Diversity and complexity are the hallmarks of living forms. Yet science aims for general causal explanations of its observations. So how can these be reconciled within the non-physical sciences? Is it possible for a science of life to conform to the requirements of a general theory - the type of theory seen in a 'hard' science such as physics? These are the questions that are explored in this important new book.
In Evolutionary Worlds Without End, Henry Plotkin considers whether there is any general theory in biology, including the social sciences, that is in any way equivalent to the general theories of physics. It starts by examining Ernest Rutherford's famous dictum as to what science is. In the later chapters he considers the possibility, within an historical framework, of a general theory being based upon selection processes.
Throughout, the author constructs a compelling argument for the idea that there are within biology, and that includes the social sciences, something like the general theories that make physics such powerful science. The book will be valuable for all those in the biological and social sciences, in particular, biologists, psychologists, as well as philosophers of science.

Bees are flying insects of the order Hymenoptera closely related to wasps and ants. The ancestors of bees are assumed to be predatory wasps, which switched to pollen consumption. Further, bees co-evolved with flowering plants and divided into several species according to climatic conditions. Widely known bees are western bees Apis mellifera, and eastern bees Apis cerana. This book sheds light on features of evolution, phylogenesis, speciation, adaptation to environment, and taxonomy of bees. It will be of particular relevance to evolutionists, geneticists, taxonomists, ecologists, population geneticist, and breeders.

There has been no mechanistic explanation for evolutionary change consistent with phylogeny in the 150 years since the publication of 'Origins'. As a result, progress in the field of evolutionary biology has stagnated, relying on descriptive observations and genetic associations rather testable scientific measures. This book illuminates the need for a larger evolutionary-based platform for biology. Like physics and chemistry, biology needs a central theory in order to frame the questions that arise, the way hypotheses are tested, and how to interpret the data in the context of a continuum.The reduction of biology to its self-referential, self-organized properties provides the opportunity to recognize the continuum from the Singularity/Big Bang to Consciousness based on cell-cell communication for homeostasis.

Changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and global climate conditions have altered photosynthesis and plant respiration across both geologic and contemporary time scales. Understanding climate change effects on plant carbon dynamics is critical for predicting plant responses to future growing conditions. Furthermore, demand for biofuel, fibre and food production is rapidly increasing with the ever-expanding global human population, and our ability to meet these demands is exacerbated by climate change. This volume integrates physiological, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives on photosynthesis and respiration responses to climate change. We explore this topic in the context of modeling plant responses to climate, including physiological mechanisms that constrain carbon assimilation and the potential for plants to acclimate to rising carbon dioxide concentration, warming temperatures and drought. Additional chapters contrast climate change responses in natural and agricultural ecosystems, where differences in climate sensitivity between different photosynthetic pathways can influence community and ecosystem processes. Evolutionary studies over past and current time scales provide further insight into evolutionary changes in photosynthetic traits, the emergence of novel plant strategies, and the potential for rapid evolutionary responses to future climate conditions. Finally, we discuss novel approaches to engineering photosynthesis and photorespiration to improve plant productivity for the future. The overall goals for this volume are to highlight recent advances in photosynthesis and respiration research, and to identify key challenges to understanding and scaling plant physiological responses to climate change. The integrated perspectives and broad scope of research make this volume an excellent resource for both students and researchers in many areas of plant science, including plant physiology, ecology, evolution, climate change, and biotechnology. For this volume, 37 experts contributed chapters that span modeling, empirical, and applied research on photosynthesis and respiration responses to climate change. Authors represent the following seven countries: Australia (6); Canada (9), England (5), Germany (2), Spain (3), and the United States (12).

"From Darwin to Hitler "elucidates the revolutionary impact Darwinism had on ethics and morality. Weikart demonstrates that many leading Darwinian biologists and social thinkers in Germany believed that Darwinism overturned traditional Judeo-Christian and Enlightenment ethics, especially the view that human life is sacred. Many of these thinkers supported moral relativism, yet simultaneously exalted evolutionary "fitness" (especially intelligence and health) as the highest arbiter of morality. Darwinism played a key role in the rise not only of eugenics, but also euthanasia, infanticide, abortion, and racial extermination. This thinking had its biggest impact on Germany, since Hitler built his view of ethics on Darwinian principles, not on nihilism as popularly believed.

