Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Evolutionary Theory PDF full book. Access full book title Evolutionary Theory by Sean H. Rice. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Sean H. Rice Publisher: Sinauer Associates Incorporated ISBN: 9780878937028 Category : Mathematics Languages : en Pages : 370
Book Description
Evolutionary Theory is for graduate students, researchers, and advanced undergraduates who want an understanding of the mathematical and biological reasoning that underlies evolutionary theory. The book covers all of the major theoretical approaches used to study the mechanics of evolution, including classical one- and two-locus models, diffusion theory, coalescent theory, quantitative genetics, and game theory. There are also chapters on theoretical approaches to the evolution of development and on multilevel selection theory. Each subject is illustrated by focusing on those results that have the greatest power to influence the way that we think about how evolution works. These major results are developed in detail, with many accompanying illustrations, showing exactly how they are derived and how the mathematics relates to the biological insights that they yield. In this way, the reader learns something of the actual machinery of different branches of theory while gaining a deeper understanding of the evolutionary process. Roughly half of the book focuses on gene-based models, the other half being concerned with general phenotype-based theory. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the fundamental relationships between the different branches of theory, illustrating how all of these branches are united by a few basic, universal, principles. The only mathematical background assumed is basic calculus. More advanced mathematical methods are explained, with the help of an extensive appendix, when they are needed.
Author: Brian Charlesworth Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0198804369 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 169
Book Description
This text is about the central role of evolution in shaping the nature and diversity of the living world. It describes the processes of natural selection, how adaptations arise, and how new species form, as well as summarizing the evidence for evolution
Author: Robert Boyd Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 0226069338 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 339
Book Description
How do biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural factors combine to change societies over the long run? Boyd and Richerson explore how genetic and cultural factors interact, under the influence of evolutionary forces, to produce the diversity we see in human cultures. Using methods developed by population biologists, they propose a theory of cultural evolution that is an original and fair-minded alternative to the sociobiology debate.
Author: Sean H. Rice Publisher: Sinauer Associates Incorporated ISBN: 9780878937028 Category : Mathematics Languages : en Pages : 370
Book Description
Evolutionary Theory is for graduate students, researchers, and advanced undergraduates who want an understanding of the mathematical and biological reasoning that underlies evolutionary theory. The book covers all of the major theoretical approaches used to study the mechanics of evolution, including classical one- and two-locus models, diffusion theory, coalescent theory, quantitative genetics, and game theory. There are also chapters on theoretical approaches to the evolution of development and on multilevel selection theory. Each subject is illustrated by focusing on those results that have the greatest power to influence the way that we think about how evolution works. These major results are developed in detail, with many accompanying illustrations, showing exactly how they are derived and how the mathematics relates to the biological insights that they yield. In this way, the reader learns something of the actual machinery of different branches of theory while gaining a deeper understanding of the evolutionary process. Roughly half of the book focuses on gene-based models, the other half being concerned with general phenotype-based theory. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the fundamental relationships between the different branches of theory, illustrating how all of these branches are united by a few basic, universal, principles. The only mathematical background assumed is basic calculus. More advanced mathematical methods are explained, with the help of an extensive appendix, when they are needed.
Author: Jason B. Wolf Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: 9780195128062 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 348
Book Description
Over the last two decades, research into epistasis has seen explosive growth and has moved the focus of research in evolutionary genetics from a traditional additive approach. We now know the effects of genes are rarely independent, and to reach a fuller understanding of the process of evolution we need to look at gene interactions as well as gene-environment interactions. This book is an overview of non-additive evolutionary genetics, integrating all work to date on all levels of evolutionary investigation of the importance of epistasis in the evolutionary process in general. It includes a historical perspective on this emerging field, in-depth discussion of terminology, discussions of the effects of epistasis at several different levels of biological organization and combinations of theoretical and experimental approaches to analysis.
Author: Fabio Dercole Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 1400828341 Category : Mathematics Languages : en Pages : 352
Book Description
Quantitative approaches to evolutionary biology traditionally consider evolutionary change in isolation from an important pressure in natural selection: the demography of coevolving populations. In Analysis of Evolutionary Processes, Fabio Dercole and Sergio Rinaldi have written the first comprehensive book on Adaptive Dynamics (AD), a quantitative modeling approach that explicitly links evolutionary changes to demographic ones. The book shows how the so-called AD canonical equation can answer questions of paramount interest in biology, engineering, and the social sciences, especially economics. After introducing the basics of evolutionary processes and classifying available modeling approaches, Dercole and Rinaldi give a detailed presentation of the derivation of the AD canonical equation, an ordinary differential equation that focuses on evolutionary processes driven by rare and small innovations. The authors then look at important features of evolutionary dynamics as viewed through the lens of AD. They present their discovery of the first chaotic evolutionary attractor, which calls into question the common view that coevolution produces exquisitely harmonious adaptations between species. And, opening up potential new lines of research by providing the first application of AD to economics, they show how AD can explain the emergence of technological variety. Analysis of Evolutionary Processes will interest anyone looking for a self-contained treatment of AD for self-study or teaching, including graduate students and researchers in mathematical and theoretical biology, applied mathematics, and theoretical economics.
