Approaches to the analysis of faunal change during the East African Pliocene -- Environmental hypotheses of Pliocene human evolution -- African Pliocene and Pleistocene cercopithecid evolution and global climatic change -- Patterns of change in the Plio-Pleistocene carnivorans of eastern Africa -- Stratigraphic variation in Suidae from the Shungura Formation and some coeval deposits -- Patterns of abundance and diversity in late Cenozoic bovids from the Turkana and Hadar Basins, Kenya and Ethiopia -- Comparability of fossil data and its significance for the interpretation of hominin environments -- The effects of collection strategy and effort on faunal recovery -- Serengeti micromammals and their implications for Olduvai paleoenvironments -- Taphonomy and paleoecological context of the Upper Laetolil Beds (Localities 8 and 9), Laetoli in northern Tanzania -- The paleoecology of the Upper Laetolil Beds at Laetoli -- Fauna, taphonomy, and ecology of the Plio-Pleistocene Chiwondo Beds, Northern Malawi -- Finale and future.

This volume brings together faunal analysts working at many sites spanning the East African Pliocene. Although most chapters focus on the vertebrate fauna of particular localities, authors take a broad approach that seeks to compare paleoenvironmental and paleoecological patterns across localities and among various taxonomic groups. This volume aims to synthesize large amounts of faunal data, and to present the evolution of East African vertebrates in the context of environmental and climatic changes during the Pliocene.