Symbiotic Planet: A New Look At Evolution (Science Masters Series) [Hardcover]

Lynn Margulis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0465072712 | ISBN-13: 978-0465072712 | Edition: 1st

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. 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the origin of life to the classification and phylogeny of living organisms, from a discussion of GaiaAthe belief that Earth operates like a living beingAto a discussion of the underlying reasons for sex, iconoclastic biologist Margulis (coauthor, What Is Sex?, etc.) takes on many of the big questions in biology in this small, rambling and informal tract. In a book that is part autobiography and part biological primer, MargulisAthe scientist most responsible for the theory that animal and plant cells originally arose by combining with simple bacteriaAadvances the idea that a large part of organic evolution can be explained by symbiosis, "the living together in physical contact of organisms of different species." Rather than convincing readers of this theory, however, she seems content to lavish most of her attention on basic biological concepts. While Margulis conveys a sense of the wondrous and intricate origins of life, many of the issues she touches upon here are more clearly and comprehensively dealt with in her other works. 11 b&w illustrations.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

For 30 years, the Gaia theory of life on Earth has remained vital, dynamic, and controversial. One of its leading advocates provides a synthesis and overview of the current status of the theory, plus a few important new ideas of her own.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st edition (October 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465072712
• ISBN-13: 978-0465072712
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #763,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, received the 1999 National Medal of Science from President Bill Clinton. She has been a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences since 1983 and of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences since 1997. Author, editor, or coauthor of chapters in more than forty books, she has published or been profiled in many journals, magazines, and books, among them Natural History, Science, Nature, New England Watershed, Scientific American, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science Firsts, and The Scientific 100. She has made numerous contributions to the primary scientific literature of microbial evolution and cell biology.

Margulis's theory of species evolution by symbiogenesis, put forth in Acquiring Genomes (co-authored with Dorion Sagan, 2002), describes how speciation does not occur by random mutation alone but rather by symbiotic d©tente. Behavioral, chemical, and other interactions often lead to integration among organisms, members of different taxa. In well-documented cases some mergers create new species. Intimacy, physical contact of strangers, becomes part of the engine of life's evolution that accelerates the process of change. Margulis works in the laboratory and field with many other scientists and students to show how specific ancient partnerships, in a given order over a billion years, generated the cells of the species we see with our unaided eyes.The fossil record, in fact, does not show Darwin's predicted gradual changes between closely related species but rather the "punctuated equilibrium" pattern described by Eldredge and Gould: a jump from one to a different species.

She has worked on the "revolution in evolution" since she was a graduate student. Over the past fifteen years, Margulis has cowritten several books with Dorion Sagan, among them What is Sex? (1997), What is Life? (1995), Mystery Dance: On the Evolution of Human Sexuality (1991), Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Evolution from Our Microbial Ancestors (1986), and Origins of Sex:Three Billion Years of Genetic Recombination (1986).

Her work with K.V. Schwartz provides a consistent formal classification of all life on Earth and has lead to the third edition of Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth (1998). Their classification scheme was generated from scientific results of myriad colleagues and its logical-genealogical basis is summarized in her single-authored book Symbiosis in Cell Evolution: Microbial Communities in the Archean and Proterozoic Eons (second edition, 1993). The bacterial origins of both chloroplasts and mitochondria are now well established. Currently, with colleagues and students, she explores the possible origin of cilia from spirochetes.

Since the mid-1970s, Margulis has aided James E. Lovelock, FRS, in documenting his Gaia Theory, which posits that the Earth's surface interactions among living beings, rocks and soil, air and water have created a vast, self-regulating system. From the vantage of outer space the Earth looks like an amazing being; from the vantage of biochemistry it behaves in many ways like a giant organism.

Photo by Luis Rico

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Especially recommended for Margulis fans but not her best, January 14, 2001

By 

David R. Downes (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Symbiotic Planet: A New Look At Evolution (Paperback)

I am a great admirer of the author, who is one of the most creative biologists alive today, and a tireless popularizer of the brilliant and exciting ideas that define her career. For fans like me, this book is a must, as it offers tidbits about the author's life, including her marriage to Carl Sagan. It is also valuable in that it seeks to respond to criticisms of the Gaia hypothesis. But for those new to Margulis' work, I would recommend starting with Microcosmos, which she wrote with her son Dorion Sagan, a truly wonderful book that everyone interested in biology or the environment should have on their shelves. If Microcosmos doesn't grab you, don't bother with Symbiotic Planet. If it does grab you, then you'll probably want to go on to this book and others by Margulis.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The autobiography of an idea, December 24, 2002

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Symbiotic Planet: A New Look At Evolution (Paperback)

Some years ago, Margulis promoted a new concept in evolution. Complex life developed from the merging of microbial forms of life. Elements of the cell such as mitochondria, chloroplasts and other organelles came from small, simple lifeforms invading larger cells. The idea was a long time in gaining acceptance, but is now part of conventional evolutionary texts. In this book, she expands her earlier work with some accounts of her life as a scientist and wife of Carl Sagan. She also goes beyond her earlier work to advance a new thesis on the accelerator of evolution - sex. While many of her ideas are presented in more detail elsewhere, this book is a good, quick introduction to fuller accounts of her thinking.

