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.

This is an edited record of the dialogue of eminent scientists attending the fourth conference in the series of the origins of life, supported by a grant from the Biosciences Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Admini stration. The first conference at Princeton, 1967, was held under the direc tion of Dr. Frank Fremont-Smith at the time when the Interdisciplinary Co m munications Program (lCP) was associated with the New York Academy of Sciences. In 1968, ICP was integrated into the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Science of the Smithsonian Institution, and the entire operation was set up in Washington, D. C. The second conference, also in Princeton, was held in 1968 and the third was in Santa Ynez, California in 1970. (See Margulis, ed. 1970, 1971 and 1972 for previously published proceedings.) The fourth conference was held at the Belmont Conference Center in Elkridge, Maryland, April 13-16, 1971. The proceedings are recorded and edited by the Interdisciplinary Com munications Associates, Inc. (lCA, a nonprofit foundation), for ICP. Dr. Lynn Margulis, who served as Scientific Editor for the entire series, has succeeded admirably in carrying out a difficult and usually inadequately appreciated task. She was ably assisted in her offices by Barbara Miranda and Harriet Eklund, the ICP Staff Editor for this series. I am grateful to all."

This is an edited record of the dialogue of eminent scientists attending the third conference in the series on the Origins of Life, supported by a grant from the Biosciences Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad ministration. The first conference at Princeton, 1967, was held under the direction of Dr. Frank Fremont-Smith at the time when the Interdisciplinary Communications Program (ICP) was associated with the New York Academy of Sciences. was integrated into the Office of the Assistant Secretary for In 1968, ICP Science of the Smithsonian Institution, and the entire operation was set up in Washington, D.C. The second conference, also in Princeton, was held in 1968. (See Margulis, ed. 1970 and 1971 for previously published proceed ings.) The third conference was held at Santa Ynez, California, Feb. 27 - March I, 1970. The proceedings are recorded and edited by the Interdisciplinary Communi cations Associates, Inc. (lCA, a nonprofit foundation), for ICP. Dr. Lynn Margulis, the Scientific Editor of the series, has been assisted by Barbara Miranda. Harriet Eklund is the ICP Staff Editor. ICA was formed to encourage effective interchange and interaction among the various scientific and social disciplines and to aid in the solutions of scien tific and social problems. Currently its primary concern is with assisting ICP. M. C. Shelesnyak, Ph.D. Director, Interdisciplinary Communications Program Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C."

Now published by "Academic Press" and revised from the author's previous "Five Kingdoms, Third Edition", this extraordinary, all inclusive catalogue of the world's living organisms describes the diversity of the major groups, or phyla, of nature's most inclusive taxa. Developed after consultation with specialists, this modern classification scheme is consistent both with the fossil record and with recent molecular, morphological and metabolic data. Generously illustrated, now in full color, "Kingdoms and Domains" is remarkably easy to read. It accesses the full range of life forms that still inhabit our planet and logically and explicitly classifies them according to their evolutionary relationships. Definitive characteristics of each phylum are professionally described in ways that, unlike most scientific literature, profoundly respect the needs of educators, students and nature lovers. This work is meant to be of interest to all evolutionists as well as to conservationists, ecologists, genomicists, geographers, microbiologists, museum curators, oceanographers, paleontologists and, especially nature lovers whether artists, gardeners or environmental activists. "Kingdoms and Domains" is a unique and indispensable reference for anyone intrigued by a planetary phenomenon: the spectacular diversity of life, both microscopic and macroscopic, as we know it only on Earth today. This work also carries: new foreword by Edward O. Wilson; the latest concepts of molecular systematics, symbiogenesis, and the evolutionary importance of microbes; newly expanded chapter openings that define each kingdom and place its members in context in geological time and ecological space; definitions of terms in the glossary and throughout the book; ecostrips, illustrations that place organisms in their most likely environments such as deep sea vents, tropical forests, deserts or hot sulfur springs; and, a new table that compares features of the most inclusive taxa. This book shows an application of a logical, authoritative, inclusive and coherent overall classification scheme based on evolutionary principles.

This title is back in print with a revised preface. "Microcosmos" brings together the remarkable discoveries of microbiology of the past two decades and the pioneering research of Dr. Margulis to create a vivid new picture of the world that is crucial to our understanding of the future of the planet. Addressed to general readers, the book provides a beautifully written view of evolution as a process based on interdependency and their interconnectedness of all life on the planet.

"Lynn Margulis is one of the most successful synthetic thinkers in modern biology. This collection of her work, enhanced by essays co-authored with Dorion Sagan, is a welcome introduction to the full breadth of her many contributions." EDWARD O. WILSON, AUTHOR OF THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE "An important contribution to the history of the 20th century. Read it and you will taste the flavor of real science." JAMES LOVELOCK, AUTHOR OF GAIA: A NEW LOOK AT LIFE ON EARTH "Truly inspirational and of fundamental importance. This thoughtful series of essays on some of the largest questions concerning the nature of life on earth deserves careful study."PETER RAVEN, MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

Scientists elucidate the astounding collective sensory capacity of Earth and its evolution through time. Chimeras and Consciousness begins the inquiry into the evolution of the collective sensitivities of life. Scientist-scholars from a range of fields-including biochemistry, cell biology, history of science, family therapy, genetics, microbial ecology, and primatology-trace the emergence and evolution of consciousness. Complex behaviors and the social imperatives of bacteria and other life forms during 3,000 million years of Earth history gave rise to mammalian cognition. Awareness and sensation led to astounding activities; millions of species incessantly interacted to form our planet's complex conscious system. Our planetmates, all of them conscious to some degree, were joined only recently by us, the aggressive modern humans. From social bacteria to urban citizens, all living beings participate in community life. Nested inside families within communities inside ecosystems, each metabolizes, takes in matter, expends energy, and excretes. Each of the members of our own and other species, in groups with incessantly shifting alliances, receives and processes information. Mergers of radically different life forms with myriad purposes-the "chimeras" of the title-underlie dramatic metamorphosis and other positive evolutionary change. Since early bacteria avoided, produced, and eventually used oxygen, Earth's sensory systems have expanded and complexified. The provocative essays in this book, going far beyond science but undergirded by the finest science, serve to put sensitive, sensible life in its cosmic context.

