Niche Construction

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Niche Construction

F. John Odling-Smee,Kevin N. Laland,Marcus W. Feldman
Niche Construction Book PDF

Author : F. John Odling-Smee,Kevin N. Laland,Marcus W. Feldman
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 488 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2013-02-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781400847266

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Niche Construction by F. John Odling-Smee,Kevin N. Laland,Marcus W. Feldman Pdf

The seemingly innocent observation that the activities of organisms bring about changes in environments is so obvious that it seems an unlikely focus for a new line of thinking about evolution. Yet niche construction--as this process of organism-driven environmental modification is known--has hidden complexities. By transforming biotic and abiotic sources of natural selection in external environments, niche construction generates feedback in evolution on a scale hitherto underestimated--and in a manner that transforms the evolutionary dynamic. It also plays a critical role in ecology, supporting ecosystem engineering and influencing the flow of energy and nutrients through ecosystems. Despite this, niche construction has been given short shrift in theoretical biology, in part because it cannot be fully understood within the framework of standard evolutionary theory. Wedding evolution and ecology, this book extends evolutionary theory by formally including niche construction and ecological inheritance as additional evolutionary processes. The authors support their historic move with empirical data, theoretical population genetics, and conceptual models. They also describe new research methods capable of testing the theory. They demonstrate how their theory can resolve long-standing problems in ecology, particularly by advancing the sorely needed synthesis of ecology and evolution, and how it offers an evolutionary basis for the human sciences. Already hailed as a pioneering work by some of the world's most influential biologists, this is a rare, potentially field-changing contribution to the biological sciences.

Organism and Environment

Sonia E. Sultan
Organism and Environment Book PDF

Author : Sonia E. Sultan
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780199587063

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Organism and Environment by Sonia E. Sultan Pdf

Contents: 1.

Mapping the Future of Biology

Anouk Barberousse,Michel Morange,Thomas Pradeu
Mapping the Future of Biology Book PDF

Author : Anouk Barberousse,Michel Morange,Thomas Pradeu
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2009-02-26
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781402096365

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Mapping the Future of Biology by Anouk Barberousse,Michel Morange,Thomas Pradeu Pdf

Carving Nature at its Joints? In order to map the future of biology we need to understand where we are and how we got there. Present day biology is the realization of the famous metaphor of the organism as a bete ˆ machine elaborated by Descartes in Part V of the Discours,a realization far beyond what anyone in the seventeenth century could have im- ined. Until the middle of the nineteenth century that machine was an articulated collection of macroscopic parts, a system of gears and levers moving gasses, solids, and liquids, and causing some parts of the machine to move in response to the force produced by others. Then, in the nineteenth century, two divergent changes occurred in the level at which the living machine came to be investigated. First, with the rise of chemistry and the particulate view of the composition of matter, the forces on macroscopic machine came to be understood as the ma- festation of molecular events, and functional biology became a study of molecular interactions. That is, the machine ceased to be a clock or a water pump and became an articulated network of chemical reactions. Until the ?rst third of the twentieth century this chemical view of life, as re?ected in the development of classical b- chemistry treated the chemistry of biological molecules in much the same way as for any organic chemical reaction, with reaction rates and side products that were the consequence of statistical properties of the concentrations of reactants.

Evolutionary Causation

Tobias Uller,Kevin N. Laland
Evolutionary Causation Book PDF

Author : Tobias Uller,Kevin N. Laland
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 361 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2019-09-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262039925

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Evolutionary Causation by Tobias Uller,Kevin N. Laland Pdf

A comprehensive treatment of the concept of causation in evolutionary biology that makes clear its central role in both historical and contemporary debates. Most scientific explanations are causal. This is certainly the case in evolutionary biology, which seeks to explain the diversity of life and the adaptive fit between organisms and their surroundings. The nature of causation in evolutionary biology, however, is contentious. How causation is understood shapes the structure of evolutionary theory, and historical and contemporary debates in evolutionary biology have revolved around the nature of causation. Despite its centrality, and differing views on the subject, the major conceptual issues regarding the nature of causation in evolutionary biology are rarely addressed. This volume fills the gap, bringing together biologists and philosophers to offer a comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment of evolutionary causation. Contributors first address biological motivations for rethinking evolutionary causation, considering the ways in which development, extra-genetic inheritance, and niche construction challenge notions of cause and process in evolution, and describing how alternative representations of evolutionary causation can shed light on a range of evolutionary problems. Contributors then analyze evolutionary causation from a philosophical perspective, considering such topics as causal entanglement, the commingling of organism and environment, and the relationship between causation and information. Contributors John A. Baker, Lynn Chiu, David I. Dayan, Renée A. Duckworth, Marcus W Feldman, Susan A. Foster, Melissa A. Graham, Heikki Helanterä, Kevin N. Laland, Armin P. Moczek, John Odling-Smee, Jun Otsuka, Massimo Pigliucci, Arnaud Pocheville, Arlin Stoltzfus, Karola Stotz, Sonia E. Sultan, Christoph Thies, Tobias Uller, Denis M. Walsh, Richard A. Watson

