmington. 2007. Ecological shifts along the Florida reef tract: the past as a key to the future. In Aronson RB. Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology. Springer. New York. ISBN 9780387335377
Starting with the classic works of James Hutton and Charles Lyell, the principle of uniformitarianism bas formed the cornerstone of modem geologic and biologic thought(Albritton 1967; Gould 1977). The principle states that physical processes that now operate on earth have acted in a similar manner throughout geologic time. This guiding doctrine led Sir Archibald Geikie (1905) to coin the maxim, "The present is a key to the past." The principle of uniformitarianism, also known as the principle of actualism, provides the basis for most of our understanding and interpretations in sedimentary geology (Friedman and Sanders 1978). This includes the seminal coral reef work of Darwin (1842) and Dana (1872). The subject of paleoecology, equally based on application ofthe principle of uniformitarianism, has mainly developed out of pale obiological studies. Like neoecology, it involves communities and environments; hence, the paleobiology of associated fossil assemblages and the rocks in which they occur yield clue to their environment of formation (Simpson 1970).
- Type
- Book Chapter
- Authors
- Precht, William; Miller, Steven; Ecological Sciences Program; The University of North Carolina at Wilmington
- Units
- BISC , EVER
- Keywords
- Fossil record, Holocene , Marine Ecology, paleoecological, Pleistocene, Sedimentology