Diversity and Evolution of Life: Insights from Early Stratigraphic Records of Major Groups
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Phylogeny and Evolution".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 68
Special Issue Editors
Interests: vertebrate paleobiology; chondrichthyan evolution; stratigraphy; macroevolution; taphonomy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: evolution; vertebrate paleontology; paleoecology; morphology; biogeography
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
An expansion and extension of our understanding of Earth’s life forms through time is occurring at a rapid pace, driving new interpretations of evolutionary patterns and concepts of biodiversity through geologic time. New fossil discoveries are only part of the reason for these new interpretations. Technological and methodological innovations afford us deeper insights, new ways of visualizing data, and an ever-increasing volume and variety of data, all of which are sharpening our ability to resolve paleobiologic data. Paralleling this, a well-resolved global chronostratigraphic scale, including a focus on evolutionary first appearances of taxa, now offers us the ability to fine-tune time constraints on data. Another significant source of under-exploited information derives from legacy natural history collections.
Our intent with this Special Issue is to document and highlight the important new insights in the early evolutionary history of phylogenetic lineages that have been gained or exemplified through the application of these and other innovations in paleontology and related stratigraphic and evolutionary sciences.
Some sample topics to be included are as follows:
- Diversity and evolution of Paleozoic and earlier life forms.
- Diversity and evolution of early invertebrate, vertebrate, and plant lineages.
- Problematic fossils through geologic time: Resolution of phylogenetic affinities and their role in addressing evolutionary history.
- Evolutionary innovations, ecologic breakthroughs, and adaptive radiation events during critical intervals of geologic and biotic history.
Prof. Dr. Charles Ciampaglio
Dr. John Hunter
Prof. Dr. Loren Babcock
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- evolution
- adaptive radiation
- Paleozoic
- Mesozoic
- Cenozoic
- geologic time
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