Download or read book Evolutionary History written by Edmund Russell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-11 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We tend to see history and evolution springing from separate roots, one grounded in the human world and the other in the natural world. Human beings have, however, become probably the most powerful species shaping evolution today, and human-caused evolution in other species has probably been the most important force shaping human history. This book introduces readers to evolutionary history, a new field that unites history and biology to create a fuller understanding of the past than either can produce on its own. Evolutionary history can stimulate surprising new hypotheses for any field of history and evolutionary biology. How many art historians would have guessed that sculpture encouraged the evolution of tuskless elephants? How many biologists would have predicted that human poverty would accelerate animal evolution? How many military historians would have suspected that plant evolution would convert a counter-insurgency strategy into a rebel subsidy? With examples from around the globe, this book will help readers see the broadest patterns of history and the details of their own life in a new light.
Download or read book Early Evolutionary History of the Synapsida written by Christian F. Kammerer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-09-20 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Non-mammalian synapsids were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates from the Late Carboniferous to the Middle Triassic and play a key role in understanding the origin and evolution of mammals. Despite these facts and the outstanding fossil record of the group, early synapsids remain obscure. This book showcases the full breadth of contemporary research on non-mammalian synapsids, ranging from taxonomy and phylogenetics to functional morphology, biogeography, paleoecology, and patterns of diversity. It also underscores the importance and potential of studying non-mammalian synapsid paleobiology in its own right, not just in the context of mammalian evolution.
Download or read book The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes written by David J. Gower and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-08-11 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Latest developments in understanding how, when and where the extraordinary body plan and ecology of snakes evolved from lizard ancestors.
Download or read book Evolution written by Peter J. Bowler and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edition of Evolution: The History of an Idea is augmented by the most recent contributions to the history and study of evolutionary theory. It includes an updated bibliography that offers an unparalleled guide to further reading. As in the original edition, Bowler's evenhanded approach not only clarifies the history of his controversial subject but also adds significantly to our understanding of contemporary debates over it. The idea of evolution continued to evolve. - Back cover.
Download or read book Evolutionary History written by Edmund Russell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-11 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We tend to see history and evolution springing from separate roots, one grounded in the human world and the other in the natural world. Human beings have, however, become probably the most powerful species shaping evolution today, and human-caused evolution in other species has probably been the most important force shaping human history. This book introduces readers to evolutionary history, a new field that unites history and biology to create a fuller understanding of the past than either can produce on its own. Evolutionary history can stimulate surprising new hypotheses for any field of history and evolutionary biology. How many art historians would have guessed that sculpture encouraged the evolution of tuskless elephants? How many biologists would have predicted that human poverty would accelerate animal evolution? How many military historians would have suspected that plant evolution would convert a counter-insurgency strategy into a rebel subsidy? With examples from around the globe, this book will help readers see the broadest patterns of history and the details of their own life in a new light.
Download or read book Industrializing Organisms written by Susan Schrepfer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-03 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Men written by Richard G. Bribiescas and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Males account for roughly 50 percent of the global population, but in America and other places, they account for over 85 percent of violent crime. A graph of relative risk of death in human males shows that mortality is high immediately following birth, falls during childhood, then exhibits a distinct rise between the ages of 15 and 35—primarily the result of accidents, violence, and risky behaviors. Why? What compels males to drive fast, act violently, and behave stupidly? Why are men's lives so different from those of women? Men presents a new approach to understanding the human male by drawing upon life history and evolutionary theory. Because life history theory focuses on the timing of, and energetic investment in, particular aspects of physiology, such as growth and reproduction, Richard Bribiescas and his fellow anthropologists are now using it in the study of humans. This has led to an increased understanding of human female physiology—especially growth and reproduction—from an evolutionary and life history perspective. However, little attention has been directed toward these characteristics in males. Men provides a new understanding of human male physiology and applies it to contemporary health issues such as prostate cancer, testosterone replacement therapy, and the development of a male contraceptive. Men proves that understanding human physiology requires global research in traditionally overlooked areas and that evolutionary and life history theory have much to offer toward this endeavor.
