Although Charles Darwins theory of evolution laid the
foundations of modern biology, it did not tell the whole
story. Most remarkably, The Origin of Species said very
little about, of all things, the origins of species.
Darwin and his modern successors have shown very
convincingly how inherited variations are naturally
selected, but they leave unanswered how variant
organisms come to be in the first place. In Symbiotic
Planet, renowned scientist Lynn Margulis shows that
symbiosis, which simply means members of different
species living in physical contact with each other, is
crucial to the origins of evolutionary novelty. Ranging
from bacteria, the smallest kinds of life, to the
largestthe living Earth itselfMargulis explains the
symbiotic origins of many of evolutions most important
innovations. The very cells were made of started as
symbiotic unions of different kinds of bacteria. Sexand
its inevitable corollary, deatharose when failed
attempts at cannibalism resulted in seasonally repeated
mergers of some of our tiniest ancestors. Dry land
became forested only after symbioses of algae and fungi
evolved into plants.Since all living things are bathed
by the same waters and atmosphere, all the inhabitants
of Earth belong to a symbiotic union. Gaia, the finely
tuned largest ecosystem of the Earths surface, is just
symbiosis as seen from space. Along the way, Margulis
describes her initiation into the world of science and
the early steps in the present revolution in
evolutionary biology; the importance of species
classification for how we think about the living world;
and the way academic apartheid can block scientific
advancement. Written with enthusiasm and authority, this
is a book that could change the way you view our living
Earth. |
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