Originally published in 1982, The Masterpiece of Nature examines sex as representative of the most important challenge to the modern theory of evolution. The book suggests that sex evolved, not as the result of normal Darwinian processes of natural selection, but through competition between populations or species - a hypothesis elsewhere almost universally discredited. The book also discusses the nature of sex and its consequences for the individual and for the population, as well as various other theories of sex. Since the value of these theories is held to reside wholly in their ability to predict the patterns of sexuality observed in nature, the book seeks to provide an extensive review of the circumstances in which sexuality is attenuated or lost throughout the animal kingdom, and these facts are then used to weigh up the merits of the rival theories. This book will be of interest to researchers in the area of genetics, ecology and evolutionary biology.

Human settlement of the western fringes of the Pacific began at least 40,000 years ago. Long, hazardous sea voyages were the only way of reaching the tiny islands scattered through this vast expanse of ocean. Food and shelter were hard to come by, even on land. This book, first published in 1996, documents how these settlers adapted culturally and biologically to the distinctive Pacific environment, and how they evolved into the large-bodied, muscular people seen today in New Zealand, Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. Philip Houghton considers studies of DNA, patterns of health and disease, and computer simulations of human survival at sea based on the likely routes through the Pacific. People of the Great Ocean is a unique work based on extensive research and careful analysis. Philip Houghton's text presents detailed technical information, but remains highly readable and persuasive.

This book presents modern approaches for understanding the evolution and diversification of land plants, one of the most exciting areas of plant systematics. It consists of three sections: origin and diversification of primitive land plants; origin and diversification of angiosperms; speciation and mechanisms of diversification. These sections correspond to the three major areas in the evolution of plants. In each section, data from molecular, morphological, and paleontological approaches are presented. Each author introduces recent progress and new findings, and proposes future research. For example, the morphological evolution of reproductive organs, or flowers in angiosperms, is now being clarified from the molecular genetic point of view through the study of regulatory genes such as MADS gene family. With this book, readers can readily understand the state-of-the-art in plant systematics and become aware of prospective future problems.

This book discusses the natural classification and biosystematics of Triticeae, and presents the most significant findings of comprehensive studies on the Triticeae, an important tribe in the grass family (Poaceae) that includes major crops such as wheat, barley, rye and triticale, as well as various forage crops found in different genera. The five-volume Chinese version of Biosystematics of Triticeae was published in 1998, 2004, 2006, 2011, and 2013, and included the 30 genera, 2 subgenera, 464 species, 9 subspecies, and 186 varieties of Triticeae identified to date. This completely revised English edition features up-to-date international research and the latest advances in the field. The book is divided into five volumes, covering a wide range of disciplines from traditional taxonomy and cytogenetics, to molecular phylogeny. Volume I, Triticum-Aegilops complex focuses on the taxonomy and generic relationships of Triticum and Aegilops, discussing the origin of common wheat as a crop. Volume II highlights the taxonomy and systematics of Secale, Tritiosecale, Pseudosecale, Eremopyrum, Henrardia, Taeniantherum, Heteranthelium, Crithopsis, and Hordeum. Volume III describes perennial genera and species including Kengyilia, Douglasdeweya, Agropyron, Australopyrum, and Anthosachne. Volume IV addresses perennial genera and species including Stenostachys, Psathyrostachys, Leymus, Pseudoroegneria, and Roegeneria. Volume V presents perennial genera and species such as Campeiostachys, Elymus,Pascopyrum, Lophopyrum, Trichopyrum, Hordelymus, Festucopsis, Peridictyon, and Psammopyrum.

Research during the past two decades has produced major advances in understanding sleep within particular species. Simultaneously, molecular advances have made it possible to generate phylogenetic trees, while new analytical methods provide the tools to examine macroevolutionary change on these trees. These methods have recently been applied to questions concerning the evolution of distinctive sleep state characteristics and functions. This book synthesizes recent advances in our understanding of the evolutionary origins of sleep and its adaptive function, and it lays the groundwork for future evolutionary research by assessing sleep patterns in the major animal lineages.

