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Life Sculpted: Tales of the Animals, Plants, and Fungi That Drill, Break, and Scrape to Shape the Earth de Anthony J. Martin

Life Sculpted: Tales of the Animals, Plants, and Fungi That Drill, Break, and Scrape to Shape the Earth

Autor Anthony J. Martin
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 2 iun 2023

În această primă ediție a lucrării Life Sculpted, ne-a atras atenția modul în care Anthony J. Martin reușește să transforme un proces geologic aparent arid — bioeroziunea — într-o cronică fascinantă a forței vitale. Subliniem faptul că autorul nu se limitează la o descriere tehnică, ci propune o perspectivă evoluționistă care începe acum miliarde de ani cu primele bacterii și culminează cu megafauna modernă. Notăm cu interes includerea unor exemple spectaculoase, de la crocodilii preistorici de cinci tone până la peștii papagal care „sculptează” recifele de corali.

Această lucrare acoperă aceeași arie tematică precum Current Developments in Bioerosion de Max Wisshak, dar cu o abordare mult mai accesibilă și narativă, potrivită pentru publicul larg, nu doar pentru specialiști. Dacă volumul lui Wisshak este o resursă academică riguroasă, Life Sculpted se apropie mai degrabă de stilul explorator din Zoogeomorphology, extinzând însă discuția spre paleobiologie. Structura cărții este organizată cronologic și tematic, de la „istoria plictisitoare” (însă esențială) a micro-organismelor, până la capitole dedicate „mâncătorilor de oase” din adâncuri și impactului animalelor de talie mare.

În contextul operei sale, Life Sculpted reprezintă o continuare firească a temelor din The Evolution Underground. Dacă în lucrarea anterioară Martin se concentra pe supraviețuirea prin săparea de vizuini, aici el lărgește spectrul analizei către toate modurile în care viața macină, perforează și fragmentează materia dură a planetei. Rezultatul este o sinteză interdisciplinară care ne forțează să recunoaștem că peisajul terestru nu este doar un suport pentru viață, ci un produs direct al activității acesteia.

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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780226810478
ISBN-10: 022681047X
Pagini: 360
Ilustrații: 56 halftones
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 36 mm
Greutate: 0.77 kg
Ediția:1
Editura: University of Chicago Press
Colecția University of Chicago Press

De ce să citești această carte

Recomandăm Life Sculpted oricărui pasionat de științele naturii care dorește să înțeleagă mecanismele invizibile ce modelează relieful. Cititorul va câștiga o perspectivă nouă asupra modului în care interacțiunea dintre biologie și geologie influențează stabilitatea ecosistemelor. Este o lectură esențială pentru a înțelege cum trecutul paleontologic ne poate ajuta să anticipăm reacțiile mediului în fața schimbărilor climatice actuale, totul într-un stil plin de spirit și rigoare științifică.

Despre autor

Anthony J. Martin este profesor la Universitatea Emory, fiind recunoscut la nivel mondial ca un ichnolog de excepție. Cariera sa este marcată de descoperiri de răsunet, precum identificarea primului dinozaur care săpa vizuini și a celor mai vechi urme de acest tip din registrul geologic. Expertiza sa îmbină paleontologia, geologia și biologia, transformându-l într-un comunicator de știință apreciat. A documentat ansambluri impresionante de urme de dinozauri polari în emisfera sudică și a publicat manuale de referință despre dinozauri, consolidându-și reputația de cercetător care știe să aducă istoria profundă a Pământului în atenția publicului contemporan.

Descriere scurtă

"There is much to love between this book’s covers. . . . There are many eureka moments in Life Sculpted—and some truly beautiful ones."—Eugenia Bone, Wall Street Journal

Meet the menagerie of lifeforms that dig, crunch, bore, and otherwise reshape our planet.
 
Did you know elephants dig ballroom-sized caves alongside volcanoes? Or that parrotfish chew coral reefs and poop sandy beaches? Or that our planet once hosted a five-ton dinosaur-crunching alligator cousin? In fact, almost since its fascinating start, life was boring. Billions of years ago bacteria, algae, and fungi began breaking down rocks in oceans, a role they still perform today. About a half-billion years ago, animal ancestors began drilling, scraping, gnawing, or breaking rocky seascapes. In turn, their descendants crunched through the materials of life itself—shells, wood, and bones. Today, such “bioeroders” continue to shape our planet—from the bacteria that devour our teeth to the mighty moon snail, always hunting for food, as evidenced by tiny snail-made boreholes in clams and other moon snails.
 
There is no better guide to these lifeforms than Anthony J. Martin, a popular science author, paleontologist, and co-discoverer of the first known burrowing dinosaur. Following the crumbs of lichens, sponges, worms, clams, snails, octopi, barnacles, sea urchins, termites, beetles, fishes, dinosaurs, crocodilians, birds, elephants, and (of course) humans, Life Sculpted reveals how bioerosion expanded with the tree of life, becoming an essential part of how ecosystems function while reshaping the face of our planet. With vast knowledge and no small amount of whimsy, Martin uses paleontology, biology, and geology to reveal the awesome power of life’s chewing force. He provokes us to think deeply about the past and present of bioerosion, while also considering how knowledge of this history might aid us in mitigating and adapting to climate change in the future. Yes, Martin concedes, sometimes life can be hard—but life also makes everything less hard every day.