Download or read book Evolutionary History of the Marsupials and an Analysis of Osteological Characters written by Frederick S. Szalay and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines a variety of problems in the understanding of the evolutionary history of the marsupials. In reviewing the evidence from bones, the author presents much new information on both living and fossil groups of marsupials. All groups of marsupials are treated in detail, and in the final chapter their history in space and time and their palaeobiogeography are considered.
Download or read book The Structure of Evolutionary Theory written by Stephen Jay Gould and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2002-03-21 with total page 1460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world’s most revered and eloquent interpreter of evolutionary ideas offers here a work of explanatory force unprecedented in our time—a landmark publication, both for its historical sweep and for its scientific vision. With characteristic attention to detail, Stephen Jay Gould first describes the content and discusses the history and origins of the three core commitments of classical Darwinism: that natural selection works on organisms, not genes or species; that it is almost exclusively the mechanism of adaptive evolutionary change; and that these changes are incremental, not drastic. Next, he examines the three critiques that currently challenge this classic Darwinian edifice: that selection operates on multiple levels, from the gene to the group; that evolution proceeds by a variety of mechanisms, not just natural selection; and that causes operating at broader scales, including catastrophes, have figured prominently in the course of evolution. Then, in a stunning tour de force that will likely stimulate discussion and debate for decades, Gould proposes his own system for integrating these classical commitments and contemporary critiques into a new structure of evolutionary thought. In 2001 the Library of Congress named Stephen Jay Gould one of America’s eighty-three Living Legends—people who embody the “quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance.” Each of these qualities finds full expression in this peerless work, the likes of which the scientific world has not seen—and may not see again—for well over a century.
Download or read book DE EVOLUTION written by Jeff Frank and published by Page Publishing Inc. This book was released on 2016-12-22 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A large sophisticated telescope complex sits atop a dormant volcano in one of Earth's most remote locations. Some incredibly bright but fiercely independent folks operate it much of the time. They detect, map, and perform threat analysis of near-Earth objects. Shortly after the world narrowly escapes an extinction event, they start collecting pieces of a related cosmic puzzle. When they've connected enough of them, an intriguing and disturbing picture emerges. Yet the most revealing pieces don't reveal themselves until after all life on Earth already has begun marching in lockstep toward possible oblivion.
Download or read book A New History of Life written by Peter Ward and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of life on Earth is, in some form or another, known to us all--or so we think. A New History of Life offers a provocative new account, based on the latest scientific research, of how life on our planet evolved--the first major new synthesis for general readers in two decades. Charles Darwin's theories, first published more than 150 years ago, form the backbone of how we understand the history of the Earth. In reality, the currently accepted history of life on Earth is so flawed, so out of date, that it's past time we need a 'New History of Life.' In their latest book, Joe Kirschvink and Peter Ward will show that many of our most cherished beliefs about the evolution of life are wrong. Gathering and analyzing years of discoveries and research not yet widely known to the public, A New History of Life proposes a different origin of species than the one Darwin proposed, one which includes eight-foot-long centipedes, a frozen “snowball Earth”, and the seeds for life originating on Mars. Drawing on their years of experience in paleontology, biology, chemistry, and astrobiology, experts Ward and Kirschvink paint a picture of the origins life on Earth that are at once too fabulous to imagine and too familiar to dismiss--and looking forward, A New History of Life brilliantly assembles insights from some of the latest scientific research to understand how life on Earth can and might evolve far into the future.
Download or read book Dogs written by Xiaoming Wang and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Xiaoming Wang and Richard H. Tedford combine their research with Mauricio Anton's impeccable reconstructions to present a remarkable portrait of canids over the past 40 million years. Wang and Tedford cull their history from the most recent scientific research conducted on the vast collections of the American Museum of Natural History and other leading institutions. With their rich fossil record, diverse adaptations to various environments, and different predatory specializations, canids are an ideal model organism for the mapping of predator behavior and morphological specializations. They also offer an excellent contrast to felids, which remain entrenched in extreme predatory specializations. The innovative illustrated approach of this book transforms the science of paleontology into a thrilling visual experience, and it forms the perfect accompaniment to an extremely important branch of animal and fossil study.
