Douglas Erwin
Paper #: 05-07-032
The level of achievable stratigraphic resolution determines the nature of the ecological, evolutionary and geological questions for which a reasonable answer may be expected. Advances in correlation techniques and in high-resolution radiometric dating and their integration with the fossil record through quantitative biostratigraphy and potential orbital cyclicity now allows many questions to be extended into deep time. “How fast, as a matter of fact, do animals evolve in nature? That is the fundamental observational problem of tempo in evolution. It is the first question the geneticist asks the paleontologist. Some attempt to answer it is a necessary preliminary for the whole consideration of tempo and mode” (Simpson 1944: p. 3).