Phenotypic Evolution PDF Download

Author: Carl Schlichting
Publisher: Sinauer Associates Incorporated
ISBN: 9780878937998
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
Phenotypic expression has variously been attributed to developmental, genetic and environmental factors. This book presents a cohesive view of how adaptive phenotypes evolve, recognizing organisms as complex genetic-epigenetic systems that develop in response to changing environments.

Author: David W. Pfennig
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000387585
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
Phenotypic plasticity – the ability of an individual organism to alter its features in direct response to a change in its environment – is ubiquitous. Understanding how and why this phenomenon exists is crucial because it unites all levels of biological inquiry. This book brings together researchers who approach plasticity from diverse perspectives to explore new ideas and recent findings about the causes and consequences of plasticity. Contributors also discuss such controversial topics as how plasticity shapes ecological and evolutionary processes; whether specific plastic responses can be passed to offspring; and whether plasticity has left an important imprint on the history of life. Importantly, each chapter highlights key questions for future research. Drawing on numerous studies of plasticity in natural populations of plants and animals, this book aims to foster greater appreciation for this important, but frequently misunderstood phenomenon. Key Features Written in an accessible style with numerous illustrations, including many in color Reviews the history of the study of plasticity, including Darwin’s views Most chapters conclude with recommendations for future research

Author: Massimo Pigliucci
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801867880
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
"The author begins by defining phenotypic plasticity and detailing its history, including important experiments and methods of statistical and graphical analysis. He then provides extended examples and discussion of the molecular basis of plasticity, the plasticity of development, the ecology of plastic responses, and the role of costs and constraints in the evolution of plasticity. A brief epilogue looks at how plasticity studies shed light on the nature/nurture debate in the popular media.".

Author: Massimo Pigliucci
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195160436
Category : Developmental biology
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
The interface of evolution and development has attracted the attention of evolutionary and developmental biologists, geneticists, and organismal biologists. Pigliucci (ecology, evolutionary biology, University of Tennessee) and Preston (botany, Standford University) bring together work by experts in the field of phenotype integration, shedding ligh.

Author: Mary Jane West-Eberhard
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198028563
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 815

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Book Description
The first comprehensive synthesis on development and evolution: it applies to all aspects of development, at all levels of organization and in all organisms, taking advantage of modern findings on behavior, genetics, endocrinology, molecular biology, evolutionary theory and phylogenetics to show the connections between developmental mechanisms and evolutionary change. This book solves key problems that have impeded a definitive synthesis in the past. It uses new concepts and specific examples to show how to relate environmentally sensitive development to the genetic theory of adaptive evolution and to explain major patterns of change. In this book development includes not only embryology and the ontogeny of morphology, sometimes portrayed inadequately as governed by "regulatory genes," but also behavioral development and physiological adaptation, where plasticity is mediated by genetically complex mechanisms like hormones and learning. The book shows how the universal qualities of phenotypes--modular organization and plasticity--facilitate both integration and change. Here you will learn why it is wrong to describe organisms as genetically programmed; why environmental induction is likely to be more important in evolution than random mutation; and why it is crucial to consider both selection and developmental mechanism in explanations of adaptive evolution. This book satisfies the need for a truly general book on development, plasticity and evolution that applies to living organisms in all of their life stages and environments. Using an immense compendium of examples on many kinds of organisms, from viruses and bacteria to higher plants and animals, it shows how the phenotype is reorganized during evolution to produce novelties, and how alternative phenotypes occupy a pivotal role as a phase of evolution that fosters diversification and speeds change. The arguments of this book call for a new view of the major themes of evolutionary biology, as shown in chapters on gradualism, homology, environmental induction, speciation, radiation, macroevolution, punctuation, and the maintenance of sex. No other treatment of development and evolution since Darwin's offers such a comprehensive and critical discussion of the relevant issues. Developmental Plasticity and Evolution is designed for biologists interested in the development and evolution of behavior, life-history patterns, ecology, physiology, morphology and speciation. It will also appeal to evolutionary paleontologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and teachers of general biology.

