In this book, Benoit Dubreuil explores the creation and destruction of hierarchies in human evolution. Combining the methods of archaeology, anthropology, cognitive neuroscience and primatology, he offers a natural history of hierarchies from the point of view of both cultural and biological evolution. This volume explains why dominance hierarchies typical of primate societies disappeared in the human lineage and why the emergence of large-scale societies during the Neolithic period implied increased social differentiation, the creation of status hierarchies, and, eventually, political centralisation.

This book compares the three most prominent representatives of evolutionary algorithms - genetic algorithms, evolution strategies, and evolutionary programming - computational methods at the border between computer science and evolutionary biology. The algorithms are explained within a common formal framework, thereby clarifying the similarities and differences of these methods. The author also presents new results regarding the role of mutation and selection in genetic algorithms and uses a meta-evolutionary approach to confirm some of the theoretical results.

This collection of essays looks at sexuality and reproduction from an evolutionary perspective. Covering experimental discoveries as well as theoretical investigations, the volume explores the relationship between evolution and other areas of human behaviour.

"The irresistible enthusiasm of Great Adaptations couldn't come at a better time."-David P. Barash, Wall Street Journal "Be very amazed."-Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words and Becoming Wild How one scientist unlocked the secrets behind some of nature's most astounding animals From star-nosed moles that have super-sensing snouts to electric eels that paralyze their prey, animals possess unique and extraordinary abilities. In Great Adaptations, Kenneth Catania presents an entertaining and engaging look at some of nature's most remarkable creatures. Telling the story of his biological detective work, Catania sheds light on the mysteries behind the behaviors of tentacled snakes, tiny shrews, zombie-making wasps, and more. He shows not only how studying these animals can provide deep insights into how life evolved, but also how scientific discovery can be filled with adventure and fun. Beginning with the star-nosed mole, Catania reveals what the creature's nasal star is actually for, and what this tells us about how brains work. He explores how the deceptive hunting strategy of tentacled snakes leads prey straight to their mouths, how eels use electricity to control other animals, and why emerald jewel wasps make zombies out of cockroaches. He also solves the enigma of worm grunting-a traditional technique in which earthworms are enticed out of the ground-by teaming up with professional worm grunters. Catania demonstrates the merits of approaching science with an open mind, considers the role played by citizen scientists, and illustrates that most animals have incredible, hidden abilities that defy our imagination. Examining some strange and spectacular creatures, Great Adaptations offers a wondrous journey into nature's grand designs.

This is the story of a profound revolution in the way biologists explore life's history, understand its evolutionary processes, and reveal its diversity. It is about life's smallest entities, deepest diversity, and greatest cellular biomass: the microbiosphere. Jan Sapp introduces us to a new field of evolutionary biology and a new brand of molecular evolutionists who descend to the foundations of evolution on Earth to explore the origins of the genetic system and the primary life forms from which all others have emerged. In so doing, he examines-from Lamarck to the present-the means of pursuing the evolution of complexity, and of depicting the greatest differences among organisms.
The New Foundations of Evolution takes us into a world that classical evolutionists could never have imagined: a deep phylogeny based on three domains of life and multiple kingdoms, and created by mechanisms very unlike those considered by Darwin and his followers. Evolution by leaps seems to occur regularly in the microbial world where molecular evolutionists have shown the inheritance of acquired genes and genomes are major modes of evolutionary innovation.
Revisiting the history of microbiology for the first time from the perspective of evolutionary biology, Sapp shows why classical Darwinian conceptions centering on questions of the origin of species were forged without a microbial foundation, why classical microbiologists considered it impossible to know the course of evolution, and classical molecular biologists considered the evolution of the molecular genetic system to be beyond understanding. In telling this stirring story of scientific iconoclasm, this book elucidates how the new evolutionary biology arose, what methods and assumptions underpin it, and the fiery controversies that continue to shape biologists' understanding of the foundations of evolution today.

