The Comparative Approach In Evolutionary Anthropology And Biology

Author : Charles L. Nunn
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226090000
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Comparative Approach in Evolutionary Anthropology and Biology written by Charles L. Nunn and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-07-05 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comparison is fundamental to evolutionary anthropology. When scientists study chimpanzee cognition, for example, they compare chimp performance on cognitive tasks to the performance of human children on the same tasks. And when new fossils are found, such as those of the tiny humans of Flores, scientists compare these remains to other fossils and contemporary humans. Comparison provides a way to draw general inferences about the evolution of traits and therefore has long been the cornerstone of efforts to understand biological and cultural diversity. Individual studies of fossilized remains, living species, or human populations are the essential units of analysis in a comparative study; bringing these elements into a broader comparative framework allows the puzzle pieces to fall into place, creating a means of testing adaptive hypotheses and generating new ones. With this book, Charles L. Nunn intends to ensure that evolutionary anthropologists and organismal biologists have the tools to realize the potential of comparative research. Nunn provides a wide-ranging investigation of the comparative foundations of evolutionary anthropology in past and present research, including studies of animal behavior, biodiversity, linguistic evolution, allometry, and cross-cultural variation. He also points the way to the future, exploring the new phylogeny-based comparative approaches and offering a how-to manual for scientists who wish to incorporate these new methods into their research.

Author : Paul H. Harvey
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Comparative Method in Evolutionary Biology written by Paul H. Harvey and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Darwin onward, it has been second nature for evolutionary biologists to think comparatively, because comparisons establish the generality of evolutionary phenomena. Do large genomes slow down development? What lifestyles select for large brains? Are extinction rates related to body size? These are all questions for the comparative method, and this book is about how such questions can be answered. It examines how the comparative method complements other approaches, identifies the biological causes of similarity among species, and discusses methods for reconstructing phylogenetic trees, along with many other topics. The book will interest all students, professionals, and researchers in evolutionary biology, ecology, genetics and related fields.

Author : Liam J. Revell
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691219036
Total Pages : 440 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Phylogenetic Comparative Methods in R written by Liam J. Revell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-09-06 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative introduction to the latest comparative methods in evolutionary biology Phylogenetic comparative methods are a suite of statistical approaches that enable biologists to analyze and better understand the evolutionary tree of life, and shed vital new light on patterns of divergence and common ancestry among all species on Earth. This textbook shows how to carry out phylogenetic comparative analyses in the R statistical computing environment. Liam Revell and Luke Harmon provide an incisive conceptual overview of each method along with worked examples using real data and challenge problems that encourage students to learn by doing. By working through this book, students will gain a solid foundation in these methods and develop the skills they need to interpret patterns in the tree of life. Covers every major method of modern phylogenetic comparative analysis in RExplains the basics of R and discusses topics such as trait evolution, diversification, trait-dependent diversification, biogeography, and visualizationFeatures a wealth of exercises and challenge problemsServes as an invaluable resource for students and researchers, with applications in ecology, evolution, anthropology, disease transmission, conservation biology, and a host of other areasWritten by two of today’s leading developers of phylogenetic comparative methods

Author : Noel Thomas Boaz
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780133692082
Total Pages : 614 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Biological Anthropology written by Noel Thomas Boaz and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the introductory physical anthropology course. It may also be appropriate for the upper level biological anthropology course. This innovative new text narrates the history of the evolutionary progression of the human lineage through time. Evolution by natural selection provides the conceptual framework as students learn the essentials of molecular anthropology and genetics, then are led through geological time to the origins of vertebrates, mammals, primates, hominoids, and finally hominids. In each section, behavior, morphology, adaptation, and ecology are discussed to provide the comparative basis for human origins.

Author : Mhairi A. Gibson
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1493902806
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Applied Evolutionary Anthropology written by Mhairi A. Gibson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-03-10 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a species, we are currently experiencing dramatic shifts in our lifestyle, family structure, health, and global contact. Evolutionary Anthropology provides a powerful theoretical framework to study such changes, revealing how current environments and legacies of past selection shape human diversity. This book is the first major review of the emerging field of Applied Evolutionary Anthropology bringing together the work of an international group of evolutionary scientists, addressing many of the major public health and social issues of this century. Through a series of case studies that span both rural and urban situations in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, each chapter addresses topics such as natural resource management, health service delivery, population growth and the emergence of new family structures, dietary, and co-operative behaviours. The research presented identifies the great, largely untapped, potential that Applied Evolutionary Anthropology holds to guide the design, implementation and evaluation of effective social and public health policy. This book will be of interest to policy-makers and applied researchers, along with academics and students across the biological and social sciences.

