The Coevolutionary Process

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The Coevolutionary Process

Author : John N. Thompson
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226797678
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis The Coevolutionary Process by : John N. Thompson

Download or read book The Coevolutionary Process written by John N. Thompson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-04-24 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional ecological approaches to species evolution have frequently studied too few species, relatively small areas, and relatively short time spans. In The Coevolutionary Process, John N. Thompson advances a new conceptual approach to the evolution of species interactions—the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution. Thompson demonstrates how an integrated study of life histories, genetics, and the geographic structure of populations yields a broader understanding of coevolution, or the development of reciprocal adaptations and specializations in interdependent species. Using examples of species interactions from an enormous range of taxa, Thompson examines how and when extreme specialization evolves in interdependent species and how geographic differences in specialization, adaptation, and the outcomes of interactions shape coevolution. Through the geographic mosaic theory, Thompson bridges the gap between the study of specialization and coevolution in local communities and the study of broader patterns seen in comparisons of the phylogenies of interacting species.

The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution

Author : John N. Thompson
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226797627
Total Pages : 456 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution by : John N. Thompson

Download or read book The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution written by John N. Thompson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005-06-15 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coevolution—reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species driven by natural selection—is one of the most important ecological and genetic processes organizing the earth's biodiversity: most plants and animals require coevolved interactions with other species to survive and reproduce. The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution analyzes how the biology of species provides the raw material for long-term coevolution, evaluates how local coadaptation forms the basic module of coevolutionary change, and explores how the coevolutionary process reshapes locally coevolving interactions across the earth's constantly changing landscapes. Picking up where his influential The Coevolutionary Process left off, John N. Thompsonsynthesizes the state of a rapidly developing science that integrates approaches from evolutionary ecology, population genetics, phylogeography, systematics, evolutionary biochemistry and physiology, and molecular biology. Using models, data, and hypotheses to develop a complete conceptual framework, Thompson also draws on examples from a wide range of taxa and environments, illustrating the expanding breadth and depth of research in coevolutionary biology.

Interaction and Coevolution

Author : John N. Thompson
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022612732X
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (261 download)

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Book Synopsis Interaction and Coevolution by : John N. Thompson

Download or read book Interaction and Coevolution written by John N. Thompson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-02-14 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “It is not only the species that change evolutionarily through interactions . . . the interactions themselves also change.” Thus states John N. Thompson in the foreword to Interaction and Coevolution, the first title in his series of books exploring the relentless nature of evolution and the processes that shape the web of life. Originally published in 1982 more as an idea piece—an early attempt to synthesize then academically distinct but logically linked strands of ecological thought and to suggest avenues for further research—than as a data-driven monograph, Interaction and Coevolution would go on to be considered a landmark study that pointed to the beginning of a new discipline. Through chapters on antagonism, mutualism, and the effects of these interactions on populations, speciation, and community structure, Thompson seeks to explain not only how interactions differ in the selection pressures they exert on species, but also when interactions are most likely to lead to coevolution. In this era of climate change and swiftly transforming environments, the ideas Thompson puts forward in Interaction and Coevolution are more relevant than ever before.

Coevolution

Author : William H. Durham
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780804721561
Total Pages : 658 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (215 download)

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Book Synopsis Coevolution by : William H. Durham

Download or read book Coevolution written by William H. Durham and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Darwin's "On the Origins of Species" had two principal goals: to show that species had not been separately created and to show that natural selection had been the main force behind their proliferation and descent from common ancestors. In "Coevolution," the author proposes a powerful new theory of cultural evolution--that is, of the descent with modification of the shared conceptual systems we call "cultures"--that is parallel in many ways to Darwin's theory of organic evolution. The author suggests that a process of cultural selection, or preservation by preference, driven chiefly by choice or imposition depending on the circumstances, has been the main but not exclusive force of cultural change. He shows that this process gives rise to five major patterns or "modes" in which cultural change is at odds with genetic change. Each of the five modes is discussed in some detail and its existence confirmed through one or more case studies chosen for their heuristic value, the robustness of their data, and their broader implications. But "Coevolution" predicts not simply the existence of the five modes of gene-culture relations; it also predicts their relative importance in the ongoing dynamics of cultural change in particular cases. The case studies themselves are lucid and innovative reexaminations of an array of oft-pondered anthropological topics--plural marriage, sickle-cell anemia, basic color terms, adult lactose absorption, incest taboos, headhunting, and cannibalism. In a general case, the author's goal is to demonstrate that an evolutionary analysis of both genes and culture has much to contribute to our understanding of human diversity, particularly behavioral diversity, and thus to the resolution of age-old questions about nature and nurture, genes and culture.