Author: Niles Eldredge Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 022642619X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 394
Book Description
The natural world is infinitely complex and hierarchically structured, with smaller units forming the components of progressively larger systems: molecules make up cells, cells comprise tissues and organs that are, in turn, parts of individual organisms, which are united into populations and integrated into yet more encompassing ecosystems. In the face of such awe-inspiring complexity, there is a need for a comprehensive, non-reductionist evolutionary theory. Having emerged at the crossroads of paleobiology, genetics, and developmental biology, the hierarchical approach to evolution provides a unifying perspective on the natural world and offers an operational framework for scientists seeking to understand the way complex biological systems work and evolve. Coedited by one of the founders of hierarchy theory and featuring a diverse and renowned group of contributors, this volume provides an integrated, comprehensive, cutting-edge introduction to the hierarchy theory of evolution. From sweeping historical reviews to philosophical pieces, theoretical essays, and strictly empirical chapters, it reveals hierarchy theory as a vibrant field of scientific enterprise that holds promise for unification across the life sciences and offers new venues of empirical and theoretical research. Stretching from molecules to the biosphere, hierarchy theory aims to provide an all-encompassing understanding of evolution and—with this first collection devoted entirely to the concept—will help make transparent the fundamental patterns that propel living systems.
Author: Grant Ramsey Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 022640191X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 368
Book Description
This illuminating volume explores the effects of chance on evolution, covering diverse perspectives from scientists, philosophers, and historians. The evolution of species, from single-celled organisms to multicellular animals and plants, is the result of a long and highly chancy history. But how profoundly has chance shaped life on earth? And what, precisely, do we mean by chance? Bringing together biologists, philosophers of science, and historians of science, Chance in Evolution is the first book to untangle the far-reaching effects of chance, contingency, and randomness on the evolution of life. The book begins by placing chance in historical context, starting with the ancients and moving through Darwin to contemporary biology. It documents the shifts in our understanding of chance as Darwin’s theory of evolution developed into the modern synthesis, and how the acceptance of chance in Darwinian theory affected theological resistance to it. Other chapters discuss how chance relates to the concepts of genetic drift, mutation, and parallel evolution—as well as recent work in paleobiology and the experimental evolution of microbes. By engaging in collaboration across biology, history, philosophy, and theology, this book offers a comprehensive overview both of the history of chance in evolution and of our current understanding of the impact of chance on life.
Author: Evitar Nevo Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 0323142494 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 797
Book Description
Evolutionary Processes and Theory contains the proceedings of a workshop held in Israel in March 1985. Contributors explore evolutionary processes and theory and highlight advances in knowledge concerning differentiation, metabolic and immunological mechanisms, and the molecular biology of the genome. Issues that are being debated are also considered, including the origin and evolution of sexual systems, the genetics of altruism, and general forms and levels of social evolution. This volume is organized into six sections encompassing 33 chapters and begins with an overview of the evolutionary problems of molecular biology. Some chapters are devoted to topics such as the role of gene regulation in evolutionary processes; the structural diversity and evolution of intermediate filament proteins; and adaptation and evolution in the immune system. The next section examines the tempo and mode of molecular evolution, including that of hybrid dysgenesis systems, as well as the statistical aspects of the molecular clock. Later chapters focus on DNA and protein sequences; sexual selection and speciation; and the relation between speciation mechanisms and macroevolutionary patterns. The book also methodically explains population genetics, with particular reference to the altruistic behavior in sibling groups with unrelated intruders, the endosperm evolution in higher plants, and the evolutionary aspects of sexual reproduction in predominantly asexual populations. This book will be of interest to geneticists and molecular biologists.
Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1461522013 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 277
Book Description
Resource-Based and Evolutionary Theories of the Firm: Towards a Synthesis explores the intersection of evolutionary theories of the firm with an emergent body of research in the field of strategic management that has been broadly referred to as the `resource-based view of the firm'. The volume approaches strategic questions from several vantage points, thereby fostering a useful cross-fertilization of ideas. The views presented spring from a variety of sources, namely the principles of strategic management, organisation economics, and population ecology.
Author: Jörgen W. Weibull Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 9780262731218 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 292
Book Description
Introduces current evolutionary game theory--where ideas from evolutionary biology and rationalistic economics meet--emphasizing the links between static and dynamic approaches and noncooperative game theory. This text introduces current evolutionary game theory--where ideas from evolutionary biology and rationalistic economics meet--emphasizing the links between static and dynamic approaches and noncooperative game theory. Much of the text is devoted to the key concepts of evolutionary stability and replicator dynamics. The former highlights the role of mutations and the latter the mechanisms of selection. Moreover, set-valued static and dynamic stability concepts, as well as processes of social evolution, are discussed. Separate background chapters are devoted to noncooperative game theory and the theory of ordinary differential equations. There are examples throughout as well as individual chapter summaries. Because evolutionary game theory is a fast-moving field that is itself branching out and rapidly evolving, Jörgen Weibull has judiciously focused on clarifying and explaining core elements of the theory in an up-to-date, comprehensive, and self-contained treatment. The result is a text for second-year graduate students in economic theory, other social sciences, and evolutionary biology. The book goes beyond filling the gap between texts by Maynard-Smith and Hofbauer and Sigmund that are currently being used in the field. Evolutionary Game Theory will also serve as an introduction for those embarking on research in this area as well as a reference for those already familiar with the field. Weibull provides an overview of the developments that have taken place in this branch of game theory, discusses the mathematical tools needed to understand the area, describes both the motivation and intuition for the concepts involved, and explains why and how it is relevant to economics.
Author: Sean H. Rice
Author: Brian Charlesworth
Author: Robert Boyd
Author: Sean H. Rice
Author: Jason B. Wolf
Author: Fabio Dercole
Author: Niles Eldredge
Author: Grant Ramsey
Author: Evitar Nevo
Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery
Author: Jörgen W. Weibull