This volume is a collection of the some of the most significant lectures that well-known experts presented at our two international "summits on evolution" (2005, 2009) as updated and revised chapters. The meetings took place on one of the large islands of the Galapagos archipelago (San Cristobal) at GAIAS (Galapagos Institute for the Arts and Sciences) of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Ecuador. The main goal of the two Galapagos Summits on Evolution has been to bring together scientists and graduate students engaged in the study of evolution, from life's origin to its current diversity. Because of their historical significance, the Galapagos are a unique venue for promoting comprehensive research on evolution and ecology and to make the research results available to students and teachers everywhere, but especially from developing countries. As shown by the enthusiastic attendance at both summits and the many suggestions to keep them continuing, the meetings have opened new opportunities for students from Ecuador and other Latin American countries to be inspired by some of the most brilliant minds in evolutionary science.

In this book, Giovanni Bignami, the outstanding Italian scientist and astronomer, takes the reader on a journey through the "seven spheres", from our own planet to neighboring stars. The author offers a gripping account of the evolution of Homo Sapiens to the stage where our species is developing capabilities, in the form of new energy propulsion systems, that will enable us to conquer space. The reader will learn how we first expanded our activities to reach beyond our planet, to the Moon, and how nuclear energy, nuclear fusion, and matter-antimatter annihilation will enable us to extend our exploration. After Mars and Jupiter we shall finally reach the nearest stars, which we now know are surrounded by numerous planets, some of which are bound to be habitable. The book includes enticing descriptions of such newly discovered planets and also brings alive key historical characters in our story, such as Jules Verne and Werner von Braun.

Fernanda Antunes Carvalho addresses an issue of key importance to the field of systematics, namely how to foster taxonomic work and the dissemination of scientific knowledge about species by taking full advantage of electronic data and bioinformatics tools. The first part focuses on the development of an electronic monograph of the papaya family (Caricaceae) using existing infrastructures of Information Technology (IT) and bioinformatic tools that together set the stage for a new era of systematics. Based on the plastid and nuclear DNA data, the author inferred historical processes in the second part that may have shaped the evolution of the Caricaceae and explain their current geographic distribution. The last part is dedicated to the evolution of chromosome numbers in the Caricaceae and includes counts for species from three genera (Cylicomorpha, Horovitzia, Jarilla) that have never been investigated before.

In January 1995 the first Complexity Seminar was held at the London School of Economics, in the UK. This was quite a momentous occasion as it proved to be the turning point for the series of seminars, which had started in December 1992. That seminar and those that followed it, had a profound effect on the research interests of Eve Mitleton-Kelly, the initiator and organiser of the series and editor of this volume, and thus laid the foundation for what became the LSE Complexity Research Programme, which proceeded to win several research awards for collaborative projects with companies. But the series also provided the material for this book. Earlier versions of the papers selected for this volume were first given at the LSE Complexity Seminar series.
The seminar series, focussed primarily on the application of the theories of complexity to organisations - an area of study which was quite new to UK businesses and academics; it slowly helped to disseminate these ideas and today, there is a proliferation of networks and seminar series throughout the UK on complexity; a strong and active academic community studying complexity in different disciplines and a growing number of organisations, experimenting with these revolutionary ideas and putting them into practice.
The 14 international authors in this volume reflect this interest in 10 chapters that range from the very practical application of the theory to more philosophical reflections on its nature and applicability. They do not all agree with each other, but since diversity and variety is at the heart of complexity they each provide a strand of an intertwined whole, which will enrich and deepen our understanding. In an environmentof increasing uncertainty and ambiguity it is necessary to learn how to hold, in tension, disparate or even contradictory views, without undue stress. The world is not a simple dyadic black or white entity, but a rich multi-coloured and many-hued ensemble, each strand or perspective contributing to an intricate and inter-related n-dimensional whole.

This volume contains a contemporary, integrated description of the processes of language. These range from fast scales (fractions of a second) to slow ones (over a million years). The contributors, all experts in their fields, address language in the brain, production of sentences and dialogues, language learning, transmission and evolutionary processes that happen over centuries or millenia, the relation between language and genes, the origins of language, self-organization, and language competition and death. The book as a whole will help to show how processes at different scales affect each other, thus presenting language as a dynamic, complex and profoundly human phenomenon.

