Steven M. Stanley (born November 2, 1941) is an American

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life for ...

at the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. He is best known for his empirical research documenting the evolutionary process of

punctuated equilibrium In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of ...

in the fossil record.

Biography

Stanley received his Ph.D. from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

in 1968. For most of his career he taught

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

(1969-2005). In 1977 Stanley was awarded the Paleontological Society's

Charles Schuchert Award The Charles Schuchert Award is presented by the Paleontological Society to a person under 40 whose work reflects excellence and promise in the science of paleontology. The award was made in honor of Charles Schuchert (1858 – 1942), an American ...

which is presented "to a person under 40 whose work reflects excellence and promise in the science of paleontology."Paleontological Society (2009)
"Paleontological Society: Awardees."
Retrieved on 2009-6-22. In 2007 he was awarded the Society's

Paleontological Society Medal The Paleontological Society Medal is an award given by the Paleontological Society to a person whose eminence is based on advancement of knowledge in paleontology.Paleontology Society Medal information page https://www.paleosoc.org/paleontological ...

, which is "awarded to a person whose eminence is based on advancement of knowledge in paleontology." In 2006 Stanley was awarded the

Mary Clark Thompson Medal The Mary Clark Thompson Medalis awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for most important service to geology and paleontology." Named after Mary Clark Thompson and first awarded in 1921, it was originally presented every three years toget ...

by the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

and in 2008 the

William H. Twenhofel Medal The William H. Twenhofel Medal is the highest award given by the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM). It was instituted in memory of William H. Twenhofel and is awarded annually to a person for his or her "Outstanding Contributions to Sedimentar ...

by the

Society for Sedimentary Geology The Society for Sedimentary Geology is an international not-for-profit, scientific society based in Oklahoma. It is commonly referred to by its acronym SEPM, which refers to its former name, the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists. ...

. In 1972 Stanley developed the Predation Hypothesis to explain the evolution of novelties in the

Cambrian explosion The Cambrian explosion, Cambrian radiation, Cambrian diversification, or the Biological Big Bang refers to an interval of time approximately in the Cambrian Period when practically all major animal phyla started appearing in the fossil record. ...

. Stanley proposed that

predation Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

stimulated prey animals to evolve defenses such as shells, rapid swimming, and burrowing. These strategies also opened new avenues of evolution through functional shifts. Hard shells allowed for filter feeding, and deep burrowing allowed animals to gain new access to food resources.Ward, P. D. (2004). '' Rare Earth''. New York: Springer
p. 149.
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Bibliography

*Stanley, S. M. (1973)
"An Ecological Theory for the Sudden Origin of Multicellular Life in the Late Precambrian."
''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.'' 70 (May 1): 1486-1489. *Stanley, S. M. (1975)
"A theory of evolution above the species level."
''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.'' 72 (Feb 1): 646-650. *Stanley, S. M. (1978). "

Chronospecies A chronospecies is a species derived from a sequential development pattern that involves continual and uniform changes from an extinct ancestral form on an evolutionary scale. The sequence of alterations eventually produces a population that is p ...

' longevities, the origin of genera, and the punctuational model of evolution." ''Paleobiology'' 4 (1): 26-40. *Stanley, S. M. (1979). ''Macroevolution: Pattern and Process''. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman. *Stanley, S. M. (1981). ''The New Evolutionary Timetable''. New York: Basic Books. *Stanley, S. M. (1985). "Rates of evolution." ''

Paleobiology Paleobiology (or palaeobiology) is an interdisciplinary field that combines the methods and findings found in both the earth sciences and the life sciences. Paleobiology is not to be confused with geobiology, which focuses more on the interactio ...

'' 11 (1): 13-26. *Stanley, S. M. (1987). ''Extinction''. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman. *Stanley, S. M. (1987). "The controversy over punctuational evolution." ''Geol. Soc. Amer. Abstr. with Progr.'' 19: 854. *Stanley, S. M. (1992). "The Empirical Case for the Punctuational Model of Evolution." In A. Somit and S. Peterson. ''The Dynamics of Evolution''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. *Stanley, S. M. (1996). ''Children of the Ice Age''. New York: Harmony Books. *Stanley, S. M. (2000)
"The past climate change heats up."
''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.'' 97 (Feb. 15): 1319. *Stanley, S. M. (2008). ''Earth System History''. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman. *Raup, S. M. and S. M. Stanley (1971). ''Principles of Paleontology''. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman. *Stanley, S. M. and Xiangning Yang (1987) "Approximate evolutionary stasis for bivalve morphology over millions of years." ''Paleobiology'' 13: 113-139.

Notes

External links

Curriculum vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Steven M. 1941 births American paleontologists Evolutionary biologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Johns Hopkins University faculty University of Hawaiʻi faculty Living people Punctuated equilibrium