Evolutionary Theory And Processes Modern Perspectives

Author : Solomon P. Wasser
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9401148309
Total Pages : 503 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Theory and Processes: Modern Perspectives written by Solomon P. Wasser and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume consists of papers written by evolutionary, molecular and organismal biologists, geneticists, ecologists, behavioural ecologists, morphologists, mathematicians, theoreticians and experimentalists, in honour of Professor Eviatar (Eibi) Nevo on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. The contributors are only a small subset of Eibi's many friends, collaborators and students (not that one can distinguish these categories among Eibi's colleagues). His widespread influence and activity, both in Israel and more generally, as a leading evolutionary biologist is indicated by his many co-authors on books and papers, and by his many students integrated in teaching and research. This volume presents some of the most recent dramatic results of molecular, genomic, and organismal evolutionary processes. It represents analyses, experiments, observations, reviews, discussions and forecasts of evolutionary theory comprising both novel methods and results, reanalyzed and reviewed data sets based on comparative, experimental, and theoretical studies utilizing model organisms across phylogeny, including bacteria, fungi, plants, animals and humans. It elucidates the revolution in molecular biology that ushered in our understanding of the evolutionary process over time and space. The topics discussed include major problems of evolutionary theory concerning origins, phylogeny, relative importance of evolutionary forces, structure and function, adaptation and speciation in space and time in changing and stressful environments. A major emerging generalization is the nonrandomness of genome structure highlighting the importance of natural selection as a major organizing evolutionary force not only at the phenotypic level, but most importantly at the interlinked genotypic molecular level. The integration between the molecular and organismal levels unifies life which is subjected to the mechanism of natural selection as a major orienting evolutionary force.

Author : Solomon P. Wasser
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9401704430
Total Pages : 483 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Theory and Processes: Modern Horizons written by Solomon P. Wasser and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents provocative research in four broad areas: Evolution of Life and Evolutionary Theory, including papers on the origin of life, stress and evolution; Genome Evolution, including papers on adaptive genome regulation, and comparative mammalian genomes; Phylogeography and Phylogeny, including papers on mushroom phylogeny, macroevolution, and the origin of higher taxa; Human Evolution and Ecology, including papers on man's place in nature, and the origin of human hairlessness.

Author : Niles Eldredge
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022642619X
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Theory written by Niles Eldredge and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-09-23 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The natural world is infinitely complex and hierarchically structured, with smaller units forming the components of progressively larger systems: molecules make up cells, cells comprise tissues and organs that are, in turn, parts of individual organisms, which are united into populations and integrated into yet more encompassing ecosystems. In the face of such awe-inspiring complexity, there is a need for a comprehensive, non-reductionist evolutionary theory. Having emerged at the crossroads of paleobiology, genetics, and developmental biology, the hierarchical approach to evolution provides a unifying perspective on the natural world and offers an operational framework for scientists seeking to understand the way complex biological systems work and evolve. Coedited by one of the founders of hierarchy theory and featuring a diverse and renowned group of contributors, this volume provides an integrated, comprehensive, cutting-edge introduction to the hierarchy theory of evolution. From sweeping historical reviews to philosophical pieces, theoretical essays, and strictly empirical chapters, it reveals hierarchy theory as a vibrant field of scientific enterprise that holds promise for unification across the life sciences and offers new venues of empirical and theoretical research. Stretching from molecules to the biosphere, hierarchy theory aims to provide an all-encompassing understanding of evolution and—with this first collection devoted entirely to the concept—will help make transparent the fundamental patterns that propel living systems.

Author : Ernst Mayr
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674272262
Total Pages : 524 pages
Book Rating : 4.69/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Evolutionary Synthesis written by Ernst Mayr and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biology was forged into a single, coherent science only within living memory. In this volume the thinkers responsible for the "modern synthesis" of evolutionary biology and genetics come together to analyze that remarkable event. In a new Preface, Ernst Mayr calls attention to the fact that scientists in different biological disciplines varied considerably in their degree of acceptance of Darwin's theories. Mayr shows us that these differences were played out in four separate periods: 1859 to 1899, 1900 to 1915, 1916 to 1936, and 1937 to 1947. He thus enables us to understand fully why the synthesis was necessary and why Darwin's original theory--that evolutionary change is due to the combination of variation and selection--is as solid at the end of the twentieth century as it was in 1859.

Author : D. M. Walsh
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107122104
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Organisms, Agency, and Evolution written by D. M. Walsh and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-13 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that evolution arises from the activities of organisms as agents, not from the replication of genes.

