Download or read book Environment Development and Evolution written by Brian Keith Hall and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading researchers in evolutionary developmental biology seek linkages between, and a synthesis of, development, physiology, endocrinology, ecology, and evolution. Evolutionary developmental biology, also known as evo-devo or EDB, seeks to find links between development and evolution by opening the "black box" of development's role in evolution and in the evolution of developmental mechanisms. In particular, this volume emphasizes the roles of the environment and of hormonal signaling in evo-devo. It brings together a group of leading researchers to analyze the dynamic interaction of environmental factors with developmental and physiological processes and to examine how environmental signals are translated into phenotypic change, from the molecular and cellular level to organisms and groups of organisms. Taken together, these chapters demonstrate the crucial roles of those processes of genetic, developmental, physiological, and hormonal change that underpin evolutionary change in development, morphology, physiology, behavior, and life-history. Part I investigates links between environmental signals and developmental processes that could be preserved over evolutionary time. Several contributors evaluate the work of the late Ryuichi Matsuda, especially his emphasis on the role of the external environment in genetic change and variability ("pan-environmentalism"). Other contributors in part I analyze different aspects of environmental-genetic-evolutionary linkages, including the importance of alternate ontogenies in evolution and the paradox of stability over long periods of evolutionary time. Part II examines the plasticity that characterizes much of development, with contributors discussing such topics as gene regulatory networks and heterochronicity. Part III analyzes the role of hormones and metamorphosis in the evolution of such organisms with alternate life-history stages as lampreys, amphibians, and insects.
Download or read book Understanding Climate s Influence on Human Evolution written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-04-17 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The Earth's geological record suggests that some evolutionary events were coincident with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the possibility that critical junctures in human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected by the environmental characteristics of the areas where hominins evolved. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution explores the opportunities of using scientific research to improve our understanding of how climate may have helped shape our species. Improved climate records for specific regions will be required before it is possible to evaluate how critical resources for hominins, especially water and vegetation, would have been distributed on the landscape during key intervals of hominin history. Existing records contain substantial temporal gaps. The book's initiatives are presented in two major research themes: first, determining the impacts of climate change and climate variability on human evolution and dispersal; and second, integrating climate modeling, environmental records, and biotic responses. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution suggests a new scientific program for international climate and human evolution studies that involve an exploration initiative to locate new fossil sites and to broaden the geographic and temporal sampling of the fossil and archeological record; a comprehensive and integrative scientific drilling program in lakes, lake bed outcrops, and ocean basins surrounding the regions where hominins evolved and a major investment in climate modeling experiments for key time intervals and regions that are critical to understanding human evolution.
Download or read book Evolution and Environment in Tropical America written by Jeremy B. C. Jackson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1996-12-15 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How were the tropical Americas formed? This ambitious volume draws on extensive, multidisciplinary research to develop new views of the geological formation of the isthmus linking North and South America and of the major environmental changes that reshaped the Neotropics to create its present-day marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Recent discoveries show that dramatic changes in climate and ocean circulation can occur very quickly, and that ecological communities respond just as rapidly. Abrupt changes in the composition of fossil assemblages, formerly dismissed as artifacts of a poor fossil record, now are seen as accurate records of swift changes in the composition of ocean communities. The twenty-four contributors use current work in paleontology, geology, oceanography, anthropology, ecology, and evolution to paint this challenging portrait of rapid environmental and evolutionary change. Their conclusions argue for a revision of existing interpretations of the fossil record and the processes—including invading Eurasian peoples—that have produced it.
