Named best biology book of the year by Library Journal, Symbiotic Planet describes how symbiosis is the key to understanding the origins of cells, the evolution of sex, the emergence of life on land, and even the physiology of our planet.. In Symbiotic Planet Lynn Margulis shows that symbiosis, which simply means members of different species living in physical contact with one another, is crucial to the origins of evolutionary novelty. Ranging from bacteria to the living Earth itself, Margulis explains the symbiotic origins of many of evolutions 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 and the importance of species classification for how we think about the living world. Written with enthusiasm and authority, this is a book that could change the way you view our living Earth. }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. }
Lynn Margulis is an eminent American biologist, distinguished professor at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and prolific author of accessible and readable books about life, the biology of sex, microbes and Gaia. The
Symbiotic Planet brings together her lifetime work on two major themes, "symbiotic theory" and "Gaia". and sets them in the context of planetary evolution. The book is published as one of a series of "Science Masters", of which a dozen have been published. They are designed to help the popularisation of science and are written by established and well-known scientists. The authors, such as Richard Dawkins (
River out of Eden), Richard Leakey (
The Origin of Humankind) and Lynn Margulis are also known for they ability to communicate their science.
Margulis has spent much of her professional life researching the microcosm of the smallest organisms on Earth, how they evolved and relate to one another. Symbiosis takes place where different species live in close physical contact. Margulis claims: "we are symbionts on a symbiotic planet, and ... we can find symbiosis everywhere". Indeed it is much more prevalent than most people realise, even within our own bodies: "our guts and eyelashes (are) festooned with bacterial and animal symbionts".
Animal and plant cells originated through symbiosis with the permanent incorporation of bacteria in cells as plastids and mitochondria. Margulis has argued that death and sex are essentially linked processes which originated within certain protists. Here she recounts how her ideas developed and how she came to embrace Jim Lovelock's Gaia theory, not any of the cosy or whimsical variants but the one in which "Gaia, a tough bitch, is not at all threatened by humans".
Some of Lynn Margulis's ideas are controversial and, as she recounts here, she has had to struggle at times to be taken seriously, but like Gaia she is remarkably resilient. As this and her other books show, Margulis can well argue her case with laudable conviction. --Douglas Palmer
