The Origin of Higher Taxa

The Origin of Higher Taxa PDF Author: T. S. Kemp
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022633595X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
This text discusses whether the origin of radically new kinds of organisms - new higher taxa - are the result of normal Darwinian evolution proceeding, or whether unusual genetic processes and/or special environmental circumstances are necessary.

The Origin of Higher Taxa

The Origin of Higher Taxa PDF Author: T. S. Kemp
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022633595X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
This text discusses whether the origin of radically new kinds of organisms - new higher taxa - are the result of normal Darwinian evolution proceeding, or whether unusual genetic processes and/or special environmental circumstances are necessary.

The Origin of Higher Clades

The Origin of Higher Clades PDF Author: Rui Diogo
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0429526628
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
The book provides insight on the osteology, myology, phylogeny and evolution of Osteichthyes. It not only provides an extensive cladistic analysis of osteichthyan higher-level inter-relationships based on a phylogenetic comparison of 356 characters in 80 extant and fossil terminal taxa representing all major groups of Osteichthyes, but also analyses various terminal taxa and osteological characters. And also provides a general discussion on issues such as the comparative anatomy, homologies and evolution of osteichthyan cranial and pectoral muscles, the development of zebrafish cephalic muscles and the implications for evolutionary developmental studies, the origin homologies and evolution of one of the most peculiar and enigmatic structural complexes of osteichthyans, the Weberian apparatus, and the use of myological versus osteological characters in phylogenetic reconstructions.

Origins of the Higher Groups of Tetrapods

Origins of the Higher Groups of Tetrapods PDF Author: Hans-Peter Schultze
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501718339
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 738

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Book Description
This edited volume explores the various views on the origins of tetrapods—amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals—views that agree or differ depending in part on how certain fossil animals are classified and which methodology is used for classification. Eighteen chapters by an international group of paleontologists and neontologists here present current hypotheses, emphasizing the kinds of data needed to answer controversial questions, as well as the variety of solutions that emerge from diferent analyses of the same data set. The book is arranged in five sections, each of which contains an overview essay that either describes the development of various schools of thought regarding the origin of the tetrapod group in question or critically summarizes the arguments presented in the section. The first section addresses the origins of tetrapods as a group, focusing on lobe-finned fishes and early tetrapods. Next is a section dealing with amphbians, followed by one on reptiles. The fourth section concerns avian origins, and the final section treats the origins and early diversification of mammals. With an overall goal of stimulating critical evaluation by the reader rather than providing unequivocal answers, this volume will be of particaular interest to vertebrate paleontologists, evolutionary morphologists, and ichthyological, herpatological, avian, and mammalian systematists.

Primate Origins

Primate Origins PDF Author: Matt Cartmill
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description


Plant Evolution

Plant Evolution PDF Author: Karl J. Niklas
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022634228X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 590

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Book Description
Although plants comprise more than 90% of all visible life, and land plants and algae collectively make up the most morphologically, physiologically, and ecologically diverse group of organisms on earth, books on evolution instead tend to focus on animals. This organismal bias has led to an incomplete and often erroneous understanding of evolutionary theory. Because plants grow and reproduce differently than animals, they have evolved differently, and generally accepted evolutionary views—as, for example, the standard models of speciation—often fail to hold when applied to them. Tapping such wide-ranging topics as genetics, gene regulatory networks, phenotype mapping, and multicellularity, as well as paleobotany, Karl J. Niklas’s Plant Evolution offers fresh insight into these differences. Following up on his landmark book The Evolutionary Biology of Plants—in which he drew on cutting-edge computer simulations that used plants as models to illuminate key evolutionary theories—Niklas incorporates data from more than a decade of new research in the flourishing field of molecular biology, conveying not only why the study of evolution is so important, but also why the study of plants is essential to our understanding of evolutionary processes. Niklas shows us that investigating the intricacies of plant development, the diversification of early vascular land plants, and larger patterns in plant evolution is not just a botanical pursuit: it is vital to our comprehension of the history of all life on this green planet.

Evolutionary Theory and Processes: Modern Horizons

Evolutionary Theory and Processes: Modern Horizons PDF Author: Eviatar Nevo
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781402016936
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
Evolution is the most profound of human ideas integrating all natural phenomena: cosmic, biological, and cultural into a continuous universal change. This volume deals with evolutionary observations, experiments, and theories contributing to a deeper understanding of the evolutionary process, th honoring the 75 birthday of Eviatar (Eibi) Nevo. I first met Eibi in 1966 when he was a Fellow in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and working mostly on cricket frog vocalization and speciation in the United States. His unique discovery of pipid fossil frogs in the Israeli Early Cretaceous, central Negev, is possibly the largest world collection of ancient fossil frogs. Our acquaintance developed into mutual friendship and admiration. Since then our long-lasting friendship has included a visit to Israel, enabling me to follow Eibi's major scientific achievements, in particular, his founding of the Institute of Evolution in the University of Haifa and now the pending establishment of the International Graduate School of Evolution. The research program of Eibi Nevo, in collaboration with numerous colleagues and students in Israel and across the world, encompasses diverse perspectives of evolutionary biology and biodiversity of genes, populations, species, and ecosystems integrating modem and classical evolutionary approaches, molecular and organismal. They deal with model organisms in all forms from bacteria through plants, fungi, animals, and humans conducted over local, regional, and global scales.