Advances in molecular biology have enabled leaps forward in the determination of virus phylogenetic history. This detailed 1995 book results from the invitation to foremost experts to give essays on aspects of virus biology. Initial chapters cover impacts of viruses and their control. Further chapters detail genetic variation of viruses and the molecular basis of interrelations with hosts. This leads to discussions of interactions with the host at the population level, and their molecular basis and evolution. Seventeen chapters follow, by specialists on particular groups of viruses describing their impact, genetic origins, sources of variation, population genetics and interactions with hosts. Practical virologists will find the chapters on phylogenetic analysis techniques very useful. The adaptive nature of viruses makes this work highly relevant to evolutionists.

The twelve papers consider: the origins of the study of mammalogy in North America; aspects of economic importance of mammals; ecology of mammals; anatomy and physiology of the anterior pituitary and endocrine hypothalamus and their interactions; evolution of mammalian behavior; evolution of mammals

Photopigments are molecules that react to light and mediate a number of processes and behaviours in animals. Visual pigments housed within the photoreceptors of the eye, such as the rods and cones in vertebrates are the best known, however, visual pigments are increasingly being found in other tissues, including other retinal cells, the skin and the brain. Other closely related molecules from the G protein family, such as melanopsin mediate light driven processes including circadian rhythmicity and pupil constriction. This Volume examines the enormous diversity of visual pigments and traces the evolution of these G protein coupled receptors in both invertebrates and vertebrates in the context of the visual and non-visual demands dictated by a species' ecological niche.

Originally published in 1991, Origins and Species seeks to understand the historical origins of Darwinism. The book analyses the explanatory problem to which Darwinian theory was a response, while contrasting the Darwinian with two other traditions in the interpretation of organic diversity. The book looks in detail at both Charles Darwin's theories and Alfred Russell Wallace's theories of about plant and animal species and raises the question of the context of Darwinism and that of Plato's and Aristotle's understanding of species.

This biography of Charles Darwin, first published in 1937, re-lives Darwin's life year by year, allowing the reader to share his experiences. The book displays Darwin's ideas and how they developed and grew over time. This title will be of great interest to students of the history of science and philosophy.

Originally published in 1997 Evolutionary Change addresses the somatic mechanism of change. Although astounding advances in molecular biology have opened up new engineering possibilities to shape our future in terms of "improving" the human species as well as eradicating all kinds of pathological characteristics of biological development, these possibilities pose potentially serious dangers. They arise primarily from the local nature of changes that are introduced and the impact of the environment on the overall development of the biological system. The book explores the biological mechanisms of change in their entirety - as they fit into the general dynamics of biological systems - and demonstrates the pitfalls of tackling change from a narrow perspective, using cancer as an example of certain pathological manifestations of these mechanisms of change.

Biogeography and Evolution in New Zealand provides the first in-depth treatment of the biogeography of New Zealand, a region that has been a place of long-enduring interest to ecologists, evolutionary scientists, geographers, geologists, and scientists in related disciplines. It serves as a key addition to the contemporary discussion on regionalization-how is New Zealand different from the rest of the world? With what other areas does it share its geology, history, and biota? Do new molecular phylogenies show that New Zealand may be seen as a biological 'parallel universe' within global evolution?

First published in 1909, this book collects the author's lectures on the 'problem of evolution' and the resultant debate. The first considers the validity of the Theory of Evolution and whether it is in opposition to the Christian view of creation. The second examines the assertion that evolution harmonises only with Monism rather than Theism and which of the two views is preferable. It also looks at the popular identification of Darwinism with evolution, if it is scientific and the results this leads to. The third looks at man's position in the problem of evolution - whether we are bound to bring in considerations higher than the zoological - and the evidence for our descent from 'brutes'.

In The Descent of Man Darwin addresses many of the issues raised by his notorious Origin of Species: finding in the traits and instincts of animals the origins of the mental abilities of humans, of language, of our social structures and our moral capacities, he attempts to show that there is no clear dividing line between animals and humans. Most importantly, he accounts for what Victorians called the 'races' of mankind by means of what he calls sexual selection. This book presents a full explanation of Darwin's ideas about sexual selection, including his belief that many important characteristics of human beings and animals have emerged in response to competition for mates. This was a controversial work. Yet Darwin tried hard to avoid being branded as a radical revolutionary. He is steeped in Victorian sensibilities regarding gender and cultural differences: he sees human civilization as a move from barbarous savagery to modern gentlefolk, and women as more emotional and less intellectual than men, thus providing a biological basis for the social assumptions and prejudices of the day. The Descent of Man played a major role in the emergence of social Darwinism. This complete version of the first edition gives the modern reader an unparalleled opportunity to engage directly with Darwin's proposals, launched in the midst of continuing controversy over On the Origin of Species. Janet Browne is the author of the prize-winning biography, Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place.