Evolutionary Ethnobiology

Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque,Patrícia Muniz De Medeiros,Alejandro Casas
Evolutionary Ethnobiology Book PDF

Author : Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque,Patrícia Muniz De Medeiros,Alejandro Casas
Publisher : Springer
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2015-09-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319199177

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Evolutionary Ethnobiology by Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque,Patrícia Muniz De Medeiros,Alejandro Casas Pdf

Ethnobiology is a fascinating science. To understand this vocation it needs to be studied under an evolutionary point of view that is very strong and significant, although this aspect is often poorly approached in the literature. This is the first book to compile and discuss information about evolutionary ethnobiology in English.

The International Encyclopedia of Primatology, 3 Volume Set

Agustín Fuentes
The International Encyclopedia of Primatology 3 Volume Set Book PDF

Author : Agustín Fuentes
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 1596 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2017-04-24
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780470673379

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The International Encyclopedia of Primatology, 3 Volume Set by Agustín Fuentes Pdf

The International Encyclopedia of Primatology represents the first comprehensive encyclopedic reference focusing on the behaviour, biology, ecology, evolution, genetics, and taxonomy of human and non-human primates. Represents the first comprehensive encyclopedic reference relating to primatology Features more than 450 entries covering topics ranging from the taxonomy, history, behaviour, ecology, captive management and diseases of primates to their use in research, cognition, conservation, and representations in literature Includes coverage of the basic scientific concepts that underlie each topic, along with the latest advances in the field Highly accessible to undergraduate and graduate students in primatology, anthropology, and the medical, biological and zoological sciences Essential reference for academics, researchers and commercial and conservation organizations This work is also available as an online resource at www.encyclopediaofprimatology.com

Ecology and Existence

Matthew C. Ally
Ecology and Existence Book PDF

Author : Matthew C. Ally
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 563 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2017-07-20
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780739182895

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Ecology and Existence by Matthew C. Ally Pdf

This study explores the increasingly troubled relationship between humankind and the Earth, with the help of a simple example and a complicated interlocutor. The example is a pond, which, it turns out, is not so simple as it seems. The interlocutor is Jean-Paul Sartre, novelist, playwright, biographer, philosopher, and, despite his several disavowals, doyen of twentieth-century existentialism. Standing with the great humanist at the edge of the pond, the author examines contemporary experience in the light of several familiar conceptual pairs: nature and culture, fact and value, reality and imagination, human and nonhuman, society and ecology, Earth and world. The theoretical challenge is to reveal the critical complementarity and experiential unity of this family of ideas. The practical task is to discern the heuristic implications of this lived unity-in-diversity in these times of social and ecological crisis. Interdisciplinary in its aspirations, the study draws upon recent developments in biology and ecology, complexity science and systems theory, ecological and Marxist economics, and environmental history. Comprehensive in its engagement of Sartre’s oeuvre, the study builds upon his best-known existentialist writings, and also his critique of colonialism, voluminous ethical writings, early studies of the imaginary, and mature dialectical philosophy. In addition to overviews of Sartre’s distinctive inflections of phenomenology and dialectics and his unique theories of praxis and imagination, the study also articulates for the first time Sartre’s incipient philosophical ecology. In keeping with Sartre’s lifelong commitment to freedom and liberation, the study concludes with a programmatic look at the relative merits of pragmatist, prefigurative, and revolutionary activism within the burgeoning global struggle for social and ecological justice. We learn much by thinking with Sartre at the water’s edge: surprising lessons about our changing humanity and how we have come to where we are; timely lessons about the shifting relation between us and the broader community of life to which we belong; difficult lessons about our brutal degradation of the planetary system upon which life depends; and auspicious lessons, too, about a participatory path forward as we work to preserve a habitable planet and build a livable world for all earthlings.