Notă biografică

Anthony J. Martin is teaching professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University, where he has taught classes in geology, paleontology, and environmental sciences for more than thirty years. He has a PhD in geology and his research specialty is ichnology, the study of modern and ancient traces caused by animal behavior, such as tracks, burrows, and borings. He is the author of numerous books, including Dinosaurs Without Bones, The Evolution Underground, and Tracking the Golden Isles.

Cuprins

Preface
Chapter 1: A Boring History of Life
Chapter 2: Small but Diminishing
Chapter 3: Rock, Thy Name Is Mud
Chapter 4: Your Beach Is Made of Parrotfish Poop
Chapter 5: Jewelry-Amenable Holes of Death
Chapter 6: Super Colossal Shell-Crushing Fury!
Chapter 7: Woodworking at Home
Chapter 8: Driftwood and Woodgrounds
Chapter 9: Bone Eaters of the Deep
Chapter 10: More Bones to Pick
Chapter 11: The Biggest and Most Boring of Animals
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Recenzii

"It is often said that life changes the environment. But after reading Martin’s Life Sculpted, it seems more accurate to say that living changes the environment. It was true of the dinosaur era, and it remains true today. . . . For readers who are fascinated by living fossils such as bryozoans and horseshoe crabs, there is much to love between this book’s covers. . . . There are many eureka moments in Life Sculpted—and some truly beautiful ones. . . . The key takeaway of Life Sculpted, and ichnology more generally, is that geology is indistinguishable from biology. A prevailing theme in popular culture these days is that all life is connected. But what Martin implies is that it is not only biotic organisms that are interdependent, but the geological and chemical systems of the planet, too. And while the gap between the biotic and abiotic worlds may seem huge, it’s the science that’s complicated. So, while Life Sculpted is not everybody’s idea of beach reading, think of it this way: It’s the beach."

"A sampling of chapter headings in Life Sculpted: 'A Boring History of Life,' 'More Bones to Pick' and—most memorably—'Your Beach is Made of Parrotfish Poop.' Ever the tuned-in observer, Martin once noticed a sound while snorkeling, 'a crunching and popping reminiscent of sugary breakfast cereals meeting milk.' Fish, he discovered, were chowing down on the reef and then ejecting sand. Some sedimentary cycles later, we get a postcard-worthy playground. And don’t get him started on starfish: 'If you ever find a wayward sea star or other echinoderm near a beach, whatever you do, do not put it in freshwater, as this will surely kill it,' he writes. 'The same principle applies to keeping it on a shelf at home, or wearing one as a sheriff badge, which will quickly become a stinking badge, which you do not need.' You groan, but will you forget that image?"

"A bewildering array of lifeforms break, scrape, and mold our planet to their own ends, from elephants digging caves by volcanoes to bacteria breaking down rocks in the oceans. Bioerosion is a distinct area of science, covering paleontology, biology, and geology. It's also testament to how life adapts to change, something relevant in the current Anthropocene era."

"Much of Martin's discussion involves ichnology, the study of trace fossils, such as tracks, burrows, bite marks, holes. He describes how snails drill into their prey, pine beetles munch trees, otters use rocks as tools to bust clam shells, and stingrays emit high pressure jets of water to expose quarry hiding in sediment. Martin’s writing is witty, rich in facts (the teeth of beavers are enhanced with iron), and spiced with eclectic references, such as the films Jurassic Park, Alien, and Jaws, authors ranging from Aeschylus to H.P. Lovecraft, and TV shows House Hunters and Breaking Bad. Mingling geology, biology, and paleontology, Martin has fashioned a unique and engaging portrait of the earth's many movers and shakers."

"A book that guides you into the realm of tiny bioeroders, decomposers, and their fascinating role as undercover players in the environmental evolution and global climate game. . . . Martin does an excellent job of maintaining the balance between science, humour and anecdotes, all of that wrapped in an easy-to-follow and entertaining narrative that motivates the reader to finish each chapter."

“With an equal dose of wit and scholarship, Martin turns what is literally a boring topic—how animals and other species drill and chew through rock, bone, and wood—into an epic tale of evolution. Fun and readable, yet academically rigorous, Martin is one of the finest popularizers of paleontology today, and one of my favorite science writers.”

“A truly original cracker of a book. Martin is one of the world’s top experts in trace fossils, and his life-long experience in doing primary research in this field shows clearly. The scientific information is first-class and highly informative. But his prose is also beautiful and refreshingly expressive. Martin has a real mastery of words that is rare. Enthralling.”

“Anthony J. Martin is the Mary Roach of paleontology.”