This volume is a self-contained companion piece to Studying Vibrational Communication, published in 2014 within the same series. The field has expanded considerably since then, and has even acquired a name of its own: biotremology. In this context, the book reports on new concepts in this fascinating discipline, and features chapters on state-of-the art methods for studying behavior tied to substrate-borne vibrations, as well as an entire section on applied biotremology. Also included are a historical contribution by pioneers in the field and several chapters reviewing the advances that have been made regarding specific animal taxa. Other new topics covered are vibrational communication in vertebrates, multimodal communication, and biotremology in the classroom, as well as in art and music. Given its scope, the book will appeal to all those interested in communication and vibrational behavior, but also to those seeking to learn about an ancient mode of communication.

Noted biologist and philosopher Sahotra Sarkar exposes the frauds and fallacies of Intelligent Design Theory, and its claim to be 'good science'.
A scientific and philosophical exploration of the debate between evolutionary theory and Intelligent Design in the classroom
Puts the debate into its scientific and historical context
Looks at a variety of topics, including the relation between Darwinism and modern evolutionary theory, the use of computer science and information theory by the creationists, and the idea of metaphysical naturalism
Rejects Intelligent Design's claim to legitimacy, showing clearly how and why it is an unsuitable alternative to evolutionary biology in the classroom
A thought-provoking book for those seeking to understand an intellectual debate that is shaping our education policies
Forms part of the provocative and timely "Blackwell Public Philosophy" series

This is an edited book with original scientific papers of the results of the 6th International Congress on Fossil Insects, Arthropods and Amber (FossilX3) held in Byblos, Lebanon in April, 2013. In the tradition of previous congresses, researchers from around the world gathered to discuss the latest developments and to build new co-operative endeavours. Recognizing that the future of our science is one of interdisciplinary collaboration, these meetings steadily grow in importance, and proceedings such as this reveal the latest hypotheses and conclusions, while inspiring others toward newer and greater goals.

Lucretius' account of the origin of life, the origin of species, and human prehistory (first century BC) is the longest and most detailed account extant from the ancient world. It is a mechanistic theory that does away with the need for any divine design, and has been seen as a forerunner of Darwin's theory of evolution. This commentary seeks to locate Lucretius in both the ancient and modern contexts. The recent revival of creationism makes this study particularly relevant to contemporary debate, and indeed, many of the central questions posed by creationists are those Lucretius attempts to answer.

"Genes, Culture, and Human Evolution: A Synthesis"is a textbook on human evolution that offers students a unique combination of cultural anthropology and genetics.
Written by two geneticists---including a world-renowned scientist and founder of the Human Genome Diversity Project---and a socio-cultural anthropologist.
Based on recent findings in genetics and anthropology that indicate the analysis of human culture and evolution demands an integration of these fields of study.
Focuses on evolution---or, rather, co-evolution---viewed from the standpoint of genes and culture, and their inescapable interactions.
Unifies cultural and genetic concepts rather than rehashing nonempirical sociobiological musings.
Demonstrates that empirical genetic evidence, based on modern DNA analysis and population studies, provides an excellent foundation for understanding human cultural diversity.

This book is a collection of essays exploring adaptive systems from many perspectives, ranging from computational applications to models of adaptation in living and social systems. The essays on computation discuss history, theory, applications, and possible threats of adaptive and evolving computations systems. The modeling chapters cover topics such as evolution in microbial populations, the evolution of cooperation, and how ideas about evolution relate to economics.
The title Perspectives on Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems honors John Holland, whose 1975 Book, Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems has become a classic text for many disciplines in which adaptation play a central role. The essays brought together here were originally written to honor John Holland, and span most of the different areas touched by his wide-ranging and influential research career. The authors include some of the most prominent scientists in the fields of artificial intelligence evolutionary computation, and complex adaptive systems. Taken together, these essays present a broad modern picture of current research on adaptation as it relates to computers, living systems, society, and their complex interactions.

In a world where natural selection has shaped adaptations of astonishing ingenuity, what is the scope and unique power of rational thinking?
In this short but wide-ranging book, philosopher Ronald de Sousa looks at the twin set of issues surrounding the power of natural selection to mimic rational design, and rational thinking as itself a product of natural selection.
While we commonly deem ourselves superior to other species, the logic of natural selection should not lead us to expect that nature does everything for the best. Similarly, rational action does not always promote the best possible outcomes. So what is the difference? Is the pursuit of rationality actually an effective strategy?
Part of the answer lies in language, including mathematics and science. Language is the most striking device by which we have made ourselves smarter than our nearest primate cousins. Sometimes the purely instinctual responses we share with other animals put explicit reasoning to shame: the movements of a trained athlete are faster and more accurate than anything she could explicitly calculate. Language, however, with its power to abstract from concrete experience and to range over all aspects of nature, enables breathtakingly precise calculations, which have taken us to the moon and beyond. Most importantly, however, language enables us to formulate an endless multiplicity of values, in potential conflict with one another as well as with instinctual imperatives.
In short, this sophisticated and entertaining book shows how our rationality and our irrationality are inextricably intertwined. Ranging over a wide array of evidence, it explores the true ramifications of being human inthe natural world.