Author : P. C. Lee
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521004244
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Comparative Primate Socioecology written by P. C. Lee and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-07-19 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Methodologies as applied to recent primate research that will provide new approaches to comparative research.

Author : Cara M. Wall-Scheffler
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108187897
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Evolutionary Biology of the Human Pelvis written by Cara M. Wall-Scheffler and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-16 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a synthetic overview of all evidence concerning the evolution of the morphology of the human pelvis, including comparative anatomy, clinical and experimental studies, and quantitative evolutionary models. By integrating these lines of research, this is the first book to bring all sources of evidence together to develop a coherent statement about the current state of the art in understanding pelvic evolution. Second, and related to this, the volume is the first detailed assessment of existing paradigms about the evolution of the pelvis, especially the obstetric dilemma. The authors argue that there are many 'dilemmas', but these must be approached using a testable methodology, rather than on the proviso of a single paradigm. The volume clearly contributes to greater scientific knowledge about human variation and evolution, and has implications for clinicians working within reproductive health. A thought-provoking read for students, researchers and professionals in the fields of biological anthropology, human evolutionary anthropology, paleoanthropology, bioarchaeology, biology, developmental biology and obstetrics.

Author : László Zsolt Garamszegi
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3662435500
Total Pages : 552 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Phylogenetic Comparative Methods and Their Application in Evolutionary Biology written by László Zsolt Garamszegi and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-29 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phylogenetic comparative approaches are powerful analytical tools for making evolutionary inferences from interspecific data and phylogenies. The phylogenetic toolkit available to evolutionary biologists is currently growing at an incredible speed, but most methodological papers are published in the specialized statistical literature and many are incomprehensible for the user community. This textbook provides an overview of several newly developed phylogenetic comparative methods that allow to investigate a broad array of questions on how phenotypic characters evolve along the branches of phylogeny and how such mechanisms shape complex animal communities and interspecific interactions. The individual chapters were written by the leading experts in the field and using a language that is accessible for practicing evolutionary biologists. The authors carefully explain the philosophy behind different methodologies and provide pointers – mostly using a dynamically developing online interface – on how these methods can be implemented in practice. These “conceptual” and “practical” materials are essential for expanding the qualification of both students and scientists, but also offer a valuable resource for educators. Another value of the book are the accompanying online resources (available at: http://www.mpcm-evolution.com), where the authors post and permanently update practical materials to help embed methods into practice.

Author : Stephen Shennan
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351507060
Total Pages : 484 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mapping Our Ancestors written by Stephen Shennan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-12 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of what we are comes from our ancestors. Through cultural and biological inheritance mechanisms, our genetic composition, instructions for constructing artifacts, the structure and content of languages, and rules for behavior are passed from parents to children and from individual to individual. Mapping Our Ancestors demonstrates how various genealogical or "phylogenetic" methods can be used both to answer questions about human history and to build evolutionary explanations for the shape of history. Anthropologists are increasingly turning to quantitative phylogenetic methods. These methods depend on the transmission of information regardless of mode and as such are applicable to many anthropological questions. In this way, phylogenetic approaches have the potential for building bridges among the various subdisciplines of anthropology; an exciting prospect indeed. The structure of Mapping Our Ancestors reflects the editors' goal of developing a common understanding of the methods and conditions under which ancestral relations can be derived in a range of data classes of interest to anthropologists. Specifically, this volume explores the degree to which patterns of ancestry can be determined from artifactual, genetic, linguistic, and behavioral data and how processes such as selection, transmission, and geography impact the results of phylogenetic analyses. Mapping Our Ancestors provides a solid demonstration of the potential of phylogenetic methods for studying the evolutionary history of human populations using a variety of data sources and thus helps explain how cultural material, language, and biology came to be as they are.

Author : Catherine M. Willermet
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781108701631
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evaluating Evidence in Biological Anthropology written by Catherine M. Willermet and published by . This book was released on 2019-12 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Biological anthropology is a diverse field, with countless research methods and techniques in different subdisciplines. This book takes a critical perspective to the current state of the field, exploring theory and practice in paleoanthropology, bioarchaeology, and ecology. Contributors challenge how evidence is discovered, collected, and interpreted, and explain that researchers gain insights by defamiliarizing themselves from well-known methods and taking a different perspective - "making the familiar strange." The book covers how researchers' biases and assumptions affect the interpretation of topics such as human evolution and population movements; race, health, and disability; bodies and embodiment; and landscapes and ecology. A final chapter includes a critical assessment of new thinking about technology, in addition to the multilayered and complex nature of both research questions and evidence. This is an insightful text for researchers and graduate students in anthropology, biology, ecology, history, and philosophy of science"--