Relentless Evolution

Author : John N. Thompson
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022601889X
Total Pages : 510 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (26 download)

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Book Synopsis Relentless Evolution by : John N. Thompson

Download or read book Relentless Evolution written by John N. Thompson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a glance, most species seem adapted to the environment in which they live. Yet species relentlessly evolve, and populations within species evolve in different ways. Evolution, as it turns out, is much more dynamic than biologists realized just a few decades ago. In Relentless Evolution, John N. Thompson explores why adaptive evolution never ceases and why natural selection acts on species in so many different ways. Thompson presents a view of life in which ongoing evolution is essential and inevitable. Each chapter focuses on one of the major problems in adaptive evolution: How fast is evolution? How strong is natural selection? How do species co-opt the genomes of other species as they adapt? Why does adaptive evolution sometimes lead to more, rather than less, genetic variation within populations? How does the process of adaptation drive the evolution of new species? How does coevolution among species continually reshape the web of life? And, more generally, how are our views of adaptive evolution changing? Relentless Evolution draws on studies of all the major forms of life—from microbes that evolve in microcosms within a few weeks to plants and animals that sometimes evolve in detectable ways within a few decades. It shows evolution not as a slow and stately process, but rather as a continual and sometimes frenetic process that favors yet more evolutionary change.

The Coevolution

Author : Edward Ashford Lee
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262043939
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis The Coevolution by : Edward Ashford Lee

Download or read book The Coevolution written by Edward Ashford Lee and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Should digital technology be viewed as a new life form, sharing our ecosystem and coevolving with us? Are humans defining technology, or is technology defining humans? In this book, Edward Ashford Lee considers the case that we are less in control of the trajectory of technology than we think. It shapes us as much as we shape it, and it may be more defensible to think of technology as the result of a Darwinian coevolution than the result of top-down intelligent design. Richard Dawkins famously said that a chicken is an egg's way of making another egg. Is a human a computer's way of making another computer? To understand this question requires a deep dive into how evolution works, how humans are different from computers, and how the way technology develops resembles the emergence of a new life form on our planet. Lee presents the case for considering digital beings to be living, then offers counterarguments. What we humans do with our minds is more than computation, and what digital systems do—be teleported at the speed of light, backed up, and restored—may never be possible for humans. To believe that we are simply computations, he argues, is a “dataist” faith and scientifically indefensible. Digital beings depend on humans—and humans depend on digital beings. More likely than a planetary wipe-out of humanity is an ongoing, symbiotic coevolution of culture and technology.

Analysis of Evolutionary Processes

Author : Fabio Dercole
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400828341
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Analysis of Evolutionary Processes by : Fabio Dercole

Download or read book Analysis of Evolutionary Processes written by Fabio Dercole and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-11 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Genes, Mind, and Culture

Author : Charles J Lumsden
Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 981448069X
Total Pages : 496 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (144 download)

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Book Synopsis Genes, Mind, and Culture by : Charles J Lumsden

Download or read book Genes, Mind, and Culture written by Charles J Lumsden and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2005-08-11 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long considered one of the most provocative and demanding major works on human sociobiology, Genes, Mind, and Culture introduces the concept of gene-culture coevolution. It has been out of print for several years, and in this volume Lumsden and Wilson provide a much needed facsimile edition of their original work, together with a major review of progress in the discipline during the ensuing quarter century. They argue compellingly that human nature is neither arbitrary nor predetermined, and identify mechanisms that energize the upward translation from genes to culture. The authors also assess the properties of genetic evolution of mind within emergent cultural patterns. Lumsden and Wilson explore the rich and sophisticated data of developmental psychology and cognitive science in a fashion that, for the first time, aligns these disciplines with human sociobiology. The authors also draw on population genetics, cultural anthropology, and mathematical physics to set human sociobiology on a predictive base, and so trace the main steps that lead from the genes through human consciousness to culture. Contents:The Next Synthesis: 25 Years of Genes, Mind, and CultureThe Primary Epigenetic RulesThe Secondary Epigenetic RulesGene-Culture TranslationThe Gene-Culture Adaptive LandscapeThe Coevolutionary CircuitThe Biogeography of the MindGene-Culture Coevolution and Social Theory Readership: For the biological and social scientists, as well as applied mathematicians, philosophers, and historians of science, the book will indeed interest and be accessible to researchers, academics and lecturers. Keywords:Genes;Genome;Mind;Culture;Sociobiology;Meme;Consilience;Holism;Consciousness;Development;Epigenesis;Epigenetic;Emergence;Social Physics;Evolution;Darwin;Nonlinear Dynamics;Complexity;ChaosKey Features:Presents a richly multidisciplinary subject matter that appeal to academic readers in the biological, social, and mathematical sciences, as well as in philosophy and the history of scienceEach chapter is organized in a way that non-mathematical readers can assess the key arguments and results while reserving the mathematical sections for future studyExtensive use of diagrams and graphics supplement each chapter's text and mathematical developmentsA Glossary section makes the book's technical vocabulary instantly accessible at any point in the text

