Download or read book Species Concepts in Biology written by Frank E. Zachos and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-10-05 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frank E. Zachos offers a comprehensive review of one of today’s most important and contentious issues in biology: the species problem. After setting the stage with key background information on the topic, the book provides a brief history of species concepts from antiquity to the Modern Synthesis, followed by a discussion of the ontological status of species with a focus on the individuality thesis and potential means of reconciling it with other philosophical approaches. More than 30 different species concepts found in the literature are presented in an annotated list, and the most important ones, including the Biological, Genetic, Evolutionary and different versions of the Phylogenetic Species Concept, are discussed in more detail. Specific questions addressed include the problem of asexual and prokaryotic species, intraspecific categories like subspecies and Evolutionarily Significant Units, and a potential solution to the species problem based on a hierarchical approach that distinguishes between ontological and operational species concepts. A full chapter is dedicated to the challenge of delimiting species by means of a discrete taxonomy in a continuous world of inherently fuzzy boundaries. Further, the book outlines the practical ramifications for ecology and evolutionary biology of how we define the species category, highlighting the danger of an apples and oranges problem if what we subsume under the same name (“species”) is in actuality a variety of different entities. A succinct summary chapter, glossary and annotated list of references round out the coverage, making the book essential reading for all biologists looking for an accessible introduction to the historical, philosophical and practical dimensions of the species problem.
Download or read book Species Concepts and Phylogenetic Theory written by Quentin D. Wheeler and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2000-06-22 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No question in theoretical biology has been more perennially controversial or perplexing than "What is a species?" Recent advances in phylogenetic theory have called into question traditional views of species and spawned many concepts that are currently competing for general acceptance. Once the subject of esoteric intellectual exercises, the "species problem" has emerged as a critically important aspect of global environmental concerns. Completion of an inventory of biodiversity, success in conservation, predictive knowledge about life on earth, management of material resources, formulation of scientifically credible public policy and law, and more depend upon our adoption of the "right" species concept. Quentin D. Wheeler and Rudolf Meier present a debate among top systematic biology theorists to consider the strengths and weaknesses of five competing concepts. Debaters include (1) Ernst Mayr (Biological Species Concept), (2) Rudolf Meier and Rainer Willmann (Hennigian species concept), (3) Brent Mishler and Edward Theriot (one version of the Phylogenetic Species Concept), (4) Quentin Wheeler and Norman Platnick (a competing version of the Phylogenetic Species Concept), and (5) E. O. Wiley and Richard Mayden (the Evolutionary Species Concept). Each author or pair of authors contributes three essays to the debate: first, a position paper with an opening argument for their respective concept of species; second, a counterpoint view of the weakness of competing concepts; and, finally, a rebuttal of the attacks made by other authors. This unique and lively debate format makes the comparative advantages and disadvantages of competing species concepts clear and accessible in a single book for the first time, bringing to light numerous controversies in phylogenetic theory, taxonomy, and philosophy of science that are important to a wide audience. Species Concepts and Phylogenetic Theory will meet a need among scientists, conservationists, policy-makers, and students of biology for an explicit, critical evaluation of a large and complex literature on species. An important reference for professionals, the book will prove especially useful in classrooms and discussion groups where students may find a concise, lucid entrée to one of the most complex questions facing science and society.
Download or read book Species Species Concepts and Primate Evolution written by William H. Kimbel and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-12-18 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A world of categones devmd of spirit waits for life to return. Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift The stock-in-trade of communicating hypotheses about the historical path of evolution is a graphical representation called a phylogenetic tree. In most such graphics, pairs of branches diverge from other branches, successively marching across abstract time toward the present. To each branch is tied a tag with a name, a binominal symbol that functions as does the name given to an individual human being. On phylogenetic trees the names symbolize species. What exactly do these names signify? What kind of information is communicated when we claim to have knowledge of the following types? "Tetonius mathewzi was ancestral to Pseudotetonius ambiguus. " "The sample of fossils attributed to Homo habzlis is too variable to contain only one species. " "Interbreeding populations of savanna baboons all belong to Papio anubis. " "Hylobates lar and H. pileatus interbreed in zones of geographic overlap. " While there is nearly universal agreement that the notion of the speczes is fundamental to our understanding of how evolution works, there is a very wide range of opinion on the conceptual content and meaning of such particular statements regarding species. This is because, oddly enough, evolutionary biolo gists are quite far from agreement on what a species is, how it attains this status, and what role it plays in evolution over the long term.
Download or read book Concepts of Biology written by Samantha Fowler and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black & white print. Concepts of Biology is designed for the typical introductory biology course for nonmajors, covering standard scope and sequence requirements. The text includes interesting applications and conveys the major themes of biology, with content that is meaningful and easy to understand. The book is designed to demonstrate biology concepts and to promote scientific literacy.