Author : Alan R. Templeton
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0471409510
Total Pages : 716 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Population Genetics and Microevolutionary Theory written by Alan R. Templeton and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2006-09-29 with total page 716 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The advances made possible by the development of molecular techniques have in recent years revolutionized quantitative genetics and its relevance for population genetics. Population Genetics and Microevolutionary Theory takes a modern approach to population genetics, incorporating modern molecular biology, species-level evolutionary biology, and a thorough acknowledgment of quantitative genetics as the theoretical basis for population genetics. Logically organized into three main sections on population structure and history, genotype-phenotype interactions, and selection/adaptation Extensive use of real examples to illustrate concepts Written in a clear and accessible manner and devoid of complex mathematical equations Includes the author's introduction to background material as well as a conclusion for a handy overview of the field and its modern applications Each chapter ends with a set of review questions and answers Offers helpful general references and Internet links

Author : Davydd Greenwood
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501719947
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Taming of Evolution written by Davydd Greenwood and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-15 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The theory of evolution has clearly altered our views of the biological world, but in the study of human beings, evolutionary and preevolutionary views continue to coexist in a state of perpetual tension. The Taming of Evolution addresses the questions of how and why this is so. Davydd Greenwood offers a sustained critique of the nature/nurture debate, revealing the complexity of the relationship between science and ideology. He maintains that popular contemporary theories, most notably E. O. Wilson’s human sociobiology and Marvin Harris’s cultural materialism, represent pre-Darwinian notions overlaid by elaborate evolutionary terminology. Greenwood first details the humoral-environmental and Great Chain of Being theories that dominated Western thinking before Darwin. He systematically compares these ideas with those later influenced by Darwin’s theories, illuminating the surprising continuities between them. Greenwood suggests that it would be neither difficult nor socially dangerous to develop a genuinely evolutionary understanding of human beings, so long as we realized that we could not derive political and moral standards from the study of biological processes.

Author : Thomas Heams
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9401790140
Total Pages : 898 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Handbook of Evolutionary Thinking in the Sciences written by Thomas Heams and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-23 with total page 898 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Darwinian theory of evolution is itself evolving and this book presents the details of the core of modern Darwinism and its latest developmental directions. The authors present current scientific work addressing theoretical problems and challenges in four sections, beginning with the concepts of evolution theory, its processes of variation, heredity, selection, adaptation and function, and its patterns of character, species, descent and life. The second part of this book scrutinizes Darwinism in the philosophy of science and its usefulness in understanding ecosystems, whilst the third section deals with its application in disciplines beyond the biological sciences, including evolutionary psychology and evolutionary economics, Darwinian morality and phylolinguistics. The final section addresses anti-Darwinism, the creationist view and issues around teaching evolution in secondary schools. The reader learns how current experimental biology is opening important perspectives on the sources of variation, and thus of the very power of natural selection. This work examines numerous examples of the extension of the principle of natural selection and provides the opportunity to critically reflect on a rich theory, on the methodological rigour that presides in its extensions and exportations, and on the necessity to measure its advantages and also its limits. Scholars interested in modern Darwinism and scientific research, its concepts, research programs and controversies will find this book an excellent read, and those considering how Darwinism might evolve, how it can apply to the human sciences and other disciplines beyond its origins will find it particularly valuable. Originally produced in French (Les Mondes Darwiniens), the scope and usefulness of the book have led to the production of this English text, to reach a wider audience. This book is a milestone in the impressive penetration by Francophone scholars into the world of Darwinian science, its historiography and philosophy over the last two decades. Alex Rosenberg, R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy, Duke University Until now this useful and comprehensive handbook has only been available to francophones. Thanks to this invaluable new translation, this collection of insightful and original essays can reach the global audience it deserves. Tim Lewens, University of Cambridge

Author : David M. Buss
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0471727229
Total Pages : 1057 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology written by David M. Buss and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2005-07-15 with total page 1057 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The foundations of practice and the most recent discoveries intheintriguing newfield of evolutionary psychology Why is the mind designed the way it is? How does input from theenvironment interact with the mind to produce behavior? By takingaim at such questions, the science of evolutionary psychology hasemerged as a vibrant new discipline producing groundbreakinginsights. In The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology,leading contributors discuss the foundations of the field as wellas recent discoveries currently shaping this burgeoning area ofpsychology. Guided by an editorial board made up of such luminaries as LedaCosmides, John Tooby, Don Symons, Steve Pinker, Martin Daly, MargoWilson, and Helena Cronin, the text's chapters delve into acomprehensive range of topics, covering the full range of thediscipline: Foundations of evolutionary psychology Survival Mating Parenting and kinship Group living Interfaces with traditional disciplines of evolutionarypsychology And interfaces across disciplines. In addition to an in-depth survey of the theory and practice ofevolutionary psychology, the text also features an enlighteningdiscussion of this discipline in the context of the law, medicine,and culture. An Afterword by Richard Dawkins provides some finalthoughts from the renowned writer and exponent of evolutionarytheory. Designed to set the standard for handbooks in the field,The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology is an indispensablereference tool for every evolutionary psychologist and student.

Author : Niles Eldredge
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0195036336
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Unfinished Synthesis written by Niles Eldredge and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1985 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by an eminent evolutionary biologist (the co-founder of the theory of punctuated equilibria), this stimulating critique of modern evolutionary thought introduces an insightful theory concerning the ecological and genealogical hierarchies which interact to produce evolution. "Interesting and provocative....A must for those with a genuine interest in the processes of evolution."--Choice