The evolution of single cells into multicellular organisms was mediated, in large part, by the extracellular matrix. The proteins and glycoconjugates that make up the extracellular matrix provide structural support to cellular complexes, facilitate cell adhesion and migration, and impart mechanical properties that are important for tissue function. Each class of ECM macromolecule has evolved to incorporate distinctive properties that are defined by conserved modules that are mixed together to achieve appropriate function. This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of how the major ECM components evolved over time in order to fill their specific roles found in modern organisms. The major focus is on the structural matrix proteins, matricellular proteins, and more complex ECM structures such as basement membranes. Adhesive proteins and their receptors are also discussed.

Astronomer Peter Linde takes the reader through the story of the search for extraterrestrial life in a captivating and thought-provoking way, specifically addressing the new research that is currently devoted towards discovering other planets with life. He discusses the methods used to detect possible signals from other civilizations and the ways that the space sciences are changing as a result of this new field. "Are we alone?" is a mystery that has forever fascinated mankind, gaining momentum by scientists since the 1995 discovery of the existence of exoplanets began to inspire new ways of thinking in astronomy. Here, Linde tries to answer many philosophical questions that derive from this area of research: Is humanity facing a change of paradigm, that we are not unique as intelligent beings? Is it possible to communicate with others out there, and even if we can-should we?

Jacques Ninio addresses molecular biology from the evolutionist's viewpoint, reviewing major research areas such as acquisitive evolution; the comparison of protein structures in three dimensions; the stability of the genetic code; and prebiotic replication. Originally published in 1983. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Chordate Origins and Evolution: The Molecular Evolutionary Road to Vertebrates focuses on echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins, and others), hemichordates (acorn worms, etc.), cephalochordates (lancelets), urochordates or tunicates (ascidians, larvaceans and others), and vertebrates. In general, evolution of these groups is discussed independently, on a larger scale: ambulacrarians (echi+hemi) and chordates (cephlo+uro+vert). Until now, discussion of these topics has been somewhat fragmented, and this work provides a unified presentation of the essential information. In the more than 150 years since Charles Darwin proposed the concept of the origin of species by means of natural selection, which has profoundly affected all fields of biology and medicine, the evolution of animals (metazoans) has been studied, discussed, and debated extensively. Following many decades of classical comparative morphology and embryology, the 1980s marked a turning point in studies of animal evolution, when molecular biological approaches, including molecular phylogeny (MP), molecular evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and comparative genomics (CG), began to be employed. There are at least five key events in metazoan evolution, which include the origins of 1) diploblastic animals, such as cnidarians; 2) triploblastic animals or bilaterians; 3) protostomes and deuterostomes; 4) chordates, among deuterostomes; and 5) vertebrates, among chordates. The last two have received special attention in relation to evolution of human beings. During the past two decades, great advances have been made in this field, especially in regard to molecular and developmental mechanisms involved in the evolution of chordates. For example, the interpretation of phylogenetic relationships among deuterostomes has drastically changed. In addition, we have now obtained a large quantity of MP, evo-devo, and CG information on the origin and evolution of chordates.

Early History of the Recognition of Molecular Biochirality, by Joseph Gal, Pedro Cintas Synthesis and Chirality of Amino Acids Under Interstellar Conditions, by Chaitanya Giri, Fred Goesmann, Cornelia Meinert, Amanda C. Evans, Uwe J. Meierhenrich Chemical and Physical Models for the Emergence of Biological Homochirality, by son E. Hein, Dragos Gherase, Donna G. Blackmond Biomolecules at Interfaces: Chiral, Naturally, by Arantzazu Gonzalez-Campo and David B. Amabilino Stochastic Mirror Symmetry Breaking: Theoretical Models and Simulation of Experiments, by Celia Blanco, David Hochberg Self-Assembly of Dendritic Dipeptides as a Model of Chiral Selection in Primitive Biological Systems, by Brad M. Rosen, Cecile Roche, Virgil Percec Chirality and Protein Biosynthesis, by Sindrila Dutta Banik, Nilashis Nandi

With their spectacularly enlarged canines, sabertooth cats are among the most popular of prehistoric animals, yet it is surprising how little information about them is available for the curious layperson. What's more, there were other sabertooths that were not cats, animals with exotic names like nimravids, barbourofelids, and thylacosmilids. Some were no taller than a domestic cat, others were larger than a lion, and some were as weird as their names suggest. Sabertooths continue to pose questions even for specialists. What did they look like? How did they use their spectacular canine teeth? And why did they finally go extinct? In this visual and intellectual treat of a book, Mauricio Anton tells their story in words and pictures, all scrupulously based on the latest scientific research. The book is a glorious wedding of science and art that celebrates the remarkable diversity of the life of the not-so-distant past. -- Indiana University Press

