TheHistoryofLife:AVeryShortIntroduction VERYSHORTINTRODUCTIONSareforanyonewantingastimulatingand accessiblewayintoanewsubject.Theyarewrittenbyexperts,andhavebeen publishedinmorethan25languagesworldwide. Theseriesbeganin1995,andnowrepresentsawidevarietyoftopicsin history,philosophy,religion,science,andthehumanities.Overthenext fewyearsitwillgrowtoalibraryofaround200volumes–aVeryShort IntroductiontoeverythingfromancientEgyptandIndianphilosophyto conceptualartandcosmology. VeryShortIntroductionsavailablenow: AFRICANHISTORY CHOICETHEORY MichaelAllingham JohnParkerandRichardRathbone CHRISTIANART BethWilliamson AMERICANPOLITICALPARTIES CHRISTIANITY LindaWoodhead ANDELECTIONS L.SandyMaisel CITIZENSHIP RichardBellamy THEAMERICANPRESIDENCY CLASSICS MaryBeardand CharlesO.Jones JohnHenderson ANARCHISM ColinWard CLASSICALMYTHOLOGY ANCIENTEGYPT IanShaw HelenMorales ANCIENTPHILOSOPHY JuliaAnnas CLAUSEWITZ MichaelHoward ANCIENTWARFARE THECOLDWAR RobertMcMahon HarrySidebottom CONSCIOUSNESS SusanBlackmore ANGLICANISM MarkChapman CONTEMPORARYART THEANGLO-SAXONAGE JohnBlair JulianStallabrass ANIMALRIGHTS DavidDeGrazia CONTINENTALPHILOSOPHY Antisemitism StevenBeller SimonCritchley ARCHAEOLOGY PaulBahn COSMOLOGY PeterColes ARCHITECTURE AndrewBallantyne THECRUSADES ChristopherTyerman ARISTOTLE JonathanBarnes CRYPTOGRAPHY ARTHISTORY DanaArnold FredPiperandSeanMurphy ARTTHEORY CynthiaFreeland DADAANDSURREALISM THEHISTORYOFASTRONOMY DavidHopkins MichaelHoskin DARWIN JonathanHoward ATHEISM JulianBaggini THEDEADSEASCROLLS AUGUSTINE HenryChadwick TimothyLim AUTISM UtaFrith DEMOCRACY BernardCrick BARTHES JonathanCuller DESCARTES TomSorell BESTSELLERS JohnSutherland DESIGN JohnHeskett THEBIBLE JohnRiches DINOSAURS DavidNorman THEBRAIN MichaelO’Shea DOCUMENTARYFILM BRITISHPOLITICS AnthonyWright PatriciaAufderheide BUDDHA MichaelCarrithers DREAMING J.AllanHobson BUDDHISM DamienKeown DRUGS LeslieIversen BUDDHISTETHICS DamienKeown THEEARTH MartinRedfern CAPITALISM JamesFulcher ECONOMICS ParthaDasgupta CATHOLICISM GeraldO’Collins EGYPTIANMYTH GeraldinePinch THECELTS BarryCunliffe EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN CHAOS LeonardSmith PaulLangford THEELEMENTS PhilipBall INTERNATIONALMIGRATION EMOTION DylanEvans KhalidKoser EMPIRE StephenHowe INTERNATIONALRELATIONS ENGELS TerrellCarver PaulWilkinson ETHICS SimonBlackburn ISLAM MaliseRuthven THEEUROPEANUNION JohnPinder JOURNALISM IanHargreaves andSimonUsherwood JUDAISM NormanSolomon EVOLUTION Brianand JUNG AnthonyStevens DeborahCharlesworth KABBALAH JosephDan EXISTENTIALISM ThomasFlynn KAFKA RitchieRobertson FASCISM KevinPassmore KANT RogerScruton FEMINISM MargaretWalters KIERKEGAARD PatrickGardiner THEFIRSTWORLDWAR THEKORAN MichaelCook MichaelHoward LAW RaymondWacks FOSSILS KeithThomson LINGUISTICS PeterMatthews FOUCAULT GaryGutting LITERARYTHEORY JonathanCuller FREEWILL ThomasPink LOCKE JohnDunn THEFRENCHREVOLUTION LOGIC GrahamPriest WilliamDoyle MACHIAVELLI QuentinSkinner FREUD AnthonyStorr THEMARQUISDESADE JohnPhillips FUNDAMENTALISM MaliseRuthven MARX PeterSinger GALAXIES JohnGribbin MATHEMATICS TimothyGowers GALILEO StillmanDrake THEMEANINGOFLIFE GameTheory KenBinmore TerryEagleton GANDHI BhikhuParekh MEDICALETHICS TonyHope GEOGRAPHY JohnA.Matthewsand MEDIEVALBRITAIN DavidT.Herbert JohnGillinghamandRalphA.Griffiths GEOPOLITICS KlausDodds MEMORY JonathanK.Foster GERMANLITERATURE NicholasBoyle MODERNART DavidCottington GLOBALCATASTROPHES BillMcGuire MODERNCHINA RanaMitter GLOBALIZATION ManfredSteger MODERNIRELAND SeniaPašeta GLOBALWARMING MarkMaslin MOLECULES PhilipBall THEGREATDEPRESSIONAND MORMONISM THENEWDEAL EricRauchway RichardLymanBushman HABERMAS JamesGordonFinlayson MUSIC NicholasCook HEGEL PeterSinger MYTH RobertA.Segal HEIDEGGER MichaelInwood NATIONALISM StevenGrosby HIEROGLYPHS PenelopeWilson NELSONMANDELA EllekeBoehmer HINDUISM KimKnott THENEWTESTAMENTAS HISTORY JohnH.Arnold LITERATURE KyleKeefer TheHistoryofLife NEWTON RobertIliffe MichaelBenton NIETZSCHE MichaelTanner THEHISTORYOFMEDICINE NINETEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN WilliamBynum ChristopherHarvieand HIV/AIDS AlanWhiteside H.C.G.Matthew HOBBES RichardTuck NORTHERNIRELAND HUMANEVOLUTION BernardWood MarcMulholland HUMANRIGHTS AndrewClapham NUCLEARWEAPONS HUME A.J.Ayer JosephM.Siracusa IDEOLOGY MichaelFreeden THEOLDTESTAMENT INDIANPHILOSOPHY SueHamilton MichaelD.Coogan INTELLIGENCE IanJ.Deary PARTICLEPHYSICS FrankClose PAUL E.P.Sanders SCHIZOPHRENIA PHILOSOPHY EdwardCraig ChrisFrithandEveJohnstone PHILOSOPHYOFLAW SCHOPENHAUER RaymondWacks ChristopherJanaway PHILOSOPHYOFSCIENCE SCIENCEANDRELIGION SamirOkasha ThomasDixon PHOTOGRAPHY SteveEdwards SCOTLAND RabHouston PLATO JuliaAnnas SEXUALITY VéroniqueMottier POLITICALPHILOSOPHY SHAKESPEARE GermaineGreer DavidMiller SIKHISM EleanorNesbitt POLITICS KennethMinogue SOCIALANDCULTURAL POSTCOLONIALISM RobertYoung ANTHROPOLOGY POSTMODERNISM ChristopherButler JohnMonaghanandPeterJust POSTSTRUCTURALISM SOCIALISM MichaelNewman CatherineBelsey SOCIOLOGY SteveBruce PREHISTORY ChrisGosden SOCRATES C.C.W.Taylor PRESOCRATICPHILOSOPHY THESPANISHCIVILWAR CatherineOsborne HelenGraham PSYCHIATRY TomBurns SPINOZA RogerScruton PSYCHOLOGY STATISTICS DavidHand GillianButlerandFredaMcManus STUARTBRITAIN JohnMorrill THEQUAKERS PinkDandelion TERRORISM CharlesTownshend QUANTUMTHEORY THEOLOGY DavidF.Ford JohnPolkinghorne THEHISTORYOFTIME RACISM AliRattansi LeofrancHolford-Strevens RELATIVITY RussellStannard TRAGEDY AdrianPoole RELIGIONINAMERICA TimothyBeal THETUDORS JohnGuy THERENAISSANCE JerryBrotton TWENTIETH-CENTURYBRITAIN RENAISSANCEART KennethO.Morgan GeraldineA.Johnson THEUNITEDNATIONS ROMANBRITAIN PeterSalway JussiM.Hanhimäki THEROMANEMPIRE THEVIETNAMWAR ChristopherKelly MarkAtwoodLawrence ROUSSEAU RobertWokler THEVIKINGS JulianRichards RUSSELL A.C.Grayling WITTGENSTEIN A.C.Grayling RUSSIANLITERATURE CatrionaKelly WORLDMUSIC PhilipBohlman THERUSSIANREVOLUTION THEWORLDTRADE S.A.Smith ORGANIZATION AmritaNarlikar AvailableSoon: APOCRYPHALGOSPELS PaulFoster Nothing FrankClose Expressionism KaterinaReed-Tsocha PHILOSOPHYOFRELIGION FREESPEECH NigelWarburton JackCopelandandDianeProudfoot ModernJapan Superconductivity ChristopherGoto-Jones StephenBlundell Formoreinformationvisitourwebsites www.oup.com/uk/vsi www.oup.com/us MichaelJ.Benton The History of Life A Very Short Introduction 1 1 GreatClarendonStreet,OxfordOX26DP OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork (cid:2)c MichaelJ.Benton2008 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) FirstPublished2008 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable ISBN978–0–19–922632–0 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India PrintedinGreatBritainby AshfordColourPressLtd,Gosport,Hampshire Contents Listofillustrations ix Introduction 1 1 Theoriginoflife 15 2 Theoriginofsex 33 3 Theoriginofskeletons 51 4 Theoriginoflifeonland 69 5 Forestsandflight 87 6 Thebiggestmassextinction 101 7 Theoriginofmodernecosystems 122 8 Theoriginofhumans 146 Index 167 This page intentionally left blank List of illustrations 1 Aselectionoffossilsfrom 6 Theuniversaltreeoflife 36 amid-Victoriantextbook ProfessorNormanPace (1860) 3 Mansell/Time&LifePictures/ 7 Theendosymbiotictheoryfor GettyImages theoriginofeukaryotes 38 Inspiredbywww.thebrain.mcgill.ca 2 Anexceptionallywell preservedfossilfromLiaoning 8 AcloseupofBangiomorpha Province,China 6 filaments 46 SpencerPlatt/GettyImages DrNickButterfield 3 Geologicaltimescale 18–19 9 Lifeasitmayhavelookedin Ediacarantimes 49 4 TheformationofanRNA SmithsonianInstitution protocell 28 Reprintedbypermissionfrom 10FossilsfromtheEarly MacmillanPublishersLtd(Nature Cambrian 55 2001) M.AlanKazlev/DorlingKindersley 5aStromatolitefossilsinthe 11 TheBurgessShalescene, StarkFormation,Mackenzie, MiddleCambrian 58 Canada 30 ChristianJegouPubliphoto P.F.Hoffman(GSC) Diffusion/SciencePhotoLibrary 5bFilamentousmicrofossilsina 12 Cooksonia 74 3,235-million-year-old massivesulfidefrom 13 TheRhynieecosystem 76 Australia 31 SimonPowell,BristolUniversity CourtesyofBirgerRasmussen