Margulis is an innovator - forceful in imparting her ideas. She portrays herself as a rebel from early in her career, arguing here that she was sceptical of "genes in the nucleus determin[ing] all the characteristics of plants and animals." Her misgivings received scant support, however, without a replacement thesis. She found one in symbiosis - the association of multiple organisms. It took many years of investigation, including initial rejection of her attempts to publish, before the idea of SET [Serial Endoymbiosis Theory] found acceptance. So much attention had been focussed the DNA in the cell nucleus that organelle structure and function had been essentially overlooked as irrelevant. That these organelles might have been independent organisms at some point was too novel. Her account of the struggle to gain recognition is related as one of dogged persistence, nearly devoid of outside support .

Moving through an interesting discussion of life's origins, she dismisses the notion that forms of nucleic acids arose before simple cells. She finds the natural occurence of lipids [fats] as the more likely precursors of complex life, with RNA and DNA arising as a way to give these fat globules more survival ability. As with her earlier thesis, this one will generate controversy, something Margulis seems nutured on.

Her proposal about the emergence of sex will come as a surprise to most readers. In a word, she suggests sex resulting from cannibalism. In Margulis' view, certain microbes under stress, notably the absence of food, turned on each other for survival. The cannibalism was not always fully consummated, she suggests, but the beginnings of mixing genetic material was begun in the process. Incomplete cannibalism could lead to the formation of a new, more complex organism. If this process occurred often enough within a compatible group, the new organism, obviously larger than its predecessors, would be more fit to compete.

In conclusion, Margulis makes a strong case in favour of James Lovelock's Gaia concept. This might have been a non-sequitor in the hands of someone less able to deal with novel ideas. Margulis stresses that Gaia has been mistakenly viewed as Earth's biosphere acting as a single organism. She argues that Gaia really means a global network - a "system of organisms." The Gaia concept means the elements of the "system" are tightly entangled and extinctions weaken the structure. If the extinction rate exceeds the rate of recovery the system is endangered. It's interesting to note in light of her definition that the Gaia website still refers to it as a "superorganism," not a "system of organisms." This disparity doesn't detract from Margulis' presentation, which is admirably presented. She offers enough graphic support for the text to clarify or enhance her themes. In all, this is a fine mind-opener in thinking about the development of early life. Readable by anyone interested in life's history and processes.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent summary with a few flaws, August 10, 1999

By 

Jeffrey Bickart (Craftsbury, VT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Symbiotic Planet: A New Look At Evolution (Science Masters Series) (Hardcover)

Readable in a few hours, this book gives a quick introduction to a concept tremendously important to understanding the evolution on life on earth. I would have liked more extensive discussion of SET, with respect to the protoctists; the recognition of the development of these organisms from the symbiosis of various bacteria laid the groundwork for the understanding of symbiotic relationships in plants, animals, and fungi, which Margulis discusses in later chapters, yet the details of it take only a couple early chapters. Other volumes in this series are longer (some 170 pp.), and this one could have been, too. The clarification of "the Gaia hypothesis," in the last chapter, is very strong, and welcome; undergirding it is Margulis's insistence (throughout the book) on unsentimental and rigorous scientific thinking. The book does contain flaws. Editorial errors show a lack of careful proofreading (e.g., the date of the rediscovery of Mendel's work is given as 1990). Many sentences would have benefitted from more use of commas. More illustrations (e.g., of the structures of cells and organelles, mitosis, and meiosis) and summary equations for various metabolic processes, as well as a glossary, would make the book more accessible and useful to those who retain only a hazy knowledge (and that probably out-dated) of these things. Finally, Margulis takes too much the stance of the battered, then embraced and finally vindicated iconoclast, and seems rather too smug (as when she refers to "my SET theory"). It's just not attractive, and could have been toned down; it's obvious that she's brilliant. My criticisms, however, are relatively minor, and I recommend this book enthusiastically.