Download or read book The Dominant Animal written by Paul R. Ehrlich and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In humanity’s more than 100,000 year history, we have evolved from vulnerable creatures clawing sustenance from Earth to a sophisticated global society manipulating every inch of it. In short, we have become the dominant animal. Why, then, are we creating a world that threatens our own species? What can we do to change the current trajectory toward more climate change, increased famine, and epidemic disease? Renowned Stanford scientists Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich believe that intelligently addressing those questions depends on a clear understanding of how we evolved and how and why we’re changing the planet in ways that darken our descendants’ future. The Dominant Animal arms readers with that knowledge, tracing the interplay between environmental change and genetic and cultural evolution since the dawn of humanity. In lucid and engaging prose, they describe how Homo sapiens adapted to their surroundings, eventually developing the vibrant cultures, vast scientific knowledge, and technological wizardry we know today. But the Ehrlichs also explore the flip side of this triumphant story of innovation and conquest. As we clear forests to raise crops and build cities, lace the continents with highways, and create chemicals never before seen in nature, we may be undermining our own supremacy. The threats of environmental damage are clear from the daily headlines, but the outcome is far from destined. Humanity can again adapt—if we learn from our evolutionary past. Those lessons are crystallized in The Dominant Animal. Tackling the fundamental challenge of the human predicament, Paul and Anne Ehrlich offer a vivid and unique exploration of our origins, our evolution, and our future.
Download or read book Pragmatism s Evolution written by Trevor Pearce and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An important contribution . . . invaluable to anyone interested in the history of pragmatism and the influence of biology and evolution on pragmatic thinkers.” —Richard J. Bernstein, The New School for Social Research, author of The Pragmatic Turn In Pragmatism’s Evolution, Trevor Pearce demonstrates that the philosophical tradition of pragmatism owes an enormous debt to specific biological debates in the late 1800s, especially those concerning the role of the environment in development and evolution. Many are familiar with John Dewey’s 1909 assertion that evolutionary ideas overturned two thousand years of philosophy—but what exactly happened in the fifty years prior to Dewey’s claim? What form did evolutionary ideas take? When and how were they received by American philosophers? Although the various thinkers associated with pragmatism—from Charles Sanders Peirce to Jane Addams and beyond—were towering figures in American intellectual life, few realize the full extent of their engagement with the life sciences. In his analysis, Pearce focuses on a series of debates in biology from 1860 to 1910—from the instincts of honeybees to the inheritance of acquired characteristics—in which the pragmatists were active participants. If we want to understand the pragmatists and their influence, Pearce argues, we need to understand the relationship between pragmatism and biology. “Pragmatism’s Evolution is about the role of evolution, as a theory, in American pragmatism, as well as the early evolution of pragmatism itself.” —Isis “Superb.” —Metascience “[An] important book.” —Acta Biotheoretica “A significant and edifying work.” —Choice “Pearce has done something remarkable and all too rare: written a book at the intersection of philosophy, science, and history that is equally excellent in all three respects.” —International Journal of Philosophical Studies
Download or read book Environmental Epigenetics written by L. Joseph Su and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-18 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the toxicological and health implications of environmental epigenetics and provides knowledge through an interdisciplinary approach. Included in this volume are chapters outlining various environmental risk factors such as phthalates and dietary components, life states such as pregnancy and ageing, hormonal and metabolic considerations and specific disease risks such as cancer cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases. Environmental Epigenetics imparts integrative knowledge of the science of epigenetics and the issues raised in environmental epidemiology. This book is intended to serve both as a reference compendium on environmental epigenetics for scientists in academia, industry and laboratories and as a textbook for graduate level environmental health courses. Environmental Epigenetics imparts integrative knowledge of the science of epigenetics and the issues raised in environmental epidemiology. This book is intended to serve both as a reference compendium on environmental epigenetics for scientists in academia, industry and laboratories and as a textbook for graduate level environmental health courses.
Download or read book Evolution Time Production and the Environment written by Malte Faber and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long-run interactions between the economy and the natural environment are studied from all points of view. First, the aims of this overview are illustrated in Part I. Part II then explores and develops the concept of evolution, in particular distinguishing between evolution which does not involve the emergence of novelty, and evolution where novelty does occur. In Part III three types of time irreversibility are developed, and these concepts are used to show how time has been treated in the natural sciences, also typifying various schools of economic thought. Part IV is concerned with the economic modelling of these concepts. It extends and adapts neo-Austrian capital theory to provide a basis for the modelling of long-run economy-environment interactions. A heuristic simulation model is described, and its simulation results discussed. Part V draws some lessons from the earlier discussion and analysis. It also stresses the role and the importance of interdisciplinary work for the understanding of relationships between economic activity and the natural environment.
