To Johannes Mayr, whose Grace, Heart and Intelligence inspired this work ... rayappa a. kasi an appeal to save life on earth united nations international year of biodiversity 2010 LTD Media Publications, Chennai, India © Copyright LTD Media All rights reserved. This book is printed in India. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Contact Address: Rayappa A. Kasi, A. Kattupadi, Vellore – 632011, India. Email –
[email protected] Mobile Phone - 09443537885 Earth - Designed for Biodiversity. Life will find a Way! Day of Publication 15.8.2010 LTD Media Publication, Chennai, India Other Publications from the Author: Earth-The Lost Paradise of Happiness, 2009 Global Warming - Everything you want to know! , 2010 Biosphere - The Fragility of Our Natural Heritage, 2010 Lithosphere - A Destructive Creator, 2010 Hydrosphere - The Giver of Life, 2010 Atmosphere – A Thin Line Between Life and Death, 2010 Front Jacket Illustration: Picture of Trilobite – Trilobites means “three lobed,” and they are extinct, exclusively marine arthropods, known fondly to everybody who has read much about fossils. In size, they ranged from a few millimeters to more than 60 cm, and are among the most common fossils— and the most distinctive index fossils—of their time. They appear suddenly in great abundance in the Cambrian, and evolved into a wonderful diversity, particularly during the Ordovician, 450 million years ago before gradually dwindling away towards extinction some 300 million years later, in the Permian. An understanding of their history is central to any hypothesis of the development of the marine biosphere during the early Paleozoic.