An edition of The symbiotic planet (1996)

Symbiotic planet

a new look at evolution

1st ed.
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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 15, 2024 | History
An edition of The symbiotic planet (1996)

Symbiotic planet

a new look at evolution

1st ed.
  • 5.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 9 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 2 Have read

Although Charles Darwin's 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 largest - the living Earth itself - Margulis explains the symbiotic origins of many of evolution's most important innovations.

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.

Publish Date
Publisher
Basic Books
Language
English
Pages
147

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Symbiotic Planet
Symbiotic Planet : A New Look at Evolution (Science Masters Series)
March 2000, Basic Books
in English
Cover of: Symbiotic planet
Symbiotic planet: a new look at evolution
1998, Basic Books
in English - 1st ed.
Cover of: The symbiotic planet
The symbiotic planet: a new look at evolution.
1996, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion Publishing Group, Limited
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-136) and index.

Published in
New York
Series
Science masters

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
576.8/5
Library of Congress
QH548 .M35 1998, QH548 .M35 1999

The Physical Object

Pagination
vi, 147 p. :
Number of pages
147

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL376954M
Internet Archive
symbioticplanetn00marg
ISBN 10
0465072712
LCCN
98038921
OCLC/WorldCat
98038921, 39700477
Library Thing
71858
Goodreads
2443597

First Sentence

"Symbiosis, the system in which members of different species live in physical contact, strikes us as an arcane concept and a specialized biological term."

Work Description

Although Charles Darwin's theory of evolution laid the foundations of modern biology, it did not tell the whole story. Most remarkably, <I>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 largest -- the living Earth itself -- Margulis explains the symbiotic origins of many of evolution's most important innovations. The very cells we're made of started as symbiotic unions of different kinds of bacteria. Sex -- and its inevitable corollary, death -- arose 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 Earth's 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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History

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July 15, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
March 7, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
January 9, 2023 Edited by HopeEvey Copied description from The Storygraph
March 3, 2021 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from Scriblio MARC record