Humans have "gone underground" for survival for thousands of years,
from underground cities in Turkey to Cold War-era bunkers. But our
burrowing roots go back to the very beginnings of animal life on
earth. Without burrowing, the planet would be very different today.
Many animal lineages alive now-including our own-only survived a
cataclysmic meteorite strike 65 million years ago because they went
underground. On a grander scale, the chemistry of the planet itself
had already been transformed many millions of years earlier by the
first animal burrows, which altered whole ecosystems. Every day we
walk on an earth filled with an under-ground wilderness teeming
with life. Most of this life stays hidden, yet these animals and
their subterranean homes are ubiquitous, ranging from the deep sea
to mountains, from the equator to the poles. Burrows are a refuge
from predators, a safe home for raising young, or a tool to ambush
prey. Burrows also protect animals against all types of natural
disasters: fires, droughts, storms, meteorites, global warmings-and
coolings. In a book filled with spectacularly diverse fauna,
acclaimed paleontologist and ichnologist Anthony Martin reveals
this fascinating, hidden world that will continue to influence and
transform life on this planet.
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My review
Wed, 30 May 2018 | Review
by: Tanya K.
In this book, ichnologist Anthony J. Martin takes a look at how burrowing animals have evolved and influenced the ecology of this planet. Martin starts off with alligators and gopher tortoises, ancient subterranean human settlements in Turkey and more modern underground Cold War bunkers, then travels through time to see what trace evidence and fossils prehistoric animals have left for burrowing behaviour - everything from the first worms, the first vertebrates and invertebrates, insects, dinosaurs, birds, penguins, giant ground sloths, crabs, shrimp, moles, gophers, earthworms and more.
Martin shows that burrowing animals are ecosystem engineers that alter their habitats through burrowing action. He provides a fascinating eye-opening account of earth altering underground activities that effect the flora and fauna that exist on the surface of the planet.
Martin also theorises that burrowing strategies of prehistoric and contemporary animals help in their survival during catastrophes and the survival of their species, and thus their evolutionary development, after the catastrophes. Afterall, burrows provide shelter and protection, a reduction in extreme temperature fluctuations, minimized dessication during droughts, safe places to procreate and raise young, and on occassion food storage facilities. Martin compares the survivors of major prehistoric catastrophes with the survivors of minor modern catastrophes, using examples like the pocket gophers that were hibernating during the eruption of Mt St. Helens. The sleeping pocket gophers awoke to found an ash and lava covered landscape with minimal food, but due to a shortage in predators and a full storage larder, the gophers survived, prospered and also helped with seed dispersal and soil movement.
Martin is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about his subject. This book adds a new perspective to evolution, extinction and ecosystem engineering. There are 85 pages of note references, a whole wad of colour photographs/ illustrations, and a list of genera and species mentioned in the book. The writing style manages to lively, fun, on the odd occasion amusing, and informative at the same time.
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