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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Applied ecology > Biodiversity
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Complexity - The Evolution of Earth's Biodiversity and the Future of Humanity (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R478
Discovery Miles 4 780
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Complexity - The Evolution of Earth's Biodiversity and the Future of Humanity (Hardcover)
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List price R574
Loot Price R478
Discovery Miles 4 780
You Save R96 (17%)
Supplier out of stock. If you add this item to your wish list we will let you know when it becomes available.
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This very readable overview of natural history explores the
dynamics that have made our planet so rich in biodiversity over
time and supported the rise and dominance of our own species.
Tracing the arc of evolutionary history, biologist William C.
Burger shows that cooperation and symbiosis have played a critical
role in the ever increasing complexity of life on earth. Life may
have started from the evolution of cooperating organic molecules,
which outpaced their noncooperating neighbors. A prime example of
symbiosis was the early incorporation of mitochondria into the
eukaryotic cell (through a process called "endosymbiosis"). This
event gave these cells a powerful new source of energy. Later,
cooperation was again key when millions to trillions of individual
eukaryotic cells eventually came together to build the unitary
structures of large plants and animals. And cooperation between
individuals of the same species resulted in complex animal
societies, such as ant colonies and bee hives. Turning to our own
species, the author argues that our ability to cooperate, along
with incessant inter-group conflict, has driven the advancement of
cultures, the elaboration of our technologies, and made us the most
"invasive" species on the planet. But our very success has now
become a huge problem, as our world dominion threatens the future
of the biosphere and confronts us with a very uncertain future.
Thought-provoking and full of fascinating detail, this eloquently
told story of life on earth and our place within it presents a
grand perspective and raises many important questions.
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