The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event

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During the 46 million year Ordovician Period (489-443 m.y.a), a remarkable array of adaptive radiations of "Paleozoic - and Modern-type" biotas appeared in marine habitats, the first animals (arthropods) walked on land, and the first nonvascular bryophyte-like plants colonized the land. This is the first book devoted specifically to establishing the global patterns of differentiation of Ordovician biotas through time and space. It provides extensive genus- and species-level diversity data for the many Ordovician fossil groups and presents an evaluation of how each group diversified, with assessments of patterns of diversity change, and rates of origination and extinction.