Write 2 page essay on the topic The Symbiotic Planet by Lynn Margulis.
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In her book, The Symbiotic Planet, .Lynn Margulis argues that symbiosis is crucial for the evolutionary originality. Writing from the point of view of the molecular biologist, she explains the evolutionary innovations brought about by the symbiosis between the partners , ranging from the tiny bacteria to the living earth itself. She describes the role of symbiosis in the origin of cells, the evolution of sex and the birth of life on land. With its special role in mutual benefit and co operation, symbiosis has been the basis of evolutionary innovations.
Although Russian scientists such as Wallin and Merezhkovsky had formulated the symbiotic theory in the early twentieth century, their work was based on paleantological and zoological observations. Margulis relied on direct microbiological observations for her endosymbiotic theory. Rejected at first, her paper was finally published by the Yale University Press in 1970., and was highly acclaimed as one of the great achievements of twentieth century evolutionary biology.
Margulis has done significant work concerning the evolutionary origin of mitochondria in eukaryotic cells.
