Niles Eldredge is a Curator in the Department of Invertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, where he has worked as an active research paleontologist since 1969. He is the author of 20 books and more than 200 research papers, including several with Stephen Jay Gould announcing the theory of punctuated equilibria. He speaks regularly on aspects of evolutionary theory and biodiversity issues.

Book Description:

What light do fossils shed on the deep history of life's most diverse phylum, the Arthropoda? Are the interrelationships between major groups of arthropods -crustaceans, chelicerates, and tracheates -resolved the same way whether or not fossils are included? How should we combine evidence from extinct and extant taxa? These are the central questions of Arthropod Fossils and Phylogeny. Many recent controversies in arthropod evolution have been initiated by new fossil discoveries and new interpretations of early fossils. This book examines the role that these finds and ideas have played in understanding the deep evolutionary history of arthropods. The authors of the book´s seven chapters have been at the forefront of this research. Contributions include phylogeny based on DNA sequence data for living groups, cladistic analysis of the major lineages of arthropods, detailed case studies of crustaceans, chelicerates, and lobopodians, and the evolutionary significance of arthropods in Cambrian fossil sites with exceptional preservation. All contributors use cladistic methods, presenting copious new data to stimulate further research. The book will be a vital resource for paleontologists, researchers on extant arthropods interested in fossil history, and evolutionists concerned with how different kinds of systematic data should be analyzed.

From the Publisher:

In Dominion, Niles Eldredge, the paleontologist whose evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibria (developed with Stephen Jay Gould in the early 1970s) is today's science, reveals that the decoupling of physical and cultural evolution some ten thousand years ago offers the strongest clue to what to expect in the future. As the author makes clear, agriculture relieved us from dependence on the local ecosystem; culture, not biology, allowed us to step outside the natural world, literally to have dominion over "the beasts of the field." We no longer had to depend upon the vastly slower rates of biological evolution to adjust to changing climates or to take advantage of new food resources. We used our wits and actually did do something about the weather. However valid the premise, our escape from nature - our dominion over it - is an illusion. Eldredge explains that though we, unlike all other species, are no longer rooted in local ecosystems, we have not escaped nature - the mega-ecosystem. Instead we have merely redefined our role within it. Our revised status in nature holds the key to understanding our evolutionary future. Being global means that we can no longer look to technological fixes to address the classic question posed by Thomas Malthus in 1799: How will we survive if population grows faster than our capacity to feed ourselves? As Niles Eldredge puts it, "Malthus was not so much wrong as ahead of his time."

From the Publisher:

Why did the dinosaurs die? How are we related to the Neanderthals? What tells scientists so much about the history of life? The Fossil Factory gives kids answers to these and many more puzzles from the past. In this exciting book, you'll uncover a lively history of life, a dozen amazing science activities, and a complete guide to fossil hunting.

A world-famous scientist and his teenage sons lead a fascinating tour of evolution, from the earliest one-celled creatures to the highly intelligent Homo sapiens (that's you)! Along the way you'll meet armored fish, dinosaur families, and tigers with teeth like swords. They're the largest, fiercest, most beautiful animals that you'll never see -- because they lived thousands and millions of years ago!

Explore the world of fossils around your house with experiments that range from building a Grand Canyon in a jar to making a plaster cast of your footprint. Raise tadpoles and watch how animals change to move from water onto land. Peek inside an egg by dissolving its shell with vinegar. Each project is explained step-by-step with diagrams. Best of all, The Fossil Factory provides clear and safe instructions on how to find your own fossils! At the back of the book you'll find over fifty places where any kid can spot something Paleozoic.

From the Publisher:

In this fascinating exploration of the fossil record, Niles Eldredge overturns the traditional view of evolution as a slow and inevitable process, and he shows that lifeforms generally do not evolve to any significant degree until after massive extinction. This rhythm of life--a concept developed by Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould known as punctuated equilibria in evolution-- is revealed by the fossilized remains of the earth's ancient flora and fauna. Distinguished photographer Murray Alcosser augments Eldredge's text with 160 luminous color plates illustrating more than 250 different fossil specimens. In this new paperback edition, Fossils becomes an accessible text with appeal to a broad audience, including natural history readers and students.

From the Publisher:

In Life in the Balance, Niles Eldredge argues that the Earth is confronting an ecological disaster in the making. He reviews compelling evidence for this "biodiversity crisis," showing that species are dying out at an unnaturally rapid rate. This book explores the same themes that illuminate the American Museum of Natural History's new Hall of Biodiversity, for which Eldredge is Scientific Curator. An eloquent and passionate account by one of today's leading scientists, Life in the Balance draws attention to one of the most pressing problems now facing the world.

