An outline history of tropical organic reefs. American Museum novitates ; no. 2465

Abstract

"Organic reefs, especially shallow-water coral reefs of warm seas, are built by stable communities of organisms in a narrow adaptive zone of low stress. They have an extraordinarily good fossil record that may be applied to broad problems of evolution of the tropical marine biota and ancillary questions about past climates and changing distributions of land and sea over more than one-half billion years of earth history. This essay is an attempt at a synopsis through the eyes of a paleobiologist of some of the existing episodes in the history of the world's oceans and their organisms. The reef community is well suited for a leading role in this history"--P. [1].