Biological Innovations that Built the World A Four-Billion-Year Journey through Life and Earth History

About this book

The book is a detailed account of major biological events that contributed to create the present world and our species, with emphasis on cause-effect interrelationships and environmental impact. Its main goal is to guide the reader toward an understanding of the continuity of life across diversity, and of its large-scale interactions with the planet. Combining scientific soundness with a constant effort for clarity, Biological Innovations that Built the World begins with a cloud of dust in a corner of the Galaxy and, covering an immense lapse of time, terminates with an organism that ponders about the texture of the Universe. Comprehensive, updated references added to each chapter will help the reader wishing to expand any of the topics. A glossary explains less common technical terms.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Origins
3. The Birth of Life
4. Moving to the Light: The Evolution of Photosynthesis
5. The Great Oxygenation
6. Eukaryotes
7. Sexual Reproduction
8. Multicellularity
9. The Chloroplast and Photosynthetic Eukaryotes
10. The Animals
11. Land Plants
12. The Emergence of Humanity
13. Synopsis
14. Glossary
15. Analytic Index

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Biography

Roberto Ligrone is Professor of Plant Biology at the Second University of Naples, now University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, and retired in 2014. His main research interest was evolutionary biology of lower land plants, a field in which he has gained international reputation. He is also an author of several textbooks and dissemination papers.