Download or read book The Pangenome written by Hervé Tettelin and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book offers the first comprehensive account of the pan-genome concept and its manifold implications. The realization that the genetic repertoire of a biological species always encompasses more than the genome of each individual is one of the earliest examples of big data in biology that opened biology to the unbounded. The study of genetic variation observed within a species challenges existing views and has profound consequences for our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underpinning bacterial biology and evolution. The underlying rationale extends well beyond the initial prokaryotic focus to all kingdoms of life and evolves into similar concepts for metagenomes, phenomes and epigenomes. The book’s respective chapters address a range of topics, from the serendipitous emergence of the pan-genome concept and its impacts on the fields of microbiology, vaccinology and antimicrobial resistance, to the study of microbial communities, bioinformatic applications and mathematical models that tie in with complex systems and economic theory. Given its scope, the book will appeal to a broad readership interested in population dynamics, evolutionary biology and genomics.
Download or read book Code International de Nomenclature Zoologique written by International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Evolutionary Genetics written by Charles W. Fox and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-04-27 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Fox and Jason Wolf have brought together leading researchers to produce a cutting-edge primer introducing readers to the major concepts in modern evolutionary genetics. This book spans the continuum of scale, from studies of DNA sequence evolution through proteins and development to multivariate phenotypic evolution, and the continuum of time, from ancient events that lead to current species diversity to the rapid evolution seen over relatively short time scales in experimental evolution studies. Chapters are accessible to an audience lacking extensive background in evolutionaryy genetics but also current and in-depth enough to be of value to established researchers in evolution biology.
Download or read book Concepts of Species written by C. N. Slobodchikoff and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 553 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.
Download or read book Species Concepts and Phylogenetic Theory written by Quentin D. Wheeler and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No question in theoretical biology has been more perennially controversial or perplexing than "What is a species?" Recent advances in phylogenetic theory have called into question traditional views of species and spawned many concepts that are currently competing for general acceptance. Once the subject of esoteric intellectual exercises, the "species problem" has emerged as a critically important aspect of global environmental concerns. Completion of an inventory of biodiversity, success in conservation, predictive knowledge about life on earth, management of material resources, formulation of scientifically credible public policy and law, and more depend upon our adoption of the "right" species concept. Quentin D. Wheeler and Rudolf Meier present a debate among top systematic biology theorists to consider the strengths and weaknesses of five competing concepts. Debaters include (1) Ernst Mayr (Biological Species Concept), (2) Rudolf Meier and Rainer Willmann (Hennigian species concept), (3) Brent Mishler and Edward Theriot (one version of the Phylogenetic Species Concept), (4) Quentin Wheeler and Norman Platnick (a competing version of the Phylogenetic Species Concept), and (5) E. O. Wiley and Richard Mayden (the Evolutionary Species Concept). Each author or pair of authors contributes three essays to the debate: first, a position paper with an opening argument for their respective concept of species; second, a counterpoint view of the weakness of competing concepts; and, finally, a rebuttal of the attacks made by other authors. This unique and lively debate format makes the comparative advantages and disadvantages of competing species concepts clear and accessible in a single book for the first time, bringing to light numerous controversies in phylogenetic theory, taxonomy, and philosophy of science that are important to a wide audience. Species Concepts and Phylogenetic Theory will meet a need among scientists, conservationists, policy-makers, and students of biology for an explicit, critical evaluation of a large and complex literature on species. An important reference for professionals, the book will prove especially useful in classrooms and discussion groups where students may find a concise, lucid entrée to one of the most complex questions facing science and society.
Download or read book Predictive Species and Habitat Modeling in Landscape Ecology written by C. Ashton Drew and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-11-25 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most projects in Landscape Ecology, at some point, define a species-habitat association. These models are inherently spatial, dealing with landscapes and their configurations. Whether coding behavioral rules for dispersal of simulated organisms through simulated landscapes, or designing the sampling extent of field surveys and experiments in real landscapes, landscape ecologists must make assumptions about how organisms experience and utilize the landscape. These convenient working postulates allow modelers to project the model in time and space, yet rarely are they explicitly considered. The early years of landscape ecology necessarily focused on the evolution of effective data sources, metrics, and statistical approaches that could truly capture the spatial and temporal patterns and processes of interest. Now that these tools are well established, we reflect on the ecological theories that underpin the assumptions commonly made during species distribution modeling and mapping. This is crucial for applying models to questions of global sustainability. Due to the inherent use of GIS for much of this kind of research, and as several authors’ research involves the production of multicolored map figures, there would be an 8-page color insert. Additional color figures could be made available through a digital archive, or by cost contributions of the chapter authors. Where applicable, would be relevant chapters’ GIS data and model code available through a digital archive. The practice of data and code sharing is becoming standard in GIS studies, is an inherent method of this book, and will serve to add additional research value to the book for both academic and practitioner audiences.