From the Publisher:

In geological terms, we Homo sapiens were born yesterday. Yet during our brief existence we have rocked the planet harder than the meteorite that eliminated the dinosaurs and thousands of other species. Humans have set in motion what could be the largest mass extinction in the history of the planet -- the Sixth Extinction. But we cannot begin to understand the implications of the Sixth Extinction without an understanding of the tremendous biodiversity that is at stake. This two-volume illustrated set, edited by American Museum of Natural History curator Niles Eldredge, provides a comprehensive layperson's guide to our planet's spectacularly diverse life forms and the systems that support them. Detailed, in-depth entries by top experts include topics such as the earth's ecosystems, from tundra to tropical rain forest, and its major groups of organisms, from angiosperms to viruses; threats to biodiversity, such as pollution, habitat destruction, and alien species -- and suggestions for how we can reduce or prevent the damage; and academic disciplines related to the study of biodiversity, including anthropology, biology, botany, earth science, ecology, evolution, paleontology, phylogeny, population studies, and their study methods. With 200 thoroughly indexed and cross-referenced entries, Life on Earth is almost as all-encompassing as its name. Nowhere else can readers find an accessible, meticulous, and comprehensive portrait of our planet's extraordinary diversity of life and the unprecedented threats it faces.

From the Publisher:

Like the bird whose death signaled dangerous conditions in a mine, the demise of animals that once flourished should give humans pause. How is our fate linked to the earth's creatures, and the cycle of flourishing and extinction? Which are the simple workings of nature's order, and which are omens of ecological disaster? Does human activity accelerate extinction? What really causes it? In an illuminating and elegantly written account of the widespread reduction of the world's wildlife, renowned paleontologist Niles Eldredge poses these questions and examines humankind's role in the larger life cycles of the earth, composing a provocative general theory of extinction.

From the Publisher:

In The Pattern of Evolution, Eldredge offers readers a fascinating view into this window of our world through time. As he and other researchers continue to uncover patterns in their respective fields, and as new disciplines emerge to straddle traditional scientific boundaries, the window grows wider. And some provocative questions arise: Are there connections between the ways the living and nonliving worlds function and evolve? In the aftermath of a tumultuous collision between the earth's biological and physical forces - a tropical storm of tremendous proportions - did the Cecropia tree Eldredge encountered merely survive the devastation, or did the storm clear its way? He examines the history of ideas on evolution from the beginning of the modern scientific era, about two centuries ago, to the present. Seizing on evidence of similar patterns across disciplines, he shows how important issues and events have brought us to the brink of a more comprehensive understanding of the earth. Learning how things work within and between systems is the key to realizing the relation between the world's living and nonliving parts. It is Eldredge's thesis that exploring the connections across systems will lead to the realization that biological evolution is driven by the same underlying forces that have shaped the geology of our planet.

From the Publisher:

Why is there still so much anti-evolution sentiment in the United States at the start of the Third Millennium? Why does the debate that began in 1859, when Charles Darwin successfully established the study of evolution, still rage in 2000? How can America tolerate the continued attack by conservative elements within the Judeo-Christian tradition on the quality of science education when science and its technological offshoots are so essential to our future well being and prosperity?

Niles Eldredge, a leading expert on evolution and the diversity of life, has studied creationism and debated creationists for over two decades. Now, in The Triumph of Evolution, he presents the most up-to-date examination of the creation-evolution confrontation available. In this incisive narrative, he reveals the creationists' basic argument and their strategies for advancing it--including the recent attack on "philosophical naturalism" and emphasis on models of "intelligent design" by creationist Phillip Johnson and his colleagues. He also counters the charges that the study of evolution cannot be scientific or that it leads to the demise of family, religion, and traditional values.

The Triumph of Evolution counters all these arguments with a simple overview of the evolutionary process--and a ringing declaration of the scientific nature of the study of evolution. Eldredge disavows the ongoing dissonance between science and religion and seeks instead a resonance in the pressing issue of catastrophic species loss on Earth. It is a problem that can be solved only if science and the adherents of the world's religious traditions pool their understanding, knowledge, and resources together. Ultimately, The Triumph of Evolution challenges all of us to leave the stale debates of the nineteenth century to confront the vital problems of the new century.

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