Download or read book Living Dinosaurs written by Dr. Gareth Dyke and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-02-15 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living Dinosaurs offers a snapshot of our current understanding of the origin and evolution of birds. After slumbering for more than a century, avian palaeontology has been awakened by startling new discoveries on almost every continent. Controversies about whether dinosaurs had real feathers or whether birds were related to dinosaurs have been swept away and replaced by new and more difficult questions: How old is the avian lineage? How did birds learn to fly? Which birds survived the great extinction that ended the Mesozoic Era and how did the avian genome evolve? Answers to these questions may help us understand how the different kinds of living birds are related to one another and how they evolved into their current niches. More importantly, they may help us understand what we need to do to help them survive the dramatic impacts of human activity on the planet.
Download or read book The Revolutionary Origins of Life and Death written by Pierre M. Durand and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-12-09 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of why an individual would actively kill itself has long been an evolutionary mystery. Pierre M. Durand’s ambitious book answers this question through close inspection of life and death in the earliest cellular life. As Durand shows us, cell death is a fascinating lens through which to examine the interconnectedness, in evolutionary terms, of life and death. It is a truism to note that one does not exist without the other, but just how does this play out in evolutionary history? These two processes have been studied from philosophical, theoretical, experimental, and genomic angles, but no one has yet integrated the information from these various disciplines. In this work, Durand synthesizes cellular studies of life and death looking at the origin of life and the evolutionary significance of programmed cellular death. The exciting and unexpected outcome of Durand’s analysis is the realization that life and death exhibit features of coevolution. The evolution of more complex cellular life depended on the coadaptation between traits that promote life and those that promote death. In an ironic twist, it becomes clear that, in many circumstances, programmed cell death is essential for sustaining life.
Download or read book Evolution in Four Dimensions revised edition written by Eva Jablonka and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-03-21 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering proposal for a pluralistic extension of evolutionary theory, now updated to reflect the most recent research. This new edition of the widely read Evolution in Four Dimensions has been revised to reflect the spate of new discoveries in biology since the book was first published in 2005, offering corrections, an updated bibliography, and a substantial new chapter. Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb's pioneering argument proposes that there is more to heredity than genes. They describe four “dimensions” in heredity—four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act. Jablonka and Lamb present a richer, more complex view of evolution than that offered by the gene-based Modern Synthesis, arguing that induced and acquired changes also play a role. Their lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors refine their arguments against the vigorous skepticism of the fictional “I.M.” (for Ipcha Mistabra—Aramaic for “the opposite conjecture”). The extensive new chapter, presented engagingly as a dialogue with I.M., updates the information on each of the four dimensions—with special attention to the epigenetic, where there has been an explosion of new research. Praise for the first edition “With courage and verve, and in a style accessible to general readers, Jablonka and Lamb lay out some of the exciting new pathways of Darwinian evolution that have been uncovered by contemporary research.” —Evelyn Fox Keller, MIT, author of Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines “In their beautifully written and impressively argued new book, Jablonka and Lamb show that the evidence from more than fifty years of molecular, behavioral and linguistic studies forces us to reevaluate our inherited understanding of evolution.” —Oren Harman, The New Republic “It is not only an enjoyable read, replete with ideas and facts of interest but it does the most valuable thing a book can do—it makes you think and reexamine your premises and long-held conclusions.” —Adam Wilkins, BioEssays
Download or read book The Evolutionary History of Nematodes written by George O. Poinar Jr. and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-03-05 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nematodes are one of the most abundant groups of invertebrates on the face of the earth. Their numbers are estimated to range from 1000 per cm2 in the sand-covered hydrogen sulphide ‘black zone’ beneath the ocean floors to 1.2 billion in a single hectare of soil. Estimates for their species diversity range from 100 000 to 10 million. The past history of nematodes is a mystery, since very few fossils have been discovered. This book establishes a solid base in palaeonematology with descriptions of 66 new fossil species and accounts of all previous fossil and subfossil nematodes from sedimentary deposits, coprolites, amber and mummies. It shows how nematode fossils can be used to establish lineages at various locations and time periods in the earth’s history and when nematodes entered into symbiotic and parasitic associations with plants and animals.
Download or read book Evolutionary History of Bats written by Gregg F. Gunnell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the rich evolutionary history of bats from multiple perspectives, presenting some of the most remarkable discoveries involving fossil bats.
