.gif)
Wonderful Life (book)
Encyclopedia
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (1989) is a book on the evolution
of Cambrian
fauna
by Harvard
paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould
. The volume was the 1991 winner of The Aventis Prizes for Science Books
, and a 1991 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
.
. He based this argument on the wonderfully preserved fossil fauna of the Burgess Shale
, animals from around 505 million years ago, just after the Cambrian explosion
. Gould argued that although the Burgess animals were all exquisitely adapted to their environment, most of them left no modern descendants and, more importantly, that the surviving creatures did not seem better adapted than their now extinct contemporaneous neighbors. He proposed that given a chance to "rewind the universe" and flip the coin of natural selection again, we might find ourselves living in a world populated by descendants of Hallucigenia
rather than Pikaia
. This seems to indicate that fitness
for existing conditions does not ensure long-term survival, especially when conditions change rapidly, and that the survival of many species depends more on chance events and features, which Gould terms exaptation
s, fortuitously beneficial under future conditions than on features best adapted under the present environment
(see also extinction event
).
He regarded Opabinia
as so important to understanding the Cambrian explosion that he wanted to call his book Homage to Opabinia.
Full House
(1996) was deemed a companion book to Wonderful Life by the author.
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
by Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
. The volume was the 1991 winner of The Aventis Prizes for Science Books
The Aventis Prizes for Science Books
The Royal Society Prizes for Science Books is an annual award for the previous year's best general science writing and best science writing for children. The nominees and winners are decided by the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science...
, and a 1991 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
.
Summary
Gould's thesis in Wonderful Life was that chance was one of the decisive factors in the evolution of life on earthEvolutionary history of life
The evolutionary history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and fossil organisms have evolved since life on Earth first originated until the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 Ga and life appeared on its surface within one billion years...
. He based this argument on the wonderfully preserved fossil fauna of the Burgess Shale
Burgess Shale
The Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields, and the best of its kind. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils...
, animals from around 505 million years ago, just after the Cambrian explosion
Cambrian explosion
The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the relatively rapid appearance, around , of most major phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record, accompanied by major diversification of other organisms, including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes...
. Gould argued that although the Burgess animals were all exquisitely adapted to their environment, most of them left no modern descendants and, more importantly, that the surviving creatures did not seem better adapted than their now extinct contemporaneous neighbors. He proposed that given a chance to "rewind the universe" and flip the coin of natural selection again, we might find ourselves living in a world populated by descendants of Hallucigenia
Hallucigenia
Hallucigenia is an extinct genus of animal found as fossils in the Middle Cambrian-aged Burgess Shale formation of British Columbia, Canada, represented by the species H. sparsa, and in the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shale of China, represented by the species H. fortis...
rather than Pikaia
Pikaia
Pikaia gracilens is an extinct animal known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia. -Discovery:It was discovered by Charles Walcott and was first described by him in 1911. It was named after Pika Peak, a mountain in Alberta, Canada. Based on the obvious and regular segmentation...
. This seems to indicate that fitness
Fitness (biology)
Fitness is a central idea in evolutionary theory. It can be defined either with respect to a genotype or to a phenotype in a given environment...
for existing conditions does not ensure long-term survival, especially when conditions change rapidly, and that the survival of many species depends more on chance events and features, which Gould terms exaptation
Exaptation
Exaptation, cooption, and preadaptation are related terms referring to shifts in the function of a trait during evolution. For example, a trait can evolve because it served one particular function, but subsequently it may come to serve another. Exaptations are common in both anatomy and behaviour...
s, fortuitously beneficial under future conditions than on features best adapted under the present environment
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
(see also extinction event
Extinction event
An extinction event is a sharp decrease in the diversity and abundance of macroscopic life. They occur when the rate of extinction increases with respect to the rate of speciation...
).
He regarded Opabinia
Opabinia
Opabinia is an animal genus found in Cambrian fossil deposits. Its sole species, Opabinia regalis, is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. Fewer than twenty good specimens have been described; 3 specimens of Opabinia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed,...
as so important to understanding the Cambrian explosion that he wanted to call his book Homage to Opabinia.
Reception
Most of the book's conclusions were deemed controversial at publication and some of Gould's examples were soon shown to be incorrect. However, the ultimate theme of the book is still being debated among evolutionary thinkers today.Full House
Full House: The Spread of Excellence From Plato to Darwin
Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin is a book by evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, published in 1996. It was released in the UK as Life's Grandeur, with the same subtitle....
(1996) was deemed a companion book to Wonderful Life by the author.
External links
- Preview Wonderful Life - by Google Books
- The Ediacaran experiment - by Stephen Jay Gould
- The reversal of Hallucigenia - by Stephen Jay Gould
- Of tongue worms, velvet worms, and water bears- by Stephen Jay Gould
- The Cambrian "Explosion": Slow-fuse or Megatonnage? - by Simon Conway Morris
- Showdown on the Burgess Shale - by Simon Conway Morris and Stephen Jay Gould
- Wonderful strife: systematics, stem groups, and the phylogenetic signal of the Cambrian radiation - by Derek Briggs and Richard Fortey
- The disparity of the Burgess Shale arthropod fauna and the limits of cladistic analysis - by Stephen Jay Gould