The Evolution of Social Wasps resolves one of evolution's most intriguing problems - the origin of insect sociality. It also challenges conceptual approaches that have dominated three decades of social behaviour research. Hunt's innovative model integrates life history, nutrition, development and ecology. His broad synthesis of empirical knowledge on social wasps should interest evolution biologists, behavioural ecologists, or entomologists alike.

Civilization, Beyond Our Fall explores the realities behind the rise and fall of historic civilizational ideals, especially on the fate of the Western vision. The book begins with the rise, durability, and fall of the historic civilizational profiles of humankind. It continues with the decline of the West, which from our perspective began with World War I and has continued at a faster pace in the 21st century. Itzkoff's prognosis for the next century or two is one of a dismal world of chaos, war, and deep pessimism throughout the world. The book concludes with a prediction of a world of scientific rationalism that will discard the ideologies, irrationalism, and selfishness that now characterize our elites. Here we leave dystopian realities for the perennial human hope of reason and for highly creative communities.

Human sexual nature today experiences many unanswered questions. Why does woman respond more slowly than man in arousal? What is the significance of the human orgasm? Why does sexual experience so often fail to form a lasting relationship? When is the most vulnerable time for a relationship in the process of formation? These and other questions are supported to find answers in our evolutional history. In this wide ranging and penetrating study the author finds human sexual nature to be basically inclined to committed relationships. The deepest evolutional trend, having early vertebrate origins, he finds to be the increasing biological investment in the unit young of each new generation.

Bioinformatics has never been as popular as it is today. The genomics revolution is generating so much data in such rapid succession that it has become difficult for biologists to decipher. In particular, there are many problems in biology that are too large to solve with standard methods. Researchers in evolutionary computation (EC) have turned their attention to these problems. They understand the power of EC to rapidly search very large and complex spaces and return reasonable solutions. While these researchers are increasingly interested in problems from the biological sciences, EC and its problem-solving capabilities are generally not yet understood or applied in the biology community.

This book offers a definitive resource to bridge the computer science and biology communities. Gary Fogel and David Corne, well-known representatives of these fields, introduce biology and bioinformatics to computer scientists, and evolutionary computation to biologists and computer scientists unfamiliar with these techniques. The fourteen chapters that follow are written by leading computer scientists and biologists who examine successful applications of evolutionary computation to various problems in the biological sciences.
* Describes applications of EC to bioinformatics in a wide variety of areas including DNA sequencing, protein folding, gene and protein classification, drug targeting, drug design, data mining of biological databases, and biodata visualization.
* Offers industrial and academic researchers in computer science, biology, and bioinformatics an important resource for applying evolutionary computation.
* Includes a detailed appendix of biological data resources.

An expert palaeoarchaeologist reveals how our understanding of the evolution of our species has been transformed by momentous discoveries and technological advancements. Who are we? How do scientists define Homo sapiens, and how does our species differ from the extinct hominins that came before us? This illuminating book explores how the latest scientific advances, especially in genetics, are revolutionizing our understanding of human evolution. Paul Pettitt reveals the extraordinary story of how our ancestors adapted to unforgiving and relentlessly changing climates, leading to remarkable innovations in art, technology and society that we are only now beginning to comprehend. Drawing on twenty-five years of experience in the field, Paul Pettitt immerses readers in the caves and rockshelters that provide evidence of our African origins, dispersals to the far reaches of Eurasia, Australasia and ultimately the Americas. Popular accounts of the evolution of Homo sapiens emphasize biomolecular research, notably genetics, but this book also draws from the wealth of information from specific excavations and artefacts, including the author's own investigations into the origins of art and how it evolved over its first 25,000 years. He focuses in particular on behaviour, using archaeological evidence to bring an intimate perspective on lives as they were lived in the almost unimaginably distant past.

Although Charles Darwin's theory of evolution laid the foundations of modern biology, it did not tell the whole story. Most remarkably, "The Origin of Species" said very little about, of all things, the origins of species. Darwin and his modern successors have shown very convincingly how inherited variations are naturally selected, but they leave unanswered how variant organisms come to be in the first place.In "Symbiotic Planet," renowned scientist Lynn Margulis shows that symbiosis, which simply means members of different species living in physical contact with each other, is crucial to the origins of evolutionary novelty. Ranging from bacteria, the smallest kinds of life, to the largest--the living Earth itself--Margulis explains the symbiotic origins of many of evolution's most important innovations. The very cells we're made of started as symbiotic unions of different kinds of bacteria. Sex--and its inevitable corollary, death--arose when failed attempts at cannibalism resulted in seasonally repeated mergers of some of our tiniest ancestors. Dry land became forested only after symbioses of algae and fungi evolved into plants. Since all living things are bathed by the same waters and atmosphere, all the inhabitants of Earth belong to a symbiotic union. Gaia, the finely tuned largest ecosystem of the Earth's surface, is just symbiosis as seen from space. Along the way, Margulis describes her initiation into the world of science and the early steps in the present revolution in evolutionary biology; the importance of species classification for how we think about the living world; and the way "academic apartheid" can block scientific advancement. Written with enthusiasm and authority, this is a book that could change the way you view our living Earth.