This volume handles in various perspectives the concept of function and the nature of functional explanations, topics much discussed since two major and conflicting accounts have been raised by Larry Wright and Robert Cummins' papers in the 1970s. Here, both Wright's 'etiological theory of functions' and Cummins' 'systemic' conception of functions are refined and elaborated in the light of current scientific practice, with papers showing how the 'etiological' theory faces several objections and may in reply be revisited, while its counterpart became ever more sophisticated, as researchers discovered fresh applications for it. Relying on a firm knowledge of the original positions and debates, this volume presents cutting-edge research evincing the complexities that today pertain in function theory in various sciences. Alongside original papers from authors central to the controversy, work by emerging researchers taking novel perspectives will add to the potential avenues to be followed in the future. Not only does the book adopt no a priori assumptions about the scope of functional explanations, it also incorporates material from several very different scientific domains, e.g. neurosciences, ecology, or technology. In general, functions are implemented in mechanisms; and functional explanations in biology have often an essential relation with natural selection. These two basic claims set the stage for this book's coverage of investigations concerning both 'functional' explanations, and the 'metaphysics' of functions. It casts new light on these claims, by testing them through their confrontation with scientific developments in biology, psychology, and recent developments concerning the metaphysics of realization. Rather than debating a single theory of functions, this book presents the richness of philosophical issues raised by functional discourse throughout the various sciences.

Since their discovery in 1869, the dictyostelids have attracted the attention of scientists in a wide variety of fields. This interest has stemmed from their peculiar lifestyle and developmental properties, which were shaped by the evolutionary forces that generated multicellularity during eukaryotic evolution. More recently, the dictyostelids have gained attention due to the striking similarities found at the genomic, cellular and biochemical levels with human cells, which has propelled the species Dictyostelium discoideum to become a model system for biology and medicine in many laboratories. This book covers the latest advances in our knowledge of these extraordinary organisms with topics spanning from their evolutionary history, ecology and diversity to the recent discoveries regarding their cellular and molecular biology.

The annual Evolutionary Biology Meetings in Marseilles serve to gather leading scientists, promote the exchange of ideas and encourage the formation of international collaborations. This book contains the most essential contributions presented at the 14th Evolutionary Biology Meeting, which took place in September 2010. It comprises 19 chapters organized according to the following categories: * Evolutionary Biology Concepts * Biodiversity and Evolution * Macroevolution * Genome Evolution Offering an up-to-date overview of recent results in the field of evolutionary biology, this book is an invaluable source of information for scientists, teachers and advanced students.

Sex is the queen of problems in evolutionary biology. Generations of researchers have investigated one of the last remaining evolutionary paradoxes: why sex exists at all. Given that sexual reproduction is costly from an evolutionary point of view, one could wonder why not all animals and plants reproduce asexually. Dozens of contemporary hypotheses attempt to explain the prevalence of sex and its advantages and predict the early extinction of fully asexual lineages. The major theme of this book is: what is the fate of animal and plant groups in which sex is lost? Initial chapters discuss theory behind asexual life: what major disadvantages do asexual groups have to face, what are the genetic and ecological consequences and what does this theory predict for more applied aspects of asexual life, for example in agricultural pests, diseases as well as in cultural crops such as grapes. Cases studies in many animals (focusing on both invertebrates and vertebrates) and plants reveal parallel, but also singularly novel adaptations to the absence of meiosis and syngamy. And last but not least, are asexuals really doomed to early extinction or do genuine ancient asexuals exist? This book assembles contributions from the most important research groups dealing with asexual evolution in eukaryotes. It is a milestone in research on parthenogenesis and will be useful to undergraduate as well as graduate students and to senior researchers in all fields of evolutionary biology, as the paradox of sex remains its queen of problems.

In recent years, progress in fish biology has advanced at an unprecedented rate and has led to many breakthroughs in the field. This book provides a wealth of information on the strategies that fish adopt with respect to waters with markedly different physical and chemical characteristics. It shows how their physiology, behaviour and lifestyles are adapted to exploit particular niches and gives comprehensive insight into fish life under extreme conditions. The readers are introduced to the ways in which fish exemplify many phenomena of general biological interest - the existence of competitors, chaos, and predator-prey interaction. Fish pathology as well as the components of the immune system are addressed. In this book, original and at times controversial views are presented, areas which have so far received inadequate attention are highlighted and avenues for further research are suggested.

