phylogeny

"In The Tangled Tree David Quammen," one of that rare breed of science journalists who blends exploration with a talent for synthesis and storytelling" (Nature), chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them--such as Carl Woese, the most important little-known biologist of the twentieth century; Lynn Margulis, the notorious maverick whose wild ideas about "mosaic" creatures proved to be true; and Tsutomu Wantanabe, who discovered that the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a direct result of horizontal gene transfer, bringing the deep study of genome histories to bear on a global crisis in public health"--Jacket flap.

Explores the connections between six groups of animals, describing ancient animals from the sea and their modern-day counterparts, covering sea scorpions, fan worms, cephalopods, platypus, and more; and also looks at how scientists have traced the links between the species.

Explores the connections between ancient animals and their modern-day counterparts, and looks at how scientists have traced the links between the species.

Illustrations and simple text describe the prehistoric ancestors of some modern animals, birds, and fish.

Discusses the evolution of the major animal phyla from the first primitive cells and transformations of animal life by the processes of natural selection acting on genetic material.