Download or read book Evolutionary Systems Biology written by Orkun S. Soyer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-07-23 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book aims to introduce the reader to the emerging field of Evolutionary Systems Biology, which approaches classical systems biology questions within an evolutionary framework. An evolutionary approach might allow understanding the significance of observed diversity, uncover “evolutionary design principles” and extend predictions made in model organisms to others. In addition, evolutionary systems biology can generate new insights into the adaptive landscape by combining molecular systems biology models and evolutionary simulations. This insight can enable the development of more detailed mechanistic evolutionary hypotheses.
Download or read book Evolutionary Systems Biology written by Anton Crombach and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-08-05 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition captures the advances made in the field of evolutionary systems biology since the publication of the first edition. The first edition focused on laying the foundations of evolutionary systems biology as an interdisciplinary field, where a way of thinking and asking questions is combined with a wide variety of tools, both experimental and theoretical/computational. Since publication of the first edition, evolutionary systems biology is now a well-known term describing this growing field. The new edition provides an overview of the current status and future developments of this interdisciplinary field. Chapters highlight several key achievements from the last decade and outline exciting new developments, including an understanding of the interplay between complexity and predictability in evolutionary systems, new viewpoints and methods to study organisms in evolving populations at the level of the genome, gene regulatory network, and metabolic network, and better analysis and modeling techniques that will open new avenues of scientific inquiry.
Download or read book The Biology of Moral Systems written by Richard D. Alexander and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 1987 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite wide acceptance that the attributes of living creatures have appeared through a cumulative evolutionary process guided chiefly by natural selection, many human activities have seemed analytically inaccessible through such an approach. Prominent evolutionary biologists, for example, have described morality as contrary to the direction of biological evolution, and moral philosophers rarely regard evolution as relevant to their discussions. The Biology of Moral Systems adopts the position that moral questions arise out of conflicts of interest, and that moral systems are ways of using confluences of interest at lower levels of social organization to deal with conflicts of interest at higher levels. Moral systems are described as systems of indirect reciprocity: humans gain and lose socially and reproductively not only by direct transactions, but also by the reputations they gain from the everyday flow of social interactions. The author develops a general theory of human interests, using senescence and effort theory from biology, to help analyze the patterning of human lifetimes. He argues that the ultimate interests of humans are reproductive, and that the concept of morality has arisen within groups because of its contribution to unity in the context, ultimately, of success in intergroup competition. He contends that morality is not easily relatable to universals, and he carries this argument into a discussion of what he calls the greatest of all moral problems, the nuclear arms race. "Crammed with sage observations on moral dilemmas and many reasons why an understanding of evolution based on natural selection will advance thinking in finding practical solutions to our most difficult social problems." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social SciencesRichard D. Alexander is Donald Ward Tinkle Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, and Curator of Insects, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. A recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Alexander is the author of Darwinism and Human Affairs.
Download or read book Evolutionary Genomics and Systems Biology written by Gustavo Caetano-Anollés and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 2010-07-08 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, authoritative look at an emergent area in post-genomic science, Evolutionary genomics is an up-and-coming, complex field that attempts to explain the biocomplexity of the living world. Evolutionary Genomics and Systems Biology is the first full-length book to blend established and emerging concepts in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, and structural biology, with the integrative views of network and systems biology. Three key aspects of evolutionary genomics and systems biology are covered in clear detail: the study of genomic history, i.e., understanding organismal evolution at the genomic level; the study of macromolecular complements, which encompasses the evolution of the protein and RNA machinery that propels life; and the evolutionary and dynamic study of wiring diagrams—macromolecular components in interaction—in the context of genomic complements. The book also features: A solid, comprehensive treatment of phylogenomics, the evolution of genomes, and the evolution of biological networks, within the framework of systems biology A special section on RNA biology—translation, evolution of structure, and micro RNA and regulation of gene expression Chapters on the mapping of genotypes to phenotypes, the role of information in biology, protein architecture and biological function, chromosomal rearrangements, and biological networks and disease Contributions by leading authorities on each topic Evolutionary Genomics and Systems Biology is an ideal book for students and professionals in genomics, bioinformatics, evolution, structural biology, complexity, origins of life, systematic biology, and organismal diversity, as well as those individuals interested in aspects of biological sciences as they interface with chemistry, physics, and computer science and engineering.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2016-04-14 with total page 2138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, Four Volume Set is the definitive go-to reference in the field of evolutionary biology. It provides a fully comprehensive review of the field in an easy to search structure. Under the collective leadership of fifteen distinguished section editors, it is comprised of articles written by leading experts in the field, providing a full review of the current status of each topic. The articles are up-to-date and fully illustrated with in-text references that allow readers to easily access primary literature. While all entries are authoritative and valuable to those with advanced understanding of evolutionary biology, they are also intended to be accessible to both advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Broad topics include the history of evolutionary biology, population genetics, quantitative genetics; speciation, life history evolution, evolution of sex and mating systems, evolutionary biogeography, evolutionary developmental biology, molecular and genome evolution, coevolution, phylogenetic methods, microbial evolution, diversification of plants and fungi, diversification of animals, and applied evolution. Presents fully comprehensive content, allowing easy access to fundamental information and links to primary research Contains concise articles by leading experts in the field that ensures current coverage of each topic Provides ancillary learning tools like tables, illustrations, and multimedia features to assist with the comprehension process