This volume integrates the latest findings on earliest life forms, identified and characterised in some of the oldest rocks on Earth. New material from prominent researchers in the field is presented and evaluated in the context of previous work. Emphasis is placed on the integration of analytical methods with observational techniques and experimental simulations. The opening section focuses on submarine hot springs that the majority of researchers postulates served as the cradle of life on Earth. In subsequent sections, evidence for life in strongly metamorphosed rocks such as those in Greenland is evaluated and early ecosystems identified in the well preserved Barberton and Pilbara successions in Southern Africa and Western Australia. The final section includes a number of contributions from authors with alternate perspectives on the evidence and record of early life on Earth. Audience This volume will be valuable to researchers and graduate students in biogeosciences, geochemistry, paleontology and geology interested in the origin of life on earth.

From Aristotle to Darwin, from ancient teleology to contemporary genealogies, this book offers an overview of the birth and then persistence of Aristotle's framework into modernity, until its radical overthrow by the evolutionary revolution.

Animals perform many athletic tasks to an amazing degree of accomplishment: not only spectacular feats of running and jumping but also routine actions that ensure survival such as feeding, vocalization, diving, flying, and many more. The study of performance capacity (defined as the ability of an animal to conduct a key task) is of great interest to both ecologists and evolutionary biologists. At an ecological level, how well individuals perform often dictates opportunities for reproduction, occupation of preferred territories, or capturing prey. Therefore, variation in performance capacities can be a key determinant of variation in fitness within animal populations. At an evolutionary level, variation in function often follows closely from variation in form, and therefore enables animals to invade novel habitats, or to overtake other species. This novel book examines how and why animal athletes have evolved. It uses examples from across the animal kingdom and integrates them in the broader context of ecology and evolution, thereby identifying common themes that transcend taxonomic divisions. Animal Athletes is an accessible textbook of particular relevance to undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and professionals in the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, vertebrate morphology, and functional morphology, and will also appeal to the interested layperson.

Hopefully, this book will be taken off of the shelf frequently to be studied carefully over many years. More than 40 researchers were involved in this project, which examines respiration, circulation, and metabolism from ?sh to the land vertebrates, including human beings. A breathable and stable atmosphere ?rst appeared about 500 million years ago. Oxygen levels are not stable in aquatic environments and exclusively water-breathing ?sh must still cope with the ever-changing levels of O 2 and with large temperature changes. This is re?ected in their sophisticated count- current systems, with high O extraction and internal and external O receptors. 2 2 The conquest for the terrestrial environment took place in the late Devonian period (355-359 million years ago), and recent discoveries portray the gradual transitional evolution of land vertebrates. The oxygen-rich and relatively stable atmospheric conditionsimpliedthatoxygen-sensingmechanismswererelativelysimpleandl- gain compared with acid-base regulation. Recently, physiology has expanded into related ?elds such as biochemistry, molecular biology, morphology and anatomy. In the light of the work in these ?elds, the introduction of DNA-based cladograms, which can be used to evaluate the likelihood of land vertebrates and lung?sh as a sister group, could explain why their cardio-respiratory control systems are similar. The diffusing capacity of a duck lung is 40 times higher than that of a toad or lung?sh. Certainly, some animals have evolved to rich high-performance levels.

The central insight of Darwin's Origin of Species is that evolution is an ecological phenomenon, arising from the activities of organisms in the 'struggle for life'. By contrast, the Modern Synthesis theory of evolution, which rose to prominence in the twentieth century, presents evolution as a fundamentally molecular phenomenon, occurring in populations of sub-organismal entities - genes. After nearly a century of success, the Modern Synthesis theory is now being challenged by empirical advances in the study of organismal development and inheritance. In this important study, D. M. Walsh shows that the principal defect of the Modern Synthesis resides in its rejection of Darwin's organismal perspective, and argues for 'situated Darwinism': an alternative, organism-centred conception of evolution that prioritises organisms as adaptive agents. His book will be of interest to scholars and advanced students of evolutionary biology and the philosophy of biology.