Professor Linda M. Fedigan, Member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, has made major contributions to our understanding of the behavioural ecology of primates. Furthermore, Linda Fedigan pioneered and continues to advance scholarship on the role of women in science, as well as actively promoting the inclusion of women in the academy. A symposium in honour of her career was held in Banff (Alberta, Canada) in December 2016, during which former and current students and collaborators, as well as scientists with similar research interests, presented and discussed their work and their connections to Linda Fedigan. These presentations and discussions are here presented as chapters in this festschrift. The original works presented in this book are organized around four major research areas that have been greatly advanced and influenced by Linda Fedigan: Primate life histories Sex roles, gender, and science Primate-environment interactions Primate adaptation to changing environments

The earth is continuously changing and evolving yet it is unclear how environmental changes will affect us in years to come. What changes are inevitable? What changes, if any, are beneficial? And what can we do as citizens of this planet to protect it and our future generations?

Larry Slobodkin, one of the leading pioneers of modern ecology, offers compelling answers to these questions in A Citizen's Guide to Ecology. He provides many insights into ecology and the processes that keep the world functioning. This important guide introduces observations that underlie arguments about all aspects of the natural environment--including both global and local issues. To clarify difficult concepts, Slobodkin uses lake, ocean, and terrestrial ecosystems to explain ecological energy flows and relationships on a global scale.

The book presents a clear and current understanding of the ecological world, and how individual citizens can participate in practical decisions on ecological issues. It tackles such issues as global warming, ecology and health, organic farming, species extinction and adaptation, and endangered species.

An excellent introduction and overview, A Citizen's Guide to Ecology helps us to understand what steps we as humans can take to keep our planet habitable for generations to come.

"This beautifully written book brings together careful observation, personal reflection, and theoretical understanding to explain the major environmental problems that confront us. Dr. Slobodkin's superb and sweeping work invites us to contemplate a great many facts and a few large values to motivate a clear and compelling response to losses of biodiversity, the problem of invasive species, global warming, and other environmental concerns."--Mark Sagoff, School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland

Biodiversity and Evolution includes chapters devoted to the evolution and biodiversity of organisms at the molecular level, based on the study of natural collections from the Museum of Natural History. The book starts with an epistemological and historical introduction and ends with a critical overview of the Anthropocene epoch.

This volume brings together evidence that animal behaviour varies geograhically, and explores some of the richness in phenomena, interpretations, and problems which can arise in such studies. The authors summarize advances in the field to date, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches, and give a clear and balanced overview of this area.

"The Teeth of Mammalian Vertebrates is an important reference for researchers in dentistry, comparative morphology, anthropology, and vertebrate palaeontology, and those with an interest in exploring and understanding diversity. The book provides a comprehensive and informed analysis of mammalian dentitions and highlights the importance of teeth as drivers and mirrors of evolution and diversity." - Journal of Anatomy The Teeth of Mammalian Vertebrates presents a comprehensive survey of mammalian dentitions that is based on material gathered from museums and research workers from around the world. The teeth are major factors in the success of mammals, and knowledge of tooth form and function is essential in mammalian biology. Illustrated with high-quality color photographs of skulls and dentitions, together with X-rays, CT images and histology, this book reveals the tremendous variety of tooth form and structure in mammals. Written by two internationally-recognized experts in dental anatomy, the book provides an up-to-date account of how teeth are adapted to acquiring and processing food. With its companion volume, this book provides a complete survey of the teeth of vertebrates. It is the ideal resource for students and researchers in zoology, biology, anthropology, archaeology and dentistry.

Biology is often viewed today as a bipartisan field, with molecular level genetics guiding us into the future and natural history (including ecology, evolution, and conservation biology, ) chaining us to a descriptive scientific past. In Darwinian Detectives, Norman Johnson bridges this divide, revealing how the tried and true tools of natural history make sense of the newest genomic discoveries. Molecular scientists exploring newly sequenced genomes have stumbled upon quite a few surprises, including that only one to ten percent of the genetic material of animals actually codes for genes. What does the remaining 90-99% of the genome do? Why do some organisms have a much lower genome size than their close relatives? What were the genetic changes that were associated with us becoming human? As molecular biologists uncover these and other new mysteries, evolutionary geneticists are searching for answers to such questions. Norman Johnson captures the excitement of the hunt for our own genetic history. Through lively anecdotes, he explores how researchers detect natural selection acting on genes and what this genetic information tells us about human origins.