Download or read book Concepts and Values in Biodiversity written by Dirk Lanzerath and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-23 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity may refer to the diversity of genes, species or ecosystems in general. These varying concepts of biodiversity occasionally lead to conflicts among researchers and policy makers, as each of them require a customized type of protection strategy. This book addresses the questions surrounding the merits of conserving an existing situation, evolutionary development or the intentional substitution of one genome, species or ecosystem for another. Any practical steps towards the protection of biodiversity demand a definition of that which is to be protected and, in turn, the motivations for protecting biodiversity. Is biodiversity a necessary model which is also useful, or does it carry intrinsic value? Debates like this are particularly complex when interested parties address it from different conceptual and moral perspectives. Comprised of three parts, each complemented by a short introductory paragraph, this collection presents a variety of approaches to this challenge. The chapters cover the perspectives of environmental scientists with expertise in evolutionary, environmental biology, systematic zoology and botany, as well as those of researchers with expertise in philosophy, ethics, politics, law and economics. This combination facilitates a truly interdisciplinary debate by highlighting hitherto unacknowledged implications that inform current academic and political debates on biodiversity and its protection. The book should be of interest to students and researchers of environment studies, biodiversity, environmental philosophy, ethics and management.
Download or read book Species written by M.F. Claridge and published by Taylor & Francis US. This book was released on 1997-03-31 with total page 1 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major thrust of scientific concern in recent years has been the problem of documenting and conserving biodiversity and the establishment of systems of sustainable development. This volume reviews the practical application of concepts and technologies.
Download or read book Endless Forms written by Daniel J. Howard and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1998 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Speciation is one of the great themes of evolutionary biology. It is the process through which new species are born and diversity generated. Yet for many years our understanding of the process consisted of little more than a perception that if populations are isolated geographically, they will diverge genetically and may come to form new species. This situation began to change in the 1960s as an increasing number of biologists challenged the exclusivity of allopatric speciation and began to probe more deeply into the actual process by which divergence occurs and reproductive isolation is acquired. This focus on process led to many new insights, but numerous questions remain and speciation is now one of the most dynamic areas of research in modern evolutionary biology. This volume presents the newest research findings on speciation bringing readers up to day on species concepts, modes of speciation, and the nature of reproductive barriers. It also discusses the forces that drive divergence of populations, the genetic control of reproductive isolation, and the role played by hybrid zones and hybridization in speciation.
Download or read book Cryptic Species written by Alexandre K. Monro and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-09-08 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book critically evaluates cryptic species - a growing trend in taxonomy - and their importance for evolutionary biology.
Download or read book Species written by John S. Wilkins and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2009-09-08 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complex idea of "species" has evolved over time, yet its meaning is far from resolved. This comprehensive work takes a fresh look at an idea central to the field of biology by tracing its history from antiquity to today. John S. Wilkins explores the essentialist view, a staple of logic from Plato and Aristotle through the Middle Ages to fairly recent times, and considers the idea of species in natural history—a concept often connected to reproduction. Tracing "generative conceptions" of species back through Darwin to Epicurus, Wilkins provides a new perspective on the relationship between philosophical and biological approaches to this concept. He also reviews the array of current definitions. Species is a benchmark exploration and clarification of a concept fundamental to the past, present, and future of the natural sciences.
Download or read book Systematics and the Origin of Species written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2005-09-28 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In December 2004, the National Academy of Sciences sponsored a colloquium on "Systematics and the Origin of Species" to celebrate Ernst Mayr's 100th anniversary and to explore current knowledge concerning the origin of species. In 1942, Ernst Mayr, one of the twentieth century's greatest scientists, published Systematics and the Origin of Species, a seminal book of the modern theory of evolution, where he advanced the significance of population variation in the understanding of evolutionary process and the origin of new species. Mayr formulated the transition from Linnaeus's static species concept to the dynamic species concept of the modern theory of evolution and emphasized the species as a community of populations, the role of reproductive isolation, and the ecological interactions between species. In addition to a preceding essay by Edward O. Wilson, this book includes the 16 papers presented by distinguished evolutionists at the colloquium. The papers are organized into sections covering the origins of species barriers, the processes of species divergence, the nature of species, the meaning of "species," and genomic approaches for understanding diversity and speciation.
