Author: Jason S. Anderson Publisher: ISBN: Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 452
Book Description
New discoveries of ancient vertebrates, filling in gaps in the fossil record, are quickly eroding the traditionally recognized differences between the principal groups of vertebrates—for example, between dinosaurs and birds—and radically changing our understanding of the evolutionary history of the major group of animals to which our species belongs. This book describes this changing scientific landscape and contributes to the revolution in our knowledge of the developmental mechanisms that underlie evolutionary transformation.
Author: Kenneth P. Dial Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 022626839X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 435
Book Description
How did flying birds evolve from running dinosaurs, terrestrial trotting tetrapods evolve from swimming fish, and whales return to swim in the sea? These are some of the great transformations in the 500-million-year history of vertebrate life. And with the aid of new techniques and approaches across a range of fields—work spanning multiple levels of biological organization from DNA sequences to organs and the physiology and ecology of whole organisms—we are now beginning to unravel the confounding evolutionary mysteries contained in the structure, genes, and fossil record of every living species. This book gathers a diverse team of renowned scientists to capture the excitement of these new discoveries in a collection that is both accessible to students and an important contribution to the future of its field. Marshaling a range of disciplines—from paleobiology to phylogenetics, developmental biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology—the contributors attack particular transformations in the head and neck, trunk, appendages such as fins and limbs, and the whole body, as well as offer synthetic perspectives. Illustrated throughout, Great Transformations in Vertebrate Evolution not only reveals the true origins of whales with legs, fish with elbows, wrists, and necks, and feathered dinosaurs, but also the relevance to our lives today of these extraordinary narratives of change.
Author: Max Hecht Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1468488511 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 901
Book Description
This volume is the result of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in England at Kingswood Hall of Residence, Royal Holloway College (London University), Surrey, during the last two weeks of July, 1976. The ASI was organized within the guide lines laid down by the Scientific Affairs Division of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. During the past two decades, significant advances have been made in our understanding of vertebrate evolution. The purpose of the Institute was to present the current status of our know ledge of vertebrate evolution above the species level. Since the subject matter was obviously too broad to be covered adequately in the limited time available, selected topics, problems, and areas which are applicable to vertebrate zoology as a whole were reviewed. The program was divided into three areas: (1) the theory and methodology of phyletic inference and approaches to the an alysis of macroevolutionary trends as applied to vertebrates; (2) the application of these methodological principles and an alytical processes to different groups and structures, particular ly in anatomy and paleontology; (3) the application of these re sults to classification. The basic principles considered in the first area were outlined in lectures covering the problems of character analysis, functional morphology, karyological evidence, biochemical evidence, morphogenesis, and biogeography.
Author: Robert Lynn Carroll Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521472326 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 464
Book Description
This new text provides an integrated view of the forces that influence the patterns and rates of vertebrate evolution from the level of living populations and species to those that resulted in the origin of the major vertebrate groups. The evolutionary roles of behavior, development, continental drift, and mass extinctions are compared with the importance of variation and natural selection that were emphasized by Darwin. It is extensively illustrated, showing major transitions between fish and amphibians, dinosaurs and birds, and land mammals to whales. No book since Simpson's Major Features of Evolution has attempted such a broad study of the patterns and forces of evolutionary change. Undergraduate students taking a general or advanced course on evolution, and graduate students and professionals in evolutionary biology and paleontology will find the book of great interest.
Author: Robert Lynn Carroll Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521478090 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 442
Book Description
The factors that influenced the evolution of the vertebrates are compared with the importance of variation and selection that Darwin emphasised in this broad study of the patterns and forces of evolutionary change.
Author: John Maynard Smith Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 019850294X Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 361
Book Description
During evolution there have been several major changes in the way genetic information is organized and transmitted from one generation to the next. These transitions include the origin of life itself, the first eukaryotic cells, reproduction by sexual means, the appearance of multicellular plants and animals, the emergence of cooperation and of animal societies. This is the first book to discuss all these major transitions and their implications for our understanding of evolution.Clearly written and illustrated with many original diagrams, this book will be welcomed by students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, and genetics.
Author: Per Erik Ahlberg Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 0203468031 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 433
Book Description
A multi-author volume Major Events in Early Vertebrate Evolution examines the origin and early evolution of the backboned animals (vertebrates)-the group which comprises all fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including ourselves. This volume draws together evidence from fossils, genes, and developmental biology (the study of how embry
Author: Brett Calcott Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 0262294532 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 330
Book Description
Drawing on recent advances in evolutionary biology, prominent scholars return to the question posed in a pathbreaking book: how evolution itself evolved. In 1995, John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry published their influential book The Major Transitions in Evolution. The "transitions" that Maynard Smith and Szathmáry chose to describe all constituted major changes in the kinds of organisms that existed but, most important, these events also transformed the evolutionary process itself. The evolution of new levels of biological organization, such as chromosomes, cells, multicelled organisms, and complex social groups radically changed the kinds of individuals natural selection could act upon. Many of these events also produced revolutionary changes in the process of inheritance, by expanding the range and fidelity of transmission, establishing new inheritance channels, and developing more open-ended sources of variation. Maynard Smith and Szathmáry had planned a major revision of their work, but the death of Maynard Smith in 2004 prevented this. In this volume, prominent scholars (including Szathmáry himself) reconsider and extend the earlier book's themes in light of recent developments in evolutionary biology. The contributors discuss different frameworks for understanding macroevolution, prokaryote evolution (the study of which has been aided by developments in molecular biology), and the complex evolution of multicellularity.
Author: Theagarten Lingham-Soliar Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3642537480 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 276
Book Description
The vertebrate integument arose about 450 million years ago as an ‘armour’ of dermal bony plates in small, jawless fish-like creatures, informally known as the ostracoderms. This book reviews the major changes that have occurred in the vertebrate integument from its beginnings to the present day. Critical questions concerning the origin, structure and functional biology of the bony integument are discussed and intrinsically linked to major steps in vertebrate evolution and phylogeny—the origin of jaws and the origin of teeth. The discussions include the origins of mineralization of major vertebrate skeletal components such as the dermatocranium, branchial arches and vertebral column. The advances that led to the origin of modern fishes and their phylogenetic development are reviewed and include the evolution of fins and replacement of the bony plates with several types of dermal scales. The evolution of reptiles saw a major transformation of the integument, with the epidermis becoming the protective outermost layer, from which the scales arose, while the dermis lay below it. The biological significance of the newly-evolved β-keratin in reptilian scales, among the toughest natural materials known, is discussed in the context of its major contribution to the great success of reptiles and to the evolution of feathers and avian flight. The dermis in many vertebrates is strengthened by layers of oppositely oriented cross-fibres, now firmly entrenched as a design principle of biomechanics. Throughout the book conventional ideas are discussed and a number of new hypotheses are presented in light of the latest developments. The long evolutionary history of vertebrates indicates that the significance of the Darwinian concept of “survival of the fittest” may be overstated, including in our own mammalian origins and that chance often plays a major role in evolutionary patterns. Extensive illustrations are included to support the verbal descriptions. Professor Theagarten Lingham-Soliar is in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Author: Jason S. Anderson
Author: Kenneth P. Dial
Author: Max Hecht
Author: Robert Lynn Carroll
Author: Robert Lynn Carroll
Author: John Maynard Smith
Author: Per Erik Ahlberg
Author: Brett Calcott
Author: Zerina Johanson
Author: Theagarten Lingham-Soliar