Martin cites the wood-boring clams that perforated the hulls of the Spanish Armada, helping tip the odds toward the English Navy in 1588, when it won a decades-long fight for maritime dominance.īioeroders come in all sizes, he writes, from microbes that transport calcium away from rock and shells to elephants that dig caves with their tusks to obtain salt.īioeroders can change the soundscape as well as the landscape. "Martin has fashioned a unique and engaging portrait of the Earth's many movers and shakers," Booklist wrote in a review.īioerosion has also changed human history.
"Life Sculpted" is aimed at general audiences. “Yes, life can be hard,” Martin quips, “but life also makes everything less hard every day. “Life Sculpted” is a follow-up to Martin’s 2017 book “The Evolution Underground: Burrows, Bunkers and the Marvelous Subterranean World Beneath Our Feet.” The current volume, also aimed at anyone interested in Earth sciences, goes beyond burrowing to cover how myriad forms of life have broken down the hard substrates of rock, shells, bones and wood during the past billion years. His other passion is great science communication, which his books exemplify. Among his discoveries are the only known burrowing dinosaur and the oldest bird tracks in Australia. Martin is a geologist and paleontologist focused primarily on ichnology - the study of traces of life such as tracks, burrows, nests and tooth marks. Some species of beetles chew through wood to create tunnels where they lay their eggs. Anthony Martin in Emory's Lullwater Forest with the trunk of a pine tree carved up by beetles.
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