Download or read book Genetics Paleontology and Macroevolution written by Jeffrey S. Levinton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-08-06 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expanded and updated second edition comprehensively looks at macroevolution, integrating evolutionary processes at all levels to explain animal diversity.
Download or read book Genetics paleontology and macroevolution written by Jeffrey Levinton and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 637 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tempo and Mode in Evolution written by for the National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1995-02-09 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since George Gaylord Simpson published Tempo and Mode in Evolution in 1944, discoveries in paleontology and genetics have abounded. This volume brings together the findings and insights of today's leading experts in the study of evolution, including Ayala, W. Ford Doolittle, and Stephen Jay Gould. The volume examines early cellular evolution, explores changes in the tempo of evolution between the Precambrian and Phanerozoic periods, and reconstructs the Cambrian evolutionary burst. Long-neglected despite Darwin's interest in it, species extinction is discussed in detail. Although the absence of data kept Simpson from exploring human evolution in his book, the current volume covers morphological and genetic changes in human populations, contradicting the popular claim that all modern humans descend from a single woman. This book discusses the role of molecular clocks, the results of evolution in 12 populations of Escherichia coli propagated for 10,000 generations, a physical map of Drosophila chromosomes, and evidence for "hitchhiking" by mutations.
Download or read book At the Water s Edge written by Carl Zimmer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1999-09-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everybody Out of the Pond At the Water's Edge will change the way you think about your place in the world. The awesome journey of life's transformation from the first microbes 4 billion years ago to Homo sapiens today is an epic that we are only now beginning to grasp. Magnificent and bizarre, it is the story of how we got here, what we left behind, and what we brought with us. We all know about evolution, but it still seems absurd that our ancestors were fish. Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution -- microevolution -- but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago. In this book, you will find a dazzling, brash literary talent and a rigorous scientific sensibility gracefully brought together. Carl Zimmer provides a comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative answer to the mystery of how nature actually made itself.
Download or read book Challenging the Modern Synthesis written by Philippe Huneman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its origin in the early 20th century, the Modern Synthesis theory of evolution has grown to become the orthodox view on the process of organic evolution. Its central defining feature is the prominence it accords to genes in the explanation of evolutionary dynamics. Since the advent of the 21st century, however, the Modern Synthesis has been subject to repeated and sustained challenges. These are largely empirically driven. In the last two decades, evolutionary biology has witnessed unprecedented growth in the understanding of those processes that underwrite the development of organisms and the inheritance of characters. The empirical advances usher in challenges to the conceptual foundations of evolutionary theory. The extent to which the new biology challenges the Modern Synthesis has been the subject of lively debate. Many current commentators charge that the new biology of the 21st century calls for a revision, extension, or wholesale rejection of the Modern Synthesis Theory of evolution. Defenders of the Modern Synthesis maintain that the theory can accommodate the exciting new advances in biology. The original essays collected in this volume survey the various challenges to the Modern Synthesis arising from the new biology of the 21st century. The authors are evolutionary biologists, philosophers of science, and historians of biology from Europe and North America. Each of the essays discusses a particular challenge to the Modern Synthesis treatment of inheritance, development, or adaptation. Taken together, the essays cover a spectrum of views, from those that contend that the Modern Synthesis can rise to the challenges of the new biology, with little or no revision required, to those that call for the abandonment of the Modern Synthesis. The collection will be of interest to researchers and students in evolutionary biology, and the philosophy and history of the biological sciences.
Download or read book Macroevolution written by Steven M. Stanley and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Not only is a wealth of evidence presented to support the model of punctuated equilibria, but Stanley's stream of refreshing insights into classic topics of evolution, such as living fossils, mass extinctions and adaptive radiations add further weight to the validity of the general model".--GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. "Overall, Stanley offers an imaginative treatment of almost every issue in macroevolution".--AMERICAN SCIENTIST. 192 illustrations.
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.