Jean Octave Edmond Perrier was a French zoologist who lived through the tumult of British Darwinism and Lyellism, and reminds us in this revealing account that French scientists had much to contribute to such perennial topics as evolution, catastrophism and creationism. While very much a product of the Third Republic, Perrier's account also aimed to outline timeless issues and permanent advances in taxonomic and developmental biology since classical Greece and Rome. In this aim he succeeds with surprisingly modern perspectives for a book first published in 1884. Perrier was born May 9, 1844 at Tulle, the son of the principal of a school which now bears his name, Lycee Edmond Perrier. In 1864 he was accepted to the Ecole Normale Superieure, where he was strongly influenced by Louis Pasteur and Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. After working for three years at a high school in Agen, he obtained a post of naturalist-aid at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (1868), advancing in that institution to Chair of Natural History of Molluscs, Worms and Corals (1876-1903) and then Director of the museum (1900-1919) and Chair of Comparative Anatomy (1903-1921). Previous directors of the museum included many of the scientists he discusses in this book: George Cuvier (1822-1823, 1826-1827, 1830-1831), Isidore Geoffrey St Hilaire (1860- 1861), and Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1891-1900). Perrier's own research on echinoderms and earthworms took him on several expeditions in 1880-1885, mostly to Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, but also to the Caribbean.

Heterogeneous Enantioselective Hydrogenation: Theory and Practice reviews the development of enantioselective hydrogenation reaction catalysts. It looks at the first relatively ineffective catalysts right through to modern highly effective enantioselective catalytic systems, comparable in their efficiency to chiral metal complexes and enzymatic systems. The book begins with a summary of the first work on heterogeneous metal catalysts, which showed only the principal possibilities of enantioselective reactions. It then elaborates on metal catalysts which have enantioselectivities close to 100%. Finally, the practical utilization of chiral catalytic systems in processes of hydrogenation is described. The alpha- and beta-hydroxy carboxylic acid esters produced are precursors for manufacturing many synthones used for medicines as well as for monomers used for biodegradable polyesters, both of which have important practical applications. The volume summarizes more than 800 scientific papers in the field of enantioselective catalytic hydrogenation reactions, mainly those using heterogeneous metal catalysts. It provides detailed explanations of special techniques for the preparation of effective dissymmetric catalysts which provide highly efficient catalytic systems.

Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine are concerned with medical conditions affecting brain, mind and behaviour in manifold ways. Traditional approaches have focused on a restricted array of potential causes of psychiatric and psychosomatic conditions - including adverse experiences such as trauma, neglect or abuse, genetic vulnerability and epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Whilst essential for the understanding of mental disorders, these approaches have disregarded important questions such as why the human mind is vulnerable to dysfunction at all. The Textbook of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine updates and expands the previous edition to provide answers to these questions by emphasising an evolutionary perspective on psychiatric and psychosomatic conditions. It explains how the human brain/mind has been shaped by natural and sexual selection; why adaptations to environmental conditions in our evolutionary past may nowadays work in suboptimal ways; and how human cognition, emotions, and behaviour can be scientifically framed to improve our understanding of how people try to attain important biosocial goals pertaining to one's status in society, mating, eliciting and providing care, and maintaining rewarding relationships. The evolutionary topics relevant to the understanding of psychiatric and psychosomatic conditions include the concepts of genetic plasticity, life history theory, stress regulation and immunological aspects. In addition, it is argued that an evolutionary framework is also necessary to understand how psychotherapy and psychopharmacology work to improve the lives of patients with psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders. The Textbook of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine is a valuable text for all students of Psychology, Medicine, and Psychotherapy who seek an understanding of the evolutionary issues surrounding health and disease.

Radiations, or Evolution in Action We have just celebrated the "Darwin Year" with the double anniversary of his 200th birthday and 150th year of his masterpiece, "On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection". In this work, Darwin established the factual evidence of biological evolution, that species change over time, and that new organisms arise by the splitting of ancestral forms into two or more descendant species. However, above all, Darwin provided the mechanisms by arguing convincingly that it is by natural selection - as well as by sexual selection (as he later added) - that organisms adapt to their environment. The many discoveries since then have essentially con?rmed and strengthened Darwin's central theses, with latest evidence, for example, from molecular genetics, revealing the evolutionary relationships of all life forms through one shared history of descent from a common ancestor. We have also come a long way to progressively understand more on how new species actually originate, i. e. on speciation which remained Darwin's "mystery of m- teries", as noted in one of his earliest transmutation notebooks. Since speciation is the underlying mechanism for radiations, it is the ultimate causation for the biological diversity of life that surrounds us.