Download or read book Evolution on Planet Earth written by Lynn Rothschild and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2003-06-19 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Driving evolution forward, the Earth's physical environment has challenged the very survival of organisms and ecosystems throughout the ages. With a fresh new perspective, Evolution on Planet Earth shows how these physical realities and hurdles shaped the primary phases of life on the planet. The book's thorough coverage also includes chapters on more proximate factors and paleoenvironmental events that influenced the diversity of life. A team of notable ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and paleontologists join forces to describe drifting continents, extinction events, and climate change -- important topics that continue to shape Earth's inhabitants to this very day. In a world where global change has become an international issue, this book provides a several billion-year evolutionary perspective on what the environment and environmental change means to life.* Provides thorough background information on each topic while introducing cutting-edge research* Features original material solicited from the leading minds in evolutionary biology and geology today* Emphasizes the influence of massive geological forces - continental drift, volcanic activity, sea and tides
Download or read book Life Strategies Human Evolution Environmental Design written by V. Geist and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consider that you were asked how to ensure human survival. Where would you begin? Conservation of resources jumps to mind. We need to conserve resources in order that economic activities may continue. Alas, this is a false start. Resources are always defined by a given economic system, and only it determines what is and what is not a resource. Therefore, conserving resources implies only the perpetua tion of the appropriate economic system. Conservation of resources as we know them has nothing to do with the survival of mankind, but it has very much to do with the survival of the industrial system and society we live in today. We have to start, therefore, at a more basic level. This level, some may argue, is addressed by ensuring for human beings "clean genes. " Again, this is a mistaken beginning. It is thoroughly mistaken-for reasons of science. It is a false start because malfunctioning organs and morphological structures are not only due to deleterious hereditary factors but particularly due to unfavorable environments during early growth and development. Moreover, eugenics is not acceptable to any but a small fraction of society. Eugenics may not be irrelevant to our future, but is premature and should be of little concern until we understand how human genes and environment interact.
Download or read book Evolution in Changing Environments written by Richard Levins and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1968-08-21 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Levins, one of the leading explorers in the field of integrated population biology, considers the mutual interpenetration and joint evolution of organism and environment, occurring on several levels at once. Physiological and behavioral adaptations to short-term fluctuations of the environment condition the responses of populations to long-term changes and geographic gradients. These in turn affect the way species divide the environments among themselves in communities, and, therefore, the numbers of species which can coexist. Environment is treated here abstractly as pattern: patchiness, variability, range, etc. Populations are studied in their patterns: local heterogeneity, geographic variability, faunistic diversity, etc.
Download or read book Environmental Stress Adaptation and Evolution written by Rudolf Bijlsma and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1997-09-23 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most organisms and populations have to cope with hostile environments, threatening their existence. Their ability to respond phenotypically and genetically to these challenges and to evolve adaptive mechanisms is, therefore, crucial. The contributions to this book aim at understanding, from a evolutionary perspective, the impact of stress on biological systems. Scientists, applying different approaches spanning from the molecular and the protein level to individuals, populations and ecosystems, explore how organisms adapt to extreme environments, how stress changes genetic structure and affects life histories, how organisms cope with thermal stress through acclimation, and how environmental and genetic stress induce fluctuating asymmetry, shape selection pressure and cause extinction of populations. Finally, it discusses the role of stress in evolutionary change, from stress induced mutations and selection to speciation and evolution at the geological time scale. The book contains reviews and novel scientific results on the subject. It will be of interest to both researchers and graduate students and may serve as a text for graduate courses.