Download or read book Paleontology written by Derek Turner and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-28 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of the paleobiological revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, paleontologists continue to investigate far-reaching questions about how evolution works. Many of those questions have a philosophical dimension. How is macroevolution related to evolutionary changes within populations? Is evolutionary history contingent? How much can we know about the causes of evolutionary trends? How do paleontologists read the patterns in the fossil record to learn about the underlying evolutionary processes? Derek Turner explores these and other questions, introducing the reader to exciting recent work in the philosophy of paleontology and to theoretical issues including punctuated equilibria and species selection. He also critically examines some of the major accomplishments and arguments of paleontologists of the last 40 years.
Download or read book Evolution written by David Zeigler and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-04-14 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolution: Components and Mechanisms introduces the many recent discoveries and insights that have added to the discipline of organic evolution, and combines them with the key topics needed to gain a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of evolution. Each chapter covers an important topic or factor pertinent to a modern understanding of evolutionary theory, allowing easy access to particular topics for either study or review. Many chapters are cross-referenced. Modern evolutionary theory has expanded significantly within only the past two to three decades. In recent times the definition of a gene has evolved, the definition of organic evolution itself is in need of some modification, the number of known mechanisms of evolutionary change has increased dramatically, and the emphasis placed on opportunity and contingency has increased. This book synthesizes these changes and presents many of the novel topics in evolutionary theory in an accessible and thorough format. This book is an ideal, up-to-date resource for biologists, geneticists, evolutionary biologists, developmental biologists, and researchers in, as well as students and academics in these areas and professional scientists in many subfields of biology. - Discusses many of the mechanisms responsible for evolutionary change - Includes an appendix that provides a brief synopsis of these mechanisms with most discussed in greater detail in respective chapters - Aids readers in their organization and understanding of the material by addressing the basic concepts and topics surrounding organic evolution - Covers some topics not typically addressed, such as opportunity, contingency, symbiosis, and progress
Download or read book Unfinished Synthesis written by Niles Eldredge and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1985-11-21 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study provides a stimulating critique of contemporary evolutionary thought, analyzing the Modern Synthesis first developed by Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, and George Gaylord Simpson. The author argues that although only genes and organisms are taken as historic "individuals" in conventional theory, species, higher taxa, and ecological entities such as populations and communities should also be construed as individuals--an approach that yields the ecological and genealogical hierarchies that interact to produce evolution. This clearly stated, controversial work will provoke much debate among evolutionary biologists, systematists, paleontologists, and ecologists, as well as a wide range of educated lay readers.
Download or read book A Companion to Anthropological Genetics written by Dennis H. O'Rourke and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the latest research in anthropological genetics and understand the genome’s role in cultural and social development A Companion to Anthropological Genetics illustrates the role of genetic analysis in advancing the modern study of human origins, populations, evolution, and diversity. Broad in scope, this essential reference work establishes and explores the relationship between genetic research and the major questions of anthropological study. Through contributions by leading researchers, this collection explores molecular genetics and evolutionary mechanisms in the context of macro- and microevolution, paleontology, phylogeny, diet, and disease, with detailed explanations of quantitative methods, including coalescent and approximate Bayesian computation. With an emphasis on contextualizing new and developing genetic research within anthropological frameworks, this text offers critical perspective on the conditions of molecular evolution that accompany cultural and social transformation, while also addressing critical disciplinary questions, such as the ethical issues surrounding ancestry testing and community-based genetic research. Acts as an essential reference on the contributions of genetic science to the field of anthropology Features new work by leading researchers of the field Explores the evolution of immunity, including the genetics and epigenetics of pathogens, chronic illness, and disease resistance Provides in-depth examination of mutation and dietary adaptation, including AMY1, lactase persistence, and sensory polymorphisms Explains essential quantitative and phylogenetic methods for aligning genomic analysis with evolution and migration time scales Offering thorough coverage on leading questions and developing research, A Companion to Anthropological Genetics is a comprehensive resource for students and scholars.
Download or read book The Origin of Higher Taxa written by T. S. Kemp and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text discusses whether the origin of radically new kinds of organisms - new higher taxa - are the result of normal Darwinian evolution proceeding, or whether unusual genetic processes and/or special environmental circumstances are necessary.