In The Resurgence of Evolutionary Biology Terry Hoy charts the intersection between political theory and the intellectual debate over human evolution. The book deals with the contemporary interpretation of Darwinism as an apology for racism, imperialism, and capitalism. Hoy argues that this perspective underlies the contemporary debates between proponents of both genetic and environmental determinants of behavior. In response to several leading thinkers in the field--principally Edward Wilson, Stephen Gould and R. C. Lewontin--Hoy presents the neo-Darwinian synthesis of Edwin Mayr as a mediation between these two schools of thought. This concise work is essential reading for scholars of political theory and philosophy, and anyone interested in seeking to understand the rise and fall--and rise again--of Darwinism and the contemporary political relevance of Aristotelian-Darwinian naturalism.

In this latest edition of the Long Term Ecological Research Network series, John Hobbie and George Kling synthesize the findings from the NSF-funded Arctic LTER project based in Toolik Lake, Alaska, a site that has been active since the mid 1970's. The book presents research concerning the core issues of climate-change science, and addresses the treeless regions of arctic Alaska, as well as the adjoining boreal forests. As a whole, the book examines both terrestrial and freshwater-aquatic ecosystems, and their three typical habitats: tundra, streams and lakes. The book provides a history of the Toolik Lake LTER site, and discusses its present condition and future outlook. It features contributions from top ecologists, biologists, and environmental scientists, creating a multidisciplinary survey of the Alaskan arctic ecosystem. Chapter topics include glacial history, climatology, land-water interactions, mercury found in the Alaskan arctic, and the response of lakes to environmental change. The final chapter brings together these findings in order to make predictions regarding the consequences that arctic Alaska faces due to global warming and climate change, and discusses the future of the LTER site in the region. Alaska's Changing Arctic is the definitive scientific survey of the past, present, and future of the ecology of the Alaskan arctic, and the comprehensive source for the findings from the LTER site in the region.

In explaining his individuality thesis, Michael T. Ghiselin provides extended discussions of such philosophical topics as definition, the reality of various kinds of groups, and how we classify traits and processes. He develops and applies the implications for general biology and other sciences and makes the case that a better understanding of species and of classification in general puts biologists and paleontologists in a much better position to understand nature in general, and such processes as extinction in particular.

This clear, candid, and generously illustrated book is written for the open-minded reader who does not understand the technical issues of evolution, but would like to, who sees everywhere the signs of a bitter political, philosophical, and educational debate, but does not know what to make of it or who to believe. It tells how science proceeds, what evolution is, how science knows that it has occurred and continues to occur, and what biologists can point to, in fossils and in the living world, as hard evidence of evolution. For its content and foundations, the book draws on zoology, botany, genetics, embryology, geology, geophysics, cosmology, astronomy, astrophysics, history, religion, and science education - everything expressed with a clarity that enables the general reader without a science background, as well as high school students and their teachers, to understand the argument.

This book comprising 13 chapters, is the second of the four books planned for a series on Progress in Mycological Research. The chapters provide an overview of the progress and shifts that have taken place towards the understanding of the Systematics and Evolution of Fungi with the availability of modern tools and techniques. Most major groups of fungi such as the Chytridiomycota, Zygomycota, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota have been attempted to be covered. Advances in morphological and molecular taxonomy of highly toxigenic Fusarium species and understanding the phylogeny of the alternarioid hyphomycetes have also been dealt with in their respective chapters. Methods used in fungal evolutionary biology, their theory, examples and potential applications, and proteomics research for rapid diagnosis to invasive candidiasis have been reviewed in two different chapters. The ways in which molecular biologists and morphosystematists can develop synergy between them has been elaborated in the introductory chapter.

