Palaeontologists must model the causes of biodiversity rather than simply cataloguing fossils, says Douglas Erwin, as they curate the only record of ecosystems undamaged by humans.
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See Editorial, page 251 , biodiversity special at http://www.nature.com/darwin and palaeontology podcast at http://go.nature.com/UuNpgJ
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Erwin, D. A call to the custodians of deep time. Nature 462, 282–283 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/462282a
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