How Vertebrates Left the Water

How Vertebrates Left the Water PDF Author: Michel Laurin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520947983
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
More than three hundred million years ago—a relatively recent date in the two billion years since life first appeared—vertebrate animals first ventured onto land. This usefully illustrated book describes how some finned vertebrates acquired limbs, giving rise to more than 25,000 extant tetrapod species. Michel Laurin uses paleontological, geological, physiological, and comparative anatomical data to describe this monumental event. He summarizes key concepts of modern paleontological research, including biological nomenclature, paleontological and molecular dating, and the methods used to infer phylogeny and character evolution. Along with a discussion of the evolutionary pressures that may have led vertebrates onto dry land, the book also shows how extant vertebrates yield clues about the conquest of land and how scientists uncover evolutionary history.

The Origin of Higher Clades

The Origin of Higher Clades PDF Author: Rui Diogo
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The book provides insight on the osteology, myology, phylogeny and evolution of Osteichthyes. It not only provides an extensive cladistic analysis of osteichthyan higher-level inter-relationships based on a phylogenetic comparison of 356 characters in 80 extant and fossil terminal taxa representing all major groups of Osteichthyes, but also analyses various terminal taxa and osteological characters. And also provides a general discussion on issues such as the comparative anatomy, homologies and evolution of osteichthyan cranial and pectoral muscles, the development of zebrafish cephalic muscles and the implications for evolutionary developmental studies, the origin homologies and evolution of one of the most peculiar and enigmatic structural complexes of osteichthyans, the Weberian apparatus, and the use of myological versus osteological characters in phylogenetic reconstructions.

On the Origin of Phyla

On the Origin of Phyla PDF Author: James W. Valentine
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226845486
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 639

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Book Description
Owing its inspiration and title to On the Origin of Species, James W. Valentine's ambitious book synthesizes and applies the vast treasury of theory and research collected in the century and a half since Darwin's time. By investigating the origins of life's diversity, Valentine unlocks the mystery of the origin of phyla. One of the twentieth century's most distinguished paleobiologists, Valentine here integrates data from molecular genetics, evolutionary developmental biology, embryology, comparative morphology, and paleontology into an analysis of interest to scholars from any of these fields. He begins by examining the sorts of evidence that can be gleaned from fossils, molecules, and morphology, then reviews and compares the basic morphology and development of animal phyla, emphasizing the important design elements found in the bodyplans of both living and extinct phyla. Finally, Valentine undertakes the monumental task of developing models to explain the origin and early diversification of animal phyla, as well as their later evolutionary patterns. Truly a magnum opus, On the Origin of Phyla will take its place as one of the classic scientific texts of the twentieth century, affecting the work of paleontologists, morphologists, and developmental, molecular, and evolutionary biologists for decades to come. "A magisterial compendium . . . . Valentine offers a judicious evaluation of an astonishing array of evidence."—Richard Fortey, New Scientist "Truly a magnum opus, On the Origin of Phyla has already taken its place as one of the classic scientific texts of the twentieth century, affecting the work of paleontologists, morphologists, and developmental, molecular, and evolutionary biologists for decades to come."—Ethology, Ecology & Evolution "Valentine is one of the Renaissance minds of our time. . . . Darwin wisely called his best-known work On the Origin of the Species; the origin of the phyla is an even stickier problem, and Valentine deserves credit for tackling it at such breadth . . . . A magnificient book."—Stefan Bengtson, Nature

Improbable Destinies

Improbable Destinies PDF Author: Jonathan B. Losos
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399184937
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
A major new book overturning our assumptions about how evolution works Earth’s natural history is full of fascinating instances of convergence: phenomena like eyes and wings and tree-climbing lizards that have evolved independently, multiple times. But evolutionary biologists also point out many examples of contingency, cases where the tiniest change—a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze—caused evolution to take a completely different course. What role does each force really play in the constantly changing natural world? Are the plants and animals that exist today, and we humans ourselves, inevitabilities or evolutionary flukes? And what does that say about life on other planets? Jonathan Losos reveals what the latest breakthroughs in evolutionary biology can tell us about one of the greatest ongoing debates in science. He takes us around the globe to meet the researchers who are solving the deepest mysteries of life on Earth through their work in experimental evolutionary science. Losos himself is one of the leaders in this exciting new field, and he illustrates how experiments with guppies, fruit flies, bacteria, foxes, and field mice, along with his own work with anole lizards on Caribbean islands, are rewinding the tape of life to reveal just how rapid and predictable evolution can be. Improbable Destinies will change the way we think and talk about evolution. Losos's insights into natural selection and evolutionary change have far-reaching applications for protecting ecosystems, securing our food supply, and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria. This compelling narrative offers a new understanding of ourselves and our role in the natural world and the cosmos.