Recently, technological progress and the rise of DNA barcoding efforts have led to a significant increase in the availability of molecular datasets on intraspecific variability. Carcinologists and other organismal biologists, who want to use molecular tools to investigate patterns on the scale of populations, face a bewildering variety of genetic markers, analytical methods, and computer programs from which to choose. A modern overview of population genetic and phylogeographic studies, Phylogeography and Population Genetics in Crustacea offers insights to guide research on intraspecific genetic variation in crustaceans. Combining theory and case studies of current best practices, the book helps researchers select methods of analysis and interpret their results. The theoretical chapters discuss the potential of currently used and upcoming molecular markers in the context of marine non-model species. They also gather practical tips and address the effect of seldom-discussed sources of error, such as spatial and temporal variation, stochasticity, and choice of statistical parameters. Case studies of marine and limnic crustaceans from around the world highlight the importance and diversity of sources of population structure in intraspecific variation. Written by an international team of 46 leading experts, the book showcases the use and analysis of molecular markers, including mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data, coding and non-coding sequences, microsatellites, and cytogenetics. It gives researchers and students a valuable summary of current knowledge on the processes that shape genetic variability and geographic distribution patterns in space and time.

What separates modern humans from our primate cousins--are we a mere blink in the march of evolution, or does human culture represent the definitive evolutionary turn? Dwight Read explores the dilemma in this engaging, thought-provoking book, taking readers through an evolutionary odyssey from our primate beginnings through the development of culture and social organization. He assesses the two major trends in this field: one that sees us as a logical culmination of primate evolution, arguing that the rudiments of culture exist in primates and even magpies, and another that views the human transition as so radical that the primate model provides no foundation for understanding human dynamics. Expertly synthesizing a wide body of evidence from the anthropological and life sciences in accessible prose, Read's book will interest a broad readership from experts to undergraduate students and the general public.

"Absoliutno blagopoluchnoe ozero Baikal!" the Russian scientist looking out over the great lake says. "Lake Baikal is Perfect!" And humans can never harm it.
For a man cut loose from his life in the U.S., Lake Baikal-Siberia's sacred inland sea-becomes a place of pilgrimage, the focal point of a 25,000-mile journey by land and sea in search of connection, permanence, restoration and hope.
Following a difficult divorce, veteran environmental journalist Peter Thomson sets off from Boston with his younger brother for one of nature's most remarkable creations, in one of the farthest corners of the planet. Lake Baikal, a gargantuan crack in the Siberian plateau, is the world's largest body of fresh water, its deepest and oldest lake, and a cauldron of evolution, home to hundreds of unique creatures, including the world's only freshwater seal. It's also among the most pristine lakes on earth, with a mythical ability to protect itself from the growing human impact-a "perfect," self-cleansing ecosystem.
A trip halfway around the world by train, cargo ship and rubber raft brings the brothers to a place of sublime beauty, deep history and immense natural power. But at Baikal they also find ominous signs that this perfect piece of nature could yet succumb to the even more powerful forces of human hubris, carelessness and ignorance. They find that despite its isolation, Baikal is connected to everything else on Earth, and that it will need the love and devotion of people around the world to protect it.
On their trek to and from Siberia the author and his brother also encounter a stream of people who are also lonely, displaced and yearning for something beyond the limits of theirown lives, but many of whom are also big-hearted and deeply connected to their own communities and the world around them. What begins as a search for restoration in nature becomes as well a discovery of the restorative power of trust, faith and human connection.

This title was first published in 2000: Complex Life argues for the importance of the new perspective of non modern social theory in understanding human agency. Darwinian natural selection theory and complexity theory are used to provide new insights into human origins, mind and culture. Through bringing these ideas together it is argued that nature and culture are inseparably linked within human agency and that in consequence it is time to transcend the limitations of both modern and postmodern social science. This book argues that nature has never been controlled or transcended. Humankind is instead an emerged outcome of the historical interweaving of the environment, morphology, mind and culture. This wide-ranging analysis offers new insights into human nature for anthropologists and sociologists interested in human evolution, social theory or human agency.

