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Isotopic Approaches to Understanding the Terrestrial-to-Marine Transition of the Earliest Cetaceans

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The Emergence of Whales

Part of the book series: Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology ((AIVP,volume 1))

Abstract

The fossil record is replete with examples of evolutionary transitions between marine and freshwater environments, in both directions. Perhaps the most striking and best documented example of such a transition is the evolution of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) from the extinct group of terrestrial mammals called mesonychians. This transition, first hypothesized by Van Valen (1966), occurred in the temporally and geographically restricted setting of the Paleogene remnant Tethyan epicontinental sea (Gingerich et al., 1983) and adjacent terrestrial ecosystems. These environments lay in the zone of convergence between the Indian Plate and southern Eurasia during the early stages of the continent-continent collision that ultimately produced the Himalayas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Ecosystem Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    Lois J. Roe

  2. Department of Anatomy, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, Ohio, 44272, USA

    J. G. M. Thewissen

  3. Desert Laboratory and Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA

    Jay Quade

  4. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    James R. O’Neil

  5. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Roorkee, Roorkee, 247667, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Sunil Bajpai

  6. Centre for Advanced Studies in Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160-014, India

    Ashok Sahni

  7. Department of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, D.C., 20059, USA

    S. Taseer Hussain

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  1. Lois J. Roe
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  1. Department of Anatomy, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, Ohio, 44272, USA

    J. G. M. Thewissen

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Roe, L.J. et al. (1998). Isotopic Approaches to Understanding the Terrestrial-to-Marine Transition of the Earliest Cetaceans. In: Thewissen, J.G.M. (eds) The Emergence of Whales. Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0159-0_14

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