Download or read book Environmental Principles and the Evolution of Environmental Law written by Eloise Scotford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-02-09 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental principles – from the polluter pays and precautionary principles to the principles of integration and sustainability – proliferate in domestic and international legal and policy discourse, reflecting key goals of environmental protection and sustainable development on which there is apparent political consensus. Environmental principles also have a high profile in environmental law, beyond their popularity as policy and political concepts, as ideas that might unify the subject and provide it with conceptual foundations or boost its delivery of environmental outcomes. However, environmental principles are elusive legal concepts. This book deepens the legal understanding of environmental principles in light of recent legal developments. It analyses the increasing legal effects of environmental principles in different jurisdictions and demonstrates how they are shaping and revealing innovative and evolving bodies of environmental law. This analysis is a step forward in understanding a key feature of modern environmental law and presents a robust methodology for dealing with novel legal concepts in the subject. It also makes a contribution to environmental policy debates and discussions internationally that rely heavily on environmental principles, including their supposed legal effects.
Download or read book Origins and Evolution of Environmental Policies written by Tadayoshi Terao and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2021-02-26 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique book traces the origins and evolution of environmental policy formation, comparing the differences in this process between developing and developed countries. It focuses on the importance of the state’s role and issues of timing and sequence in the creation of environmental policies.
Download or read book Biotic Evolution and Environmental Change in Southeast Asia written by David Gower and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The flora and fauna of Southeast Asia are exceptionally diverse. The region includes several terrestrial biodiversity hotspots and is the principal global hotspot for marine diversity, but it also faces the most intense challenges of the current global biodiversity crisis. Providing reviews, syntheses and results of the latest research into Southeast Asian earth and organismal history, this book investigates the history, present and future of the fauna and flora of this bio- and geodiverse region. Leading authorities in the field explore key topics including palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, biogeography, population genetics and conservation biology, illustrating research approaches and themes with spatially, taxonomically and methodologically focused case studies. The volume also presents methodological advances in population genetics and historical biogeography. Exploring the fascinating environmental and biotic histories of Southeast Asia, this is an ideal resource for graduate students and researchers as well as environmental NGOs.
Download or read book Evolution of International Environmental Regimes written by Simone Schiele and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-06-12 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing specifically on the international climate regime, Simone Schiele examines international environmental regimes from a legal perspective and analyses a core feature of international regimes - their ability to evolve over time. In particular, she develops a theoretical framework based on general international law which allows for a thorough examination of the understanding of international law and the options for law-creation in international environmental regimes. The analysis therefore provides both a coherent understanding of the international climate regime and a starting point for further research in other regimes.
Download or read book Antarctic Climate Evolution written by Fabio Florindo and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2008-10-10 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Antarctic Climate Evolution is the first book dedicated to furthering knowledge on the evolution of the world's largest ice sheet over its ~34 million year history. This volume provides the latest information on subjects ranging from terrestrial and marine geology to sedimentology and glacier geophysics. - An overview of Antarctic climate change, analyzing historical, present-day and future developments - Contributions from leading experts and scholars from around the world - Informs and updates climate change scientists and experts in related areas of study
Download or read book Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology written by Laurence Mueller and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although biologists recognize evolutionary ecology by name, many only have a limited understanding of its conceptual roots and historical development. Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology fills that knowledge gap in a thought-provoking and readable format. Written by a world-renowned evolutionary ecologist, this book embodies a unique blend of expertise in combining theory and experiment, population genetics and ecology. Following an easily-accessible structure, this book encapsulates and chronologizes the history behind evolutionary ecology. It also focuses on the integration of age-structure and density-dependent selection into an understanding of life-history evolution. - Covers over 60 seminal breakthroughs and paradigm shifts in the field of evolutionary biology and ecology - Modular format permits ready access to each described subject - Historical overview of a field whose concepts are central to all of biology and relevant to a broad audience of biologists, science historians, and philosophers of science