This Sophisticated Coloring Book Is A Beautifully Detailed Illustration Of The World's Living Diversity. It Is Written For Science Students, Teachers, And Anyone Else Who Is Curious About The Extraordinary Variety Of Living Things That Inhabit This Planet. It Opens With An Introduction To The Classification Systems, Distinctions Between Prokaryotic And Eukaryotic Cells, An Introduction To Life Cycles, Earth History, And An Explanation Of How To Best Use This Coloring Book. The Next Section Is Organized By Communities In Which The Organisms Live. The Final Section Details The Variety Of Major Groupings - Phyla - Within Each Kingdom And Shows How The Organisms In Each Are Distinguished From One Other. This Coloring Book Gives A Visual Understanding Of The Enormous Diversity Of Life On This Planet And Will Be An Enlightening And Educational Resource For Students From A Variety Of Backgrounds.

These original contributions by symbiosis biologists and evolutionary theorists address the adequacy of the prevailing neo-Darwinian concept of evolution in the light of growing evidence that hereditary symbiosis, supplemented by the gradual accumulation of heritable mutation, results in the origin of new species and morphological novelty. A departure from mainstream biology, the idea of symbiosis-as in the genetic and metabolic interactions of the bacterial communities that became the earliest eukaryotes and eventually evolved into plants and animals-has attracted the attention of a growing number of scientists. These original contributions by symbiosis biologists and evolutionary theorists address the adequacy of the prevailing neo-Darwinian concept of evolution in the light of growing evidence that hereditary symbiosis, supplemented by the gradual accumulation of heritable mutation, results in the origin of new species and morphological novelty. They include reports of current research on the evolutionary consequences of symbiosis, the protracted physical association between organisms of different species. Among the issues considered are individuality and evolution, microbial symbioses, animal bacterial symbioses, and the importance of symbiosis in cell evolution, ecology, and morphogenesis. Lynn Margulis, Distinguished Professor of Botany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is the modern originator of the symbiotic theory of cell evolution. Once considered heresy, her ideas are now part of the microbiological revolution. Contributors Peter Atsatt, Richard C. Back, David Bermudes, Paola Bonfante-Fasolo, Rene Fester, Lynda J. Goff, Anne-Marie Grenier, Ricardo Guerrero, Robert H. Haynes, Rosmarie Honegger, Gregory Hinkle, Kwang W. Jeon, Bryce Kendrick, Richard Law, David Lewis, Lynn Margulis, John Maynard Smith, Margaret J. McFall-Ngai, Paul Nardon, Kenneth H. Nealson, Kris Pirozynski, Peter W. Price, Mary Beth Saffo, Jan Sapp, Silvano Scannerini, Werner Schwemmler, Sorin Sonea, Toomas H. Tiivel, Robert K. Trench, Russell Vetter

How do new species evolve? Although Darwin identified inherited variation as the creative force in evolution, he never formally speculated where it comes from. His successors thought that new species arise from the gradual accumulation of random mutations of DNA. But despite its acceptance in every major textbook, there is no documented instance of it. Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan take a radically new approach to this question. They show that speciation events are not, in fact, rare or hard to observe. Genomes are acquired by infection, by feeding, and by other ecological associations, and then inherited. "Acquiring Genomes" is the first work to integrate and analyze the overwhelming mass of evidence for the role of bacterial and other symbioses in the creation of plant and animal diversity. It provides the most powerful explanation of speciation yet given.

More than eighty years ago, before we knew much about the structure of cells, Russian botanist Boris Kozo-Polyansky brilliantly outlined the concept of symbiogenesis, the symbiotic origin of cells with nuclei. It was a half-century later, only when experimental approaches that Kozo-Polyansky lacked were applied to his hypotheses, that scientists began to accept his view that symbiogenesis could be united with Darwin's concept of natural selection to explain the evolution of life. After decades of neglect, ridicule, and intellectual abuse, Kozo-Polyansky's ideas are now endorsed by virtually all biologists.

Kozo-Polyansky's seminal work is presented here for the first time in an outstanding annotated translation, updated with commentaries, references, and modern micrographs of symbiotic phenomena.

A fascinating and detailed examination of the evolution-and occasional devolution-of sexuality in microorganisms and more complex forms of life. Margulis and Sagan trace sex from its inauspicious beginnings in bacteria threatened by ultraviolet radiation to its intimate relation with the origin of mitotic division of nucleated cells. The origin of meiotic sex through cannibalism followed by centriole reproductive tardiness and the connection of cell symbiosis to sex and differentiation are explored. "The authors have not only given us a new and exiting scenario for the evolution of sex, but have also provided us with critical ways in which we can test their hypotheses. . . . This is a stimulating book that is sure to invoke criticism and discussion; I strongly recommend it."-Symbiosis "The book is well organized and well written, leading the reader from one thought to another almost effortlessly. Background information is presented to aid those of us who are not experts in this field, and a glossary is appended. The book could be used at all levels of study, from interested undergraduates in general biology though postdoctoral students of genetics and evolution. I recommend this thought-provoking book to you for both your enjoyment and your enlightenment."-Richard W. Cheney, Jr., Journal of College Science Teaching "This book, undoubtedly controversial, is a thoughtful and original contribution to an important aspect of cellular biology."-John Langridge