Coevolution of Life on Hosts

Author : Dale H. Clayton
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022630227X
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (263 download)

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Book Synopsis Coevolution of Life on Hosts by : Dale H. Clayton

Download or read book Coevolution of Life on Hosts written by Dale H. Clayton and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many of us, the mere mention of lice forces an immediate hand to the head, and recollection of childhood experience with nits, special shampoos, etc. But for a certain breed of biologist, lice make for fascinating scientific fodder, especially so if you are a scientist studying coevolution. Lice and their various hosts--humans, birds, etc. --provide a stunning example of the ecology of species coevolution. This system of complex symbiotic relations reveals some of the ecological principles of coevolutionary relations, one of the most exciting areas of research in evolutionary biology of recent. This work provides an introduction to coevolutionary concepts and approaches, ranging from microevolutionary (ecological) time to macroevolutionary time. The authors then use the system of parasitic lice and their hosts to illustrate some of these different concepts and approaches. They draw examples from a variety of other coevolving systems for comparative purposes, and emphasize the integration of cophylogenetic, comparative, and experimental data in testing coevolutionary hypotheses. Because lice are permanent parasites that spend their entire lifecycle on the body of the host, their close ecological association makes them ideally suited for this kind of synthetic overview of coevolution."

In the Light of Evolution

Author : National Academy of Sciences
Publisher : Sackler Colloquium
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis In the Light of Evolution by : National Academy of Sciences

Download or read book In the Light of Evolution written by National Academy of Sciences and published by Sackler Colloquium. This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.

Evolutionary Processes in the Natural History of Religion

Author : Hansjörg Hemminger
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030704084
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (37 download)

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Book Synopsis Evolutionary Processes in the Natural History of Religion by : Hansjörg Hemminger

Download or read book Evolutionary Processes in the Natural History of Religion written by Hansjörg Hemminger and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-22 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of religion by the humanities and social sciences has become receptive for an evolutionary perspective. Some proposals model the evolution of religion in Darwinian terms, or construct a synergy between biological and non-Darwinian processes. The results, however, have not yet become truly interdisciplinary. The biological theory of evolution in form of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) is only sparsely represented in theories published so far by scholars of religion. Therefore this book reverses the line of view and asks how their results assort with evolutionary biology: How can the subject area “religion” integrated into behavioral biology? How is theory building affected by the asymmetry between the scarce empirical knowledge of prehistoric religion, and the body of knowledge about extant and historic religions? How does hominin evolution in general relate to the evolution of religion? Are there evolutionary pre-adaptations? Subsequent versions of evolutionary biology from the original Darwinism to EES are used in interdisciplinary constructs. Can they be integrated into a comprehensive theory? The biological concept most often used is co-evolution, in form of a gene-culture co-evolution. However, the term denotes a process different from biological co-evolution. Important EES concepts do not appear in present models of religious evolution: e.g. neutral evolution, evolutionary drift, evolutionary constraints etc. How to include them into an interdisciplinary approach? Does the cognitive science of religion (CSR) harmonize with behavioral biology and the brain sciences? Religion as part of human culture is supported by a complex, multi-level behavioral system. How can it be modeled scientifically? The book addresses graduate students and researchers concerned about the scientific study of religion, and biologist interested in interdisciplinary theory building in the field.

Genes, Mind, and Culture

Author : Charles J. Lumsden
Publisher : Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 456 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Genes, Mind, and Culture by : Charles J. Lumsden

Download or read book Genes, Mind, and Culture written by Charles J. Lumsden and published by Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1981 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes the reciprocative relationship between genes in individuals and the production of culture and shows how predictions about genetic evolution within a cultural pattern can be made.

Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process

Author : John M. Ziman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521542173
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (421 download)

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Book Synopsis Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process by : John M. Ziman

Download or read book Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process written by John M. Ziman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-09-18 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ground-breaking yet non-technical analysis of the analogy that technological artefacts 'evolve' like biological organisms.