Author: Henry C. Plotkin
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262161077
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
These six original essays focus on a potentially important aspect of evolutionary biology, the possible causal role of phenotypic behavior in evolution. Balancing theory with actual or potential empiricism, they provide the first full examination of this topic. Plotkin's opening chapter outlines the "conceptual minefields" that the contributors attempt to negotiate: What is an adequate theory of evolution? What is behavior and is it possible to maintain a distinction between behavior and other attributes of the phenotype? is all, or only a special subset, of behavior both a cause and a consequence of evolution? And what do the theoretical issues mean in empirical terms? He concludes that any attempt to understand the causal role of behavior in evolution requires a more complicated theoretical structure than that of orthodox neoDarwinism, a conceptualization of behavior as a distinctive set of phenotypic attributes, and the accumulation of more data. David L. Hull (Northwestern University) provides an alternative account of the evolutionary process by developing a hierarchy of replicators-interactors-lineages to replace the traditional one of genes-organisms-species. Robert N. Brandon (Duke University) also posits hierarchy as an appropriate architecture for the theoretical complexity needed to support an examination of the role of behavior in evolution. F. J. Odling-Smee (Brunei University) outlines a theoretical structure to encompass the behavior of phenotypes, concentrating on the unrestricted definition of behavior (everything that an animal does). The remaining chapters are as much concerned with evidence as with theory. Plotkin concentrates on a restricted definition of behavior (behavior that is a product of choosing intelligence), reviewing our empirical knowledge of how learning might influence evolution. R.I.M. Dunbar (University College, London) uses empirical studies of vertebrate social behavior to deal with the question of how the social systems, especially of primates, might have a causal role in species evolution. A Bradford Book

Author: Masatoshi Nei
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0199661731
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
The purpose of this book is to present a new theory of mutation-driven evolution, which is based on recent advances in genomics and evolutionary developmental biology. This theory asserts that the driving force of evolution is mutation and natural selection is of secondary importance.

Author:
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0124172016
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Genes and Evolution, the latest volume in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, covers genes and evolution, with contributions from an international board of authors. The chapters provide a comprehensive set of reviews covering such topics as genes and plant domestication, gene networks, phenotypic loss in vertebrates, reproducible evolutionary changes, and epithelial tissue. - Covers the area of genes and evolution - Contains invaluable contributions from an international board of authors - Provides a comprehensive set of reviews covering such topics as genes and plant domestication, gene networks, phenotypic loss in vertebrates, reproducible evolutionary changes and epithelial tissue

Author: Benedikt Hallgrimsson Ph.D.
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520948823
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 469

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Book Description
Illuminating the processes and patterns that link genotype to phenotype, epigenetics seeks to explain features, characters, and developmental mechanisms that can only be understood in terms of interactions that arise above the level of the gene. With chapters written by leading authorities, this volume offers a broad integrative survey of epigenetics. Approaching this complex subject from a variety of perspectives, it presents a broad, historically grounded view that demonstrates the utility of this approach for understanding complex biological systems in development, disease, and evolution. Chapters cover such topics as morphogenesis and organ formation, conceptual foundations, and cell differentiation, and together demonstrate that the integration of epigenetics into mainstream developmental biology is essential for answering fundamental questions about how phenotypic traits are produced.

Author: David A. Baum
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069117587X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 886

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Book Description
The essential one-volume reference to evolution The Princeton Guide to Evolution is a comprehensive, concise, and authoritative reference to the major subjects and key concepts in evolutionary biology, from genes to mass extinctions. Edited by a distinguished team of evolutionary biologists, with contributions from leading researchers, the guide contains some 100 clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics in seven major areas: phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society. Complete with more than 100 illustrations (including eight pages in color), glossaries of key terms, suggestions for further reading on each topic, and an index, this is an essential volume for undergraduate and graduate students, scientists in related fields, and anyone else with a serious interest in evolution. Explains key topics in some 100 concise and authoritative articles written by a team of leading evolutionary biologists Contains more than 100 illustrations, including eight pages in color Each article includes an outline, glossary, bibliography, and cross-references Covers phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society