Early Life: Evolution on the PreCambrian Earth

by Lynn Margulis, Michael Dolan

Early Life: Evolution on the PreCambrian Earth offers an informative and compelling analysis of microbial evolution, often overlooked as the opening chapter of life's history. With this long-awaited new edition, Lynn Margulis and Michael Dolan integrate new discoveries from the past two decades, such as the enormous contribution of molecular biology, especially the accumulation of protein and DNA sequence information upon which the Woese three-domain system is based. Yet the prokaryotic-eukaryotic distinction remains the largest evolutionary discontinuity in life on Earth. Are the well-formed filaments found so recently in the Warrawoona Series of northwestern Australia really evidence of the oldest life on the planet? Do the fossils found in the great Gunflint Iron Formation of Ontario tell that bacteria were instrumental in the accumulation of the most important iron reserves in the world? These questions are not solved here, but they are raised for students, scientists, and general readers interested in the most basic evolution and its consequences. No special scientific background is required of the reader, only a lively interest.

Genres: Biology

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) was a Professor of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

Reviews

[Fred Kohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As is often the case with scientific books, I am going to have to reread this one. Nevertheless I am happy with the amount of information I absorbed the first time around. I didn't realize until I got to the end of the book that there was a glossary which was a shame. There were several unfamiliar terms that I could have referred to had I known the glossary was there. Nevertheless all in all I didn't feel terribly lost, as I sometimes do with scientific books.