Download or read book The Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology written by Günter P. Wagner and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2000-10-31 with total page 647 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost all evolutionary biologists, indeed all biologists, use particular features to study life. These characteristics or features used by evolutionary biologists are used in a particular way to unravel a tangled evolutionary history, document the rate of evolutionary change, or as evidence of biodiversity. "Characters" are the "data" of evolutionary biology and they can be employed differently in research providing both opportunities and limitations. The Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology is about characters, their use, how different sorts of characters are limited, and what are appropriate methods for character analysis. Leading evolutionary biologists from around the world are contributors to this authoritative review of the "character concept." Because characters and the conception of characters are central to all studies of evolution, and because evolution is the central organizing principle of biology, this book will appeal to a wide cross-section of biologists. - Focuses upon "characters" -- fundamental data for evolutionary biology - Covers the myriad ways in which characters are defined, described, and distinguished - Includes historical, morphological, molecular, behavioral, and philosophical perspectives
Download or read book Foundations of Complex system Theories written by Sunny Y. Auyang and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes approaches to the study of complexity in the physical, biological, and social sciences.
Download or read book Inheritance Systems and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis written by Eva Jablonka and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-04 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current knowledge of the genetic, epigenetic, behavioural and symbolic systems of inheritance requires a revision and extension of the mid-twentieth-century, gene-based, 'Modern Synthesis' version of Darwinian evolutionary theory. We present the case for this by first outlining the history that led to the neo-Darwinian view of evolution. In the second section we describe and compare different types of inheritance, and in the third discuss the implications of a broad view of heredity for various aspects of evolutionary theory. We end with an examination of the philosophical and conceptual ramifications of evolutionary thinking that incorporates multiple inheritance systems.
Download or read book Evolution of Nervous Systems written by Georg F. Striedter and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2016-11-23 with total page 2064 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolution of Nervous Systems, Second Edition, Four Volume Set is a unique, major reference which offers the gold standard for those interested both in evolution and nervous systems. All biology only makes sense when seen in the light of evolution, and this is especially true for the nervous system. All animals have nervous systems that mediate their behaviors, many of them species specific, yet these nervous systems all evolved from the simple nervous system of a common ancestor. To understand these nervous systems, we need to know how they vary and how this variation emerged in evolution. In the first edition of this important reference work, over 100 distinguished neuroscientists assembled the current state-of-the-art knowledge on how nervous systems have evolved throughout the animal kingdom. This second edition remains rich in detail and broad in scope, outlining the changes in brain and nervous system organization that occurred from the first invertebrates and vertebrates, to present day fishes, reptiles, birds, mammals, and especially primates, including humans. The book also includes wholly new content, fully updating the chapters in the previous edition and offering brand new content on current developments in the field. Each of the volumes has been carefully restructured to offer expanded coverage of non-mammalian taxa, mammals, primates, and the human nervous system. The basic principles of brain evolution are discussed, as are mechanisms of change. The reader can select from chapters on highly specific topics or those that provide an overview of current thinking and approaches, making this an indispensable work for students and researchers alike. Presents a broad range of topics, ranging from genetic control of development in invertebrates, to human cognition, offering a one-stop resource for the evolution of nervous systems throughout the animal kingdom Incorporates the expertise of over 100 outstanding investigators who provide their conclusions in the context of the latest experimental results Presents areas of disagreement and consensus views that provide a holistic view of the subjects under discussion
Download or read book Biology s First Law written by Daniel W. McShea and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-07-15 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life on earth is characterized by three striking phenomena that demand explanation: adaptation—the marvelous fit between organism and environment; diversity—the great variety of organisms; and complexity—the enormous intricacy of their internal structure. Natural selection explains adaptation. But what explains diversity and complexity? Daniel W. McShea and Robert N. Brandon argue that there exists in evolution a spontaneous tendency toward increased diversity and complexity, one that acts whether natural selection is present or not. They call this tendency a biological law—the Zero-Force Evolutionary Law, or ZFEL. This law unifies the principles and data of biology under a single framework and invites a reconceptualization of the field of the same sort that Newton’s First Law brought to physics. Biology’s First Law shows how the ZFEL can be applied to the study of diversity and complexity and examines its wider implications for biology. Intended for evolutionary biologists, paleontologists, and other scientists studying complex systems, and written in a concise and engaging format that speaks to students and interdisciplinary practitioners alike, this book will also find an appreciative audience in the philosophy of science.
