Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of Paleontology

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by RAINGER, R. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

SUBTLE AGENTS FOR CHANGE: THE JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY, J. MARVIN WELLER, AND SHIFTING EMPHASES IN INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, 1930–1965

¹ Department of History, Texas Tech University, Lubbock 79409-1013

Through an examination of the contents of the Journal of Paleontology (JP), this paper traces the growing interest in biological problems in mid twentieth-century invertebrate paleontology. While noting the continued dominance of descriptive morphology and systematics, the paper tracks the increasing attention paid to paleoecology, evolution and geographic distribution, and quantitative methods. An analysis of the debate over the relative importance of biology and geology for paleontology, and J. Marvin Weller's evolving views on the subject, further illustrate the main point. Neither Weller nor JP initiated the interest in biological questions, but both played an important role in bringing new developments to the attention of the paleontology community.