Download or read book Icons of Evolution written by Jonathan Wells and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everything you were taught about evolution is wrong.
Download or read book Developmental Plasticity and Evolution written by Mary Jane West-Eberhard and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-03-13 with total page 815 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive synthesis on development and evolution: it applies to all aspects of development, at all levels of organization and in all organisms, taking advantage of modern findings on behavior, genetics, endocrinology, molecular biology, evolutionary theory and phylogenetics to show the connections between developmental mechanisms and evolutionary change. This book solves key problems that have impeded a definitive synthesis in the past. It uses new concepts and specific examples to show how to relate environmentally sensitive development to the genetic theory of adaptive evolution and to explain major patterns of change. In this book development includes not only embryology and the ontogeny of morphology, sometimes portrayed inadequately as governed by "regulatory genes," but also behavioral development and physiological adaptation, where plasticity is mediated by genetically complex mechanisms like hormones and learning. The book shows how the universal qualities of phenotypes--modular organization and plasticity--facilitate both integration and change. Here you will learn why it is wrong to describe organisms as genetically programmed; why environmental induction is likely to be more important in evolution than random mutation; and why it is crucial to consider both selection and developmental mechanism in explanations of adaptive evolution. This book satisfies the need for a truly general book on development, plasticity and evolution that applies to living organisms in all of their life stages and environments. Using an immense compendium of examples on many kinds of organisms, from viruses and bacteria to higher plants and animals, it shows how the phenotype is reorganized during evolution to produce novelties, and how alternative phenotypes occupy a pivotal role as a phase of evolution that fosters diversification and speeds change. The arguments of this book call for a new view of the major themes of evolutionary biology, as shown in chapters on gradualism, homology, environmental induction, speciation, radiation, macroevolution, punctuation, and the maintenance of sex. No other treatment of development and evolution since Darwin's offers such a comprehensive and critical discussion of the relevant issues. Developmental Plasticity and Evolution is designed for biologists interested in the development and evolution of behavior, life-history patterns, ecology, physiology, morphology and speciation. It will also appeal to evolutionary paleontologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and teachers of general biology.
Download or read book Tempo and Mode in Evolution written by George Gaylord Simpson and published by . This book was released on 1965 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Why Evolution is True written by Jerry A. Coyne and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-01-14 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For all the discussion in the media about creationism and 'Intelligent Design', virtually nothing has been said about the evidence in question - the evidence for evolution by natural selection. Yet, as this succinct and important book shows, that evidence is vast, varied, and magnificent, and drawn from many disparate fields of science. The very latest research is uncovering a stream of evidence revealing evolution in action - from the actual observation of a species splitting into two, to new fossil discoveries, to the deciphering of the evidence stored in our genome. Why Evolution is True weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics, palaeontology, geology, molecular biology, anatomy, and development to demonstrate the 'indelible stamp' of the processes first proposed by Darwin. It is a crisp, lucid, and accessible statement that will leave no one with an open mind in any doubt about the truth of evolution.
Download or read book Species and Speciation in the Fossil Record written by Warren D. Allmon and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-10-05 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The literature of paleobiology is brimming with qualifiers and cautions about using species in the fossil record, or equating such species with those recognized among living organisms. Species and Speciation in the Fossil Record digs through this literature and surveys the recent research on species in paleobiology. In these pages, experts in the field examine what they think species are - in their particular taxon of specialty or more generally in the fossil record. They also reflect on what the answers mean for thinking about species in macroevolution. The first step in this approach is an overview of the Modern Synthesis, and paleobiology’s development of quantitative ways of documenting and analyzing variation with fossil assemblages. Following that, this volume’s central chapters explore the challenges of recognizing and defining species from fossil specimens, and show how with careful interpretation and a clear species concept, fossil species may be sufficiently robust for meaningful paleobiological analyses. Tempo and mode of speciation over time are also explored, exhibiting how the concept of species, if more refined, can reveal enormous amounts about the interplay between species origins and extinction and local and global climate change.
