"A subject collection from Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology."

“Mesozoic mammal fossils are the focus of this fascinating book, which reviews both the fossils themselves and the history of their discovery.” —Choice In Pursuit of Early Mammals presents the history of the mammals that lived during the Mesozoic era, the time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, and describes their origins, anatomy, systematics, paleobiology, and distribution. It also tells the story of the author, a world-renowned specialist on these animals, and the other prominent paleontologists who have studied them. Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska was the first woman to lead large-scale paleontological expeditions, including eight to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, which brought back important collections of dinosaur, early mammal, and other fossils. She shares the difficulties and pleasures encountered in finding rare fossils and describes the changing views on early mammals made possible by these discoveries. “A thorough review of the current state of early mammalian paleontology presented through the unique historical filter of someone who was at the foremost of the field for over half a century.” —The Quarterly Review of Biology “Whether she’s talking about how mammals evolved their distinctive ear bones, or how she built a cabin out of plywood during a particularly cold field season in the Gobi, you know that a remarkable, passionate person is telling a story of science and adventure in her own words.” —Priscum “A fascinating window into the development of the field . . . The perspective of an individual at the center of these developments is captivating, informative, and has never before been published.” —Gregory P. Wilson, University of Washington

Four of the major animal systems studied for the mechanisms of their early embryonic development are treated in this volume. The articles address the specific questions studied in the various systems, discuss the fundamental questions raised by the particular organism and explain the techniques used to find answers to these questions. Questions of patternformation, early organogenesis and the genetics of the early development arecovered as well as the question of parental imprinting phenomena in mammals which are important for the early differentiation. The development of the mouse, Drosophila, Caenorhabditis and the zebrafish is emphasized by leading experts of their fields, and current problems in each system are exposed. For the zebrafish the advantages of this new system for developmental biology studies are summarized and discussed in their values, while in the other system the emphasis is laid on one of the actual field of research.

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