Phenotypic Switching

Herbert Levine,Mohit Kumar Jolly,Prakash Kulkarni,Vidyanand Nanjundiah
Phenotypic Switching Book PDF

Author : Herbert Levine,Mohit Kumar Jolly,Prakash Kulkarni,Vidyanand Nanjundiah
Publisher : Academic Press
Page : 773 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2020-06-10
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780128179970

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Phenotypic Switching by Herbert Levine,Mohit Kumar Jolly,Prakash Kulkarni,Vidyanand Nanjundiah Pdf

Phenotypic Switching: Implications in Biology and Medicine provides a comprehensive examination of phenotypic switching across biological systems, including underlying mechanisms, evolutionary significance, and its role in biomedical science. Contributions from international leaders discuss conceptual and theoretical aspects of phenotypic plasticity, its influence over biological development, differentiation, biodiversity, and potential applications in cancer therapy, regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy, among other treatments. Chapters discuss fundamental mechanisms of phenotypic switching, including transition states, cell fate decisions, epigenetic factors, stochasticity, protein-based inheritance, specific areas of human development and disease relevance, phenotypic plasticity in melanoma, prostate cancer, breast cancer, non-genetic heterogeneity in cancer, hepatitis C, and more. This book is essential for active researchers, basic and translational scientists, clinicians, postgraduates and students in genetics, human genomics, pathology, bioinformatics, developmental biology, evolutionary biology and adaptive opportunities in yeast. Thoroughly addresses the conceptual, experimental and translational aspects that underlie phenotypic plasticity Emphasizes quantitative approaches, nonlinear dynamics, mechanistic insights and key methodologies to advance phenotypic plasticity studies Features a diverse range of chapter contributions from international leaders in the field

Adam's Tongue

Derek Bickerton
Adam s Tongue Book PDF

Author : Derek Bickerton
Publisher : Hill and Wang
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2009-03-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781429930291

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Adam's Tongue by Derek Bickerton Pdf

How language evolved has been called "the hardest problem in science." In Adam's Tongue, Derek Bickerton—long a leading authority in this field—shows how and why previous attempts to solve that problem have fallen short. Taking cues from topics as diverse as the foraging strategies of ants, the distribution of large prehistoric herbivores, and the construction of ecological niches, Bickerton produces a dazzling new alternative to the conventional wisdom. Language is unique to humans, but it isn't the only thing that sets us apart from other species—our cognitive powers are qualitatively different. So could there be two separate discontinuities between humans and the rest of nature? No, says Bickerton; he shows how the mere possession of symbolic units—words—automatically opened a new and different cognitive universe, one that yielded novel innovations ranging from barbed arrowheads to the Apollo spacecraft. Written in Bickerton's lucid and irreverent style, this book is the first that thoroughly integrates the story of how language evolved with the story of how humans evolved. Sure to be controversial, it will make indispensable reading both for experts in the field and for every reader who has ever wondered how a species as remarkable as ours could have come into existence.

Julian of Norwich and the Ecological Crisis

Claire Gilbert
Julian of Norwich and the Ecological Crisis Book PDF

Author : Claire Gilbert
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 205 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2024-07-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781040085349

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Julian of Norwich and the Ecological Crisis by Claire Gilbert Pdf

This book presents ecological insights drawn from a reading of Julian of Norwich, considering how effectively she can help us in our current plight. The argument is that to address the ecological crisis with the mindset that created it will only cause more problems, and that to really undo the harm humanity has done and continues to do will take a transformation of selfhood and hence of perception, from the Gestell, technological self that is the child of the Enlightenment to the porous self that we truly are, underneath our buffered, separated, controlling and lonely exterior. The author suggests Julian of Norwich’s text Revelations of Divine Love has the power to effect this transformation if we can learn to read it as disciples, not masters, just as Julian received and responded to her revelations as a performative, porous, receptive disciple. The chapters describe the technological mindset and its causal relationship with the ecological crisis, and articulate in detail how, if they are to transform us, we must read the Julian texts, taking first steps away from our technological selves as we do so. The book then takes significant passages from Julian and reads them in the performative, porous way that has been recommended. It will be of particular interest to scholars of theology and ecology, as well as medieval mysticism.

Evolution and Learning

Bruce H. Weber,David J. Depew
Evolution and Learning Book PDF

Author : Bruce H. Weber,David J. Depew
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Education
ISBN : 0262232294

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Evolution and Learning by Bruce H. Weber,David J. Depew Pdf

Essays on the contributions to historical and contemporary evolutionary theory of the Baldwin effect, which postulates the effects of learned behaviors on evolutionary change.

War, Peace, and Human Nature

Douglas P. Fry
War Peace and Human Nature Book PDF

Author : Douglas P. Fry
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 583 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2015-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780190232467

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War, Peace, and Human Nature by Douglas P. Fry Pdf

"The chapters in this book [posit] that humans clearly have the capacity to make war, but since war is absent in some cultures, it cannot be viewed as a human universal. And counter to frequent presumption, the actual archaeological record reveals the recent emergence of war. It does not typify the ancestral type of human society, the nomadic forager band, and contrary to widespread assumptions, there is little support for the idea that war is ancient or an evolved adaptation. Views of human nature as inherently warlike stem not from the facts but from cultural views embedded in Western thinking"--Amazon.com.

Advances in Artificial Life

Mathieu Capcarrere,Alex A. Freitas,Peter J. Bentley,Colin G. Johnson,Jon Timmis
Advances in Artificial Life Book PDF

Author : Mathieu Capcarrere,Alex A. Freitas,Peter J. Bentley,Colin G. Johnson,Jon Timmis
Publisher : Springer
Page : 949 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2005-09-19
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9783540318163

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Advances in Artificial Life by Mathieu Capcarrere,Alex A. Freitas,Peter J. Bentley,Colin G. Johnson,Jon Timmis Pdf

TheArti?cialLifetermappearedmorethan20yearsagoinasmallcornerofNew Mexico, USA. Since then the area has developed dramatically, many researchers joining enthusiastically and research groups sprouting everywhere. This frenetic activity led to the emergence of several strands that are now established ?elds in themselves. We are now reaching a stage that one may describe as maturer: with more rigour, more benchmarks, more results, more stringent acceptance criteria, more applications, in brief, more sound science. This, which is the n- ural path of all new areas, comes at a price, however. A certain enthusiasm, a certain adventurousness from the early years is fading and may have been lost on the way. The ?eld has become more reasonable. To counterbalance this and to encourage lively discussions, a conceptual track, where papers were judged on criteria like importance and/or novelty of the concepts proposed rather than the experimental/theoretical results, has been introduced this year. A conference on a theme as broad as Arti?cial Life is bound to be very - verse,but a few tendencies emerged. First, ?elds like ‘Robotics and Autonomous Agents’ or ‘Evolutionary Computation’ are still extremely active and keep on bringing a wealth of results to the A-Life community. Even there, however, new tendencies appear, like collective robotics, and more speci?cally self-assembling robotics, which represent now a large subsection. Second, new areas appear.

Biology of Earthworms

Ayten Karaca
Biology of Earthworms Book PDF

Author : Ayten Karaca
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2010-11-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783642146367

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Biology of Earthworms by Ayten Karaca Pdf

Earthworms, which belong to the order Oligochaeta, comprise roughly 3,000 species grouped into five families. Earthworms have been called ‘ecosystem engineers’; much like human engineers, they change the structure of their environments. Earthworms are very versatile and are found in nearly all terrestrial ecosystems. They play an important role in forest and agricultural ecosystems. This Soil Biology volume describes the various facets of earthworms, such as their role in soil improvement, soil structure, and the biocontrol of soil-borne plant fungal diseases. Reviews discuss earthworms’ innate immune system, molecular markers to address various issues of earthworm ecology, earthworm population dynamics, and the influences of organic farming systems and tillage. Further topics include the characteristics of vermicompost, relationships between soil earthworms and enzymes, the role of spermathecae, copulatory behavior, and adjustment of the donated sperm volume.

Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You, Second Edition

Agustín Fuentes
Race Monogamy and Other Lies They Told You Second Edition Book PDF

Author : Agustín Fuentes
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 349 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2022-05-10
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780520379602

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Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You, Second Edition by Agustín Fuentes Pdf

A compelling takedown of prevailing myths about human behavior, updated and expanded to meet the current moment. There are three major myths of human nature: humans are divided into biological races; humans are naturally aggressive; and men and women are wholly different in behavior, desires, and wiring. Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You counters these pervasive and pernicious myths about human behavior. Agustín Fuentes tackles misconceptions about what race, aggression, and sex really mean for humans, and incorporates an accessible understanding of culture, genetics, and evolution that requires us to dispose of notions of "nature or nurture." Presenting scientific evidence from diverse fields, including anthropology, biology, and psychology, Fuentes devises a myth-busting toolkit to dismantle persistent fallacies about the validity of biological races, the innateness of aggression and violence, and the nature of monogamy, sex, and gender. This revised and expanded edition provides up-to-date references, data, and analyses, and addresses new topics, including the popularity of home DNA testing kits and the lies behind ‘"incel" culture; the resurgence of racist, nativist thinking and the internet's influence in promoting bad science; and a broader understanding of the diversity of sex and gender.