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 Theoretical Biology written by Brian C. Goodwin and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does complexity of development, structure, and function of organisms emerge from the relative simplicity of biochemistry and genetics? In Theoretical Biology, Brian Goodwin and Peter Saunders bring together a distinguished group of contributors to provide a broad-based yet coherent inquiry into biological processes. In the spirit of C. H. Waddington's Towards a Theoretical Biology, the authors seek to establish the generative principles that apply throughout the field of biology to give a unifying logical structure to diverse empirical phenomena. Major topics include self-organization in complex systems; order and adaptability in genetic networks; development and evolution; and the relevance of physics and mathematics to biology.
Download or read book Order in Living Organisms written by Rupert Riedl and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 1978 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Systems Evolutionary Biology written by Bor-Sen Chen and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2018-02-03 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Systems Evolutionary Biology: Biological Network Evolution Theory, Stochastic Evolutionary Game Strategies, and Applications to Systems Synthetic Biology discusses the evolutionary game theory and strategies of nonlinear stochastic biological networks under random genetic variations and environmental disturbances and their application to systematic synthetic biology design. The book provides more realistic stochastic biological system models to mimic the real biological systems in evolutionary process and then introduces network evolvability, stochastic evolutionary game theory and strategy based on nonlinear stochastic networks in evolution. Readers will find remarkable, revolutionary information on genetic evolutionary biology that be applied to economics, engineering and bioscience. - Explains network fitness, network evolvability and network robustness of biological networks from the systematic perspective - Discusses the evolutionary noncooperative and cooperative game strategies of biological networks - Offers detailed diagrams to help readers understand biological networks, their systematic behaviors and the simulational results of evolutionary biological networks - Includes examples in every chapter with computational simulation to illustrate the solution procedure of evolutionary theory, strategy and results
Download or read book The Biology of Moral Systems written by Richard Alexander and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1987, this book discusses the life and natural history of moral systems as seen through the eyes of a biologist. The volume offers a comprehensive introspective of the biology of a moral system by examining the evolutionary approach from perspectives of sociobiology and ideology. Morality in relation to conflicts and confluences of interest among humankind are further evaluated, with particular emphasis on the human psyche and the ontogeny of moral behaviour. Philosophical meets biological with insightful commentary on the morality of law and democracy. The book concludes with an epilogue, bibliography and name and subject index. It is clear, concise and contemporary and would be of use to those studying Biology, Philsophy and many other social sciences.
Download or read book Plant Systems Biology written by Sacha Baginsky and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-06-25 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume aims to provide a timely view of the state-of-the-art in systems biology. The editors take the opportunity to define systems biology as they and the contributing authors see it, and this will lay the groundwork for future studies. The volume is well-suited to both students and researchers interested in the methods of systems biology. Although the focus is on plant systems biology, the proposed material could be suitably applied to any organism.
Download or read book Principles of Evolution written by Jonathan Bard and published by Garland Science. This book was released on 2016-09-23 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Principles of Evolution covers all aspects of the subject. Following an introductory section that provides necessary background, it has chapters on the evidence for evolution that cover the fossil record, DNA-sequence homologies, and protein homologies (evo-devo). It also includes a full history of life from the first universal common ancestor, through the rise of the eukaryote and on to the major groups of phyla. This section is followed by one on the mechanism of evolution with chapters on variation, selection and speciation. The main part of the book ends with a chapter on human evolution and this is followed by appendices that expand on the making of fossils, the history of the subject and creationism. What marks this book as different from others on evolution is its systems-biology perspective. This new area focuses on the role of protein networks and on multi-level complexity, and is used in three contexts. First, most biological activity is driven by such networks and this has direct implications for understanding evo-devo and for seeing how variation is initiated, mainly during embryogenesis. Second, it provides the natural language for discussing phylogenetics. Third, evolutionary change involves events at levels ranging from the genome to the ecosystem and systems biology provides a context for integrating material of this complexity. The book assumes a basic grounding in biology but little mathematics as the difficult subject of evolutionary population genetics is mainly covered qualitatively, with major results being discussed and used rather than derived. Principles of Evolution will be an interesting and thought-provoking text for undergraduates and graduates across the biological sciences.