This book is about evolutionary theory. It deals with aspects of its history to focus upon explanatory structures at work in the various forms of evolutionary theory - as such this is also a work of philosophy. Its focus lies on recent debates about the Modern Synthesis and what might be lacking in that synthesis. These claims have been most clearly made by those calling for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. The author argues that the difference between these two positions is the consequence of two things. First, whether evolution is a considered as solely a population level phenomenon or also a theory of form. Second, the use of information concepts. In this book Darwinian evolution is positioned as a general theory of evolution, a theory that gave evolution a technical meaning as the statistical outcome of variation, competition, and inheritance. The Modern Synthesis (MS) within biology, has a particular focus, a particular architecture to its explanations that renders it a special theory of evolution. After providing a history of Darwinian theory and the MS, recent claims and exhortations for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) are examined that see the need for the inclusion of non-genetic modes of inheritance and also developmental processes. Much of this argument is based around claims that the MS adopts a particular view of information that has privileged the gene as an instructional unit in the emergence of form. The author analyses the uses of information and claims that neither side of the debate explicitly and formally deals with this concept. A more formal view of information is provided which challenges the EES claims about the role of genes in MS explanations of form whilst being consilient with their own interests in developmental biology. It is concluded that the MS implicitly assumed this formal view of information whilst using information terms in a colloquial manner. In the final chapter the idea that the MS is an informational theory that acts to corral more specific phenomenal accounts, is mooted. As such the book argues for a constrained pluralism within biology, where the MS describes those constraints.

The book is the first thorough study of the role of phosphorus chemistry in the origin of life. This book starts with depiction of the phosphorus role in life creation and evolution. Then it outlines in vital processes how different phosphorus-containing compounds participate as biomarker in life evolution. Written by renowned scientists, it is suitable for researchers and students in organic phosphorus chemistry and biochemistry.

This revealing book details recent developments in the study of the relationship between sulfur and the microbial agents that affect its metabolism. In recent years, new methods have been applied to study the biochemistry and molecular biology of reactions of the global sulfur cycle, the microorganisms involved and their physiology, metabolism and ecology. These activities have uncovered fascinating new insights for the understanding of aerobic and anaerobic sulfur metabolism.

This book gathers together much of the author's work - both old and new - to explore a number of the key increases in complexity seen in the natural world, seeking to explain each of them purely in terms of the features of fitness landscapes. In a very straightforward manner, the book introduces basic concepts to help readers follow the main ideas. By using variations of the NK model and including the concept of the Baldwin effect, the author presents new abstract models that are able to explain why sources of evolutionary innovation (genomes, symbiosis, sex, chromosomes, multicellularity) have been selected for and hence how complexity has increased over time in some lineages.

Over time the complex idea of "species" has evolved, yet its meaning is far from resolved. This comprehensive work is a fresh look at an idea central to the field of biology by tracing its history from antiquity to today. Species is a benchmark exploration and clarification of a concept fundamental to the past, present, and future of the natural sciences. In this edition, a section is added on the debate over species since the time of the New Synthesis, and brings the book up to date. A section on recent philosophical debates over species has also been added. This edition is better suited non-specialists in philosophy, so that it will be of greater use for scientists wishing to understand how the notion came to be that living organisms form species. Key Selling Features: Covers the philosophical and historical development of the concept of "species" Documents that variation was recognized by pre-Darwinian scholars Includes a section on the debates since the time of the New Synthesis Better suited to non-philosophers

'Intimate and thoughtful... Exciting... [A] sweeping evolutionary history.' Science The author of the bestselling Your Inner Fish gives us a brilliant, up-to-date account of the great transformations in the history of life on Earth. This is a story full of surprises. If you think that feathers arose to help animals fly, or lungs to help them walk on land, you'd be in good company. You'd also be entirely wrong. Neil Shubin delves deep into the mystery of life, the ongoing revolutions in our understanding of how we got here, and brings us closer to answering one of the great questions - was life on earth inevitable...or was it all an accident?