Human Evolution Beyond Biology and Culture

Author : Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108470971
Total Pages : 575 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis Human Evolution Beyond Biology and Culture by : Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh

Download or read book Human Evolution Beyond Biology and Culture written by Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete account of evolutionary thought in the social, environmental and policy sciences, creating bridges with biology.

Handbook of Natural Computing

Author : Grzegorz Rozenberg
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9783540929093
Total Pages : 2052 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Handbook of Natural Computing by : Grzegorz Rozenberg

Download or read book Handbook of Natural Computing written by Grzegorz Rozenberg and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-07-09 with total page 2052 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural Computing is the field of research that investigates both human-designed computing inspired by nature and computing taking place in nature, i.e., it investigates models and computational techniques inspired by nature and also it investigates phenomena taking place in nature in terms of information processing. Examples of the first strand of research covered by the handbook include neural computation inspired by the functioning of the brain; evolutionary computation inspired by Darwinian evolution of species; cellular automata inspired by intercellular communication; swarm intelligence inspired by the behavior of groups of organisms; artificial immune systems inspired by the natural immune system; artificial life systems inspired by the properties of natural life in general; membrane computing inspired by the compartmentalized ways in which cells process information; and amorphous computing inspired by morphogenesis. Other examples of natural-computing paradigms are molecular computing and quantum computing, where the goal is to replace traditional electronic hardware, e.g., by bioware in molecular computing. In molecular computing, data are encoded as biomolecules and then molecular biology tools are used to transform the data, thus performing computations. In quantum computing, one exploits quantum-mechanical phenomena to perform computations and secure communications more efficiently than classical physics and, hence, traditional hardware allows. The second strand of research covered by the handbook, computation taking place in nature, is represented by investigations into, among others, the computational nature of self-assembly, which lies at the core of nanoscience, the computational nature of developmental processes, the computational nature of biochemical reactions, the computational nature of bacterial communication, the computational nature of brain processes, and the systems biology approach to bionetworks where cellular processes are treated in terms of communication and interaction, and, hence, in terms of computation. We are now witnessing exciting interaction between computer science and the natural sciences. While the natural sciences are rapidly absorbing notions, techniques and methodologies intrinsic to information processing, computer science is adapting and extending its traditional notion of computation, and computational techniques, to account for computation taking place in nature around us. Natural Computing is an important catalyst for this two-way interaction, and this handbook is a major record of this important development.

Coevolution of Animals and Plants

Author : Lawrence E. Gilbert
Publisher : University of Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 0292710569
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (927 download)

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Book Synopsis Coevolution of Animals and Plants by : Lawrence E. Gilbert

Download or read book Coevolution of Animals and Plants written by Lawrence E. Gilbert and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 1980-06 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has long been recognized that plants and animals profoundly affect one another’s characteristics during the course of evolution. However, the importance of coevolution as a dynamic process involving such diverse factors as chemical communication, population structure and dynamics, energetics, and the evolution, structure, and functioning of ecosystems has been widely recognized for a comparatively short time. Coevolution represents a point of view about the structure of nature that only began to be fully explored in the late twentieth century. The papers presented here herald its emergence as an important and promising field of biological research. Coevolution of Animals and Plants is the first book to focus on the dynamic aspects of animal-plant coevolution. It covers, as broadly as possible, all the ways in which plants interact with animals. Thus, it includes discussions of leaf-feeding animals and their impact on plant evolution as well as of predator-prey relationships involving the seeds of angiosperms. Several papers deal with the most familiar aspect of mutualistic plant-animal interactions—pollination relationships. The interactions of orchids and bees, ants and plants, and butterflies and plants are discussed. One article provides a fascinating example of more indirect relationships centered around the role of carotenoids, which are produced by plants but play a fundamental part in the visual systems of both plants and animals. Coevolution of Animals and Plants provides a general conceptual framework for studies on animal-plant interaction. The papers are written from a theoretical, rather than a speculative, standpoint, stressing patterns that can be applied in a broader sense to relationships within ecosystems. Contributors to the volume include Paul Feeny, Miriam Rothschild, Christopher Smith, Brian Hocking, Lawrence Gilbert, Calaway Dodson, Herbert Baker, Bernd Heinrich, Doyle McKey, and Gordon Frankie.

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology

Author :
Publisher : Academic Press
ISBN 13 : 0128004266
Total Pages : 2138 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology by :

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