In this groundbreaking book, Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan present an answer to one of the enduring mysteries of evolution -- the source of inherited variation that gives rise to new species. Random genetic mutation, long believed to be the main source of variation, is only a marginal factor. As the authors demonstrate in this book, the more important source of speciation, by far, is the acquisition of new genomes by symbiotic merger. The result of thirty years of delving into a vast, mostly arcane literature, this is the first book to go beyond -- and reveal the severe limitations of -- the "Modern Synthesis" that has dominated evolutionary biology for almost three generations. Lynn Margulis, whom E. O. Wilson called "one of the most successful synthetic thinkers in modern biology," and her co-author Dorion Sagan have written a comprehensive and scientifically supported presentation of a theory that directly challenges the assumptions we hold about the variety of the living world.
ISBN-13: 9780465043927
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication Date: 06-11-2003
Pages: 256
Product Dimensions: 5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Lynn Margulis, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1983. She is best known for her pathbreaking work on the bacterial origins of cell organelles and for her collaboration with James Lovelock on Gaia theory. Her previous books include Symbiosis in Cell Evolution; Five Kingdoms (with K. V. Schwartz); and (with Dorion Sagan) Origins of Sex, Garden of Microbial Delights, What Is Life?, What Is Sex?, and Slanted Truths: Essays on Gaia, Symbiosis and Evolution. Dorion Sagan is the author of Biospheres and the co-author of Up from Dragons: The Evolution of Human Intelligence. He lives in New York City.
Table of Contents
|
Foreword |
xi |
|
Preface |
xv |
| Part 1 |
The Evolutionary Imperative |
|
| 1 |
Darwinism Not Neodarwinism |
3 |
| 2 |
Darwin's Dilemma |
25 |
| 3 |
Relative Individuality |
51 |
| 4 |
The Natural Selector |
67 |
| 5 |
Principles of Evolutionary Novelty |
71 |
| Part 2 |
The Microbe in Evolution |
|
| 6 |
Species and Cells |
81 |
| 7 |
History of the Heritable |
89 |
| Part 3 |
Planetary Legacy |
|
| 8 |
Gaian Planet |
123 |
| 9 |
Eukaryosis in an Anoxic World |
139 |
| Part 4 |
Consortia |
|
| 10 |
Seaworthy Alliances |
165 |
| 11 |
Plant Proclivities |
185 |
| 12 |
Chromosome Dance: The Fission Theory |
191 |
| 13 |
Darwin Revisited: Species in the Evolutionary Dialogue |
201 |
|
Glossary |
207 |
|
References |
219 |
|
Acknowledgments |
225 |
|
Index |
229 |
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