Neanderthals in the Classroom examines the ongoing battle surrounding evolution from a cultural and historical perspective and then puts Theodosius Dobzhansky's claim that "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" to the ultimate test by exploring the potential evolutionary roots of this societal and educational clash over human origins. In examining the biological roots of the conflict, Watts demonstrates how understanding our inner Neanderthal allows us to consciously choose more highly evolved forms of communication as a means of alleviating societal division and creating space for more effective science education. Key Features: Introduces readers to the multifaceted world of evolution education. Describes the complex interplay between religious beliefs and science as well as the clash of false information and formal education. Offers an overview of the transformation of public opinion of evolution and science over time in the United States due to the perceived conflict between science and religion. Examines students' misconceptions about the theory of evolution and the general nature of scientific discovery due to the contradictory messages that they receive in popular culture. Offers potential means to amend misconceptions so that students and other individuals can integrate evolutionary theory into their worldviews, regardless of their religious background.

Offering coverage of a wide range of topics on snake reproduction and phylogeny, this comprehensive book discusses everything from primordial germ migration in developing embryos to semelparity (death after reproduction) in the aspic viper. Beginning with a review of the history of snake reproductive studies, it presents new findings on development, placentation, spermatogenesis, male and female reproductive anatomy, hormonal control of reproduction, reproductive cycles, sex pheromones, and parental care. An indispensible reference, this book offers comparative chapters on snake phylognetics examining morphological characteristics alongside strictly molecular concerns. It is rife with illustrations and color plates.

A recent poll revealed that one in four Americans believe in both creationism and evolution, while another 41% believe that creationism is true and evolution is false. A minority (only 13%) believe only in evolution. Given the widespread resistance to the idea that humans and other animals have evolved and given the attention to the ongoing debate of what should be taught in public schools, issues related to the teaching and learning of evolution are quite timely.
Evolution Challenges: Integrating Research and Practice in Teaching and Learning about Evolution goes beyond the science versus religion dispute to ask why evolution is so often rejected as a legitimate scientific fact, focusing on a wide range of cognitive, socio-cultural, and motivational factors that make concepts such as evolution difficult to grasp. The volume brings together researchers with diverse backgrounds in cognitive development and education to examine children's and adults' thinking, learning, and motivation, and how aspects of representational and symbolic knowledge influence learning about evolution. The book is organized around three main challenges inherent in teaching and learning evolutionary concepts: folk theories and conceptual biases, motivational and epistemological biases, and educational aspects in both formal and informal settings. Commentaries across the three main themes tie the book together thematically, and contributors provide ideas for future research and methods for improving the manner in which evolutionary concepts are conveyed in the classroom and in informal learning experiences. Evolution Challenges is a unique text that extends far beyond the traditional evolution debate and is an invaluable resource to researchers in cognitive development, science education and the philosophy of science, science teachers, and exhibit and curriculum developers.

This amusing, acerbic collection of essays examines every facet of the evolution/creationism controversy. Delos B. McKown exposes the ambiguous standing of "creation science" in public education, its roots in American fundamentalism, its incompatibility with scientific inquiry, and the clever rhetorical ploys "scientific creationists" use to cover their tracks. Although the "scientific creationists" try to impose a pure myth upon our public schools in the guise of respectable science, theirs is a curious kind of reasoning having ominous consequences for any society hoping to ground its educational system on modern scientific knowledge and methodology and on open, free investigation of problems and issues. McKown takes the "scientific creationists" world view seriously. In those instances where they would like to escape a literal reading of the Bible and slip into parable or allegory to avoid embarrassment, he makes them take their scriptures straight. Moreover, McKown puts them to rout with a perfectly biblical bit of theology that he calls "Three-World Creationism". The Mythmaker's Magic puts "scientific creationism" into its proper historical perspective, shows what its legal and constitutional strengths are, and suggests what may be done to thwart, if not to destroy, its malignant influence in public education. For all those who want to actively combