eBook PDF Download Digital Library
Author: Jeffrey S. Levinton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2001-08-06
Total Pages: 644
ISBN-13: 9780521005500
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →An expanded and updated second edition comprehensively looks at macroevolution, integrating evolutionary processes at all levels to explain animal diversity.
Author: for the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher: National Academies Press
Published: 1995-02-09
Total Pages: 336
ISBN-13: 0309552672
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Since George Gaylord Simpson published Tempo and Mode in Evolution in 1944, discoveries in paleontology and genetics have abounded. This volume brings together the findings and insights of today's leading experts in the study of evolution, including Ayala, W. Ford Doolittle, and Stephen Jay Gould. The volume examines early cellular evolution, explores changes in the tempo of evolution between the Precambrian and Phanerozoic periods, and reconstructs the Cambrian evolutionary burst. Long-neglected despite Darwin's interest in it, species extinction is discussed in detail. Although the absence of data kept Simpson from exploring human evolution in his book, the current volume covers morphological and genetic changes in human populations, contradicting the popular claim that all modern humans descend from a single woman. This book discusses the role of molecular clocks, the results of evolution in 12 populations of Escherichia coli propagated for 10,000 generations, a physical map of Drosophila chromosomes, and evidence for "hitchhiking" by mutations.
Author: Emanuele Serrelli
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2015-02-13
Total Pages: 407
ISBN-13: 3319150456
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book is divided in two parts, the first of which shows how, beyond paleontology and systematics, macroevolutionary theories apply key insights from ecology and biogeography, developmental biology, biophysics, molecular phylogenetics and even the sociocultural sciences to explain evolution in deep time. In the second part, the phenomenon of macroevolution is examined with the help of real life-history case studies on the evolution of eukaryotic sex, the formation of anatomical form and body-plans, extinction and speciation events of marine invertebrates, hominin evolution and species conservation ethics. The book brings together leading experts, who explain pivotal concepts such as Punctuated Equilibria, Stasis, Developmental Constraints, Adaptive Radiations, Habitat Tracking, Turnovers, (Mass) Extinctions, Species Sorting, Major Transitions, Trends and Hierarchies – key premises that allow macroevolutionary epistemic frameworks to transcend microevolutionary theories that focus on genetic variation, selection, migration and fitness. Along the way, the contributing authors review ongoing debates and current scientific challenges; detail new and fascinating scientific tools and techniques that allow us to cross the classic borders between disciplines; demonstrate how their theories make it possible to extend the Modern Synthesis; present guidelines on how the macroevolutionary field could be further developed; and provide a rich view of just how it was that life evolved across time and space. In short, this book is a must-read for active scholars and because the technical aspects are fully explained, it is also accessible for non-specialists. Understanding evolution requires a solid grasp of above-population phenomena. Species are real biological individuals and abiotic factors impact the future course of evolution. Beyond observation, when the explanation of macroevolution is the goal, we need both evidence and theory that enable us to explain and interpret how life evolves at the grand scale.
Author: Carl Zimmer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2014-08-26
Total Pages: 304
ISBN-13: 1476799741
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Everybody Out of the Pond At the Water's Edge will change the way you think about your place in the world. The awesome journey of life's transformation from the first microbes 4 billion years ago to Homo sapiens today is an epic that we are only now beginning to grasp. Magnificent and bizarre, it is the story of how we got here, what we left behind, and what we brought with us. We all know about evolution, but it still seems absurd that our ancestors were fish. Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution -- microevolution -- but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago. In this book, you will find a dazzling, brash literary talent and a rigorous scientific sensibility gracefully brought together. Carl Zimmer provides a comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative answer to the mystery of how nature actually made itself.
Author: Steven M. Stanley
Publisher:
Published: 1979
Total Pages: 332
ISBN-13: 9780801858734
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Rituparna Bose
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Published: 2013-01-26
Total Pages: 69
ISBN-13: 1461464765
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The prerequisite to investigating the underlying causes behind mass extinction is a profound understanding of the evolutionary history of both living and dead species. It is especially important to appreciate the significance of such studies in extinct organisms; especially in organisms that were abundant in a certain geologic era, but have subsequently dwindled or become extinct. Such studies should help to accurately evaluate patterns of evolution in extinct species lineages and help predict the same in its modern analogs. The book includes cutting edge research in evolutionary biology that should serve as a starting point for conservation.
Author: Bruce Lieberman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2024-09-03
Total Pages: 157
ISBN-13: 0231557272
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →One of the twentieth century’s great paleontologists and science writers, Stephen Jay Gould was, for Bruce S. Lieberman and Niles Eldredge, also a close colleague and friend. In Macroevolutionaries, they take up the tradition of Gould’s acclaimed essays on natural history, offering a series of wry and insightful reflections on the fields to which they have devoted their careers. Lieberman and Eldredge explore the major features of evolution, or “macroevolution,” examining key issues in paleontology and their links to popular culture, philosophy, music, and the history of science. They focus on topics such as punctuated equilibria, mass extinctions, and the history of life—with detours including trilobites, Hollywood stuntmen, coywolves, birdwatching, and New Haven-style pizza. Lieberman and Eldredge’s essays showcase their deep knowledge of the fossil record and keen appreciation of the arts and culture while touching on different aspects of Gould’s life and work. Ultimately, they show why Gould’s writings and perspective are still relevant today, following his lead in using the natural history essay to articulate their view of evolutionary theory and its place in contemporary life. At once thought-provoking and entertaining, Macroevolutionaries is for all readers interested in paleontology, evolutionary biology, and Gould’s literary and scientific legacy.
Author: Niles Eldredge
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1985-11-21
Total Pages: 248
ISBN-13: 0195365135
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This study provides a stimulating critique of contemporary evolutionary thought, analyzing the Modern Synthesis first developed by Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, and George Gaylord Simpson. The author argues that although only genes and organisms are taken as historic "individuals" in conventional theory, species, higher taxa, and ecological entities such as populations and communities should also be construed as individuals--an approach that yields the ecological and genealogical hierarchies that interact to produce evolution. This clearly stated, controversial work will provoke much debate among evolutionary biologists, systematists, paleontologists, and ecologists, as well as a wide range of educated lay readers.
Author: Walter Eanes
Publisher: Sinauer
Published: 2010-09-29
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780878934133
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Evolution since Darwin: The First 150 Years comprises 22 chapters and eight shorter commentaries that emerged from a symposium held in November 2009 at Stony Brook University, USA. Thirty-nine authors from 22 universities and two museums in five countries write on areas of evolutionary biology and related topics on which their research focuses. Their essays cover the history of evolutionary biology, populations, genes and genomes, evolution of form, adaptation and speciation, diversification and phylogeny, paleobiology, human cultural and biological evolution, and applied evolution. The volume summarizes progress in major areas of research in evolutionary biology since Darwin, reviewing the current state of knowledge and active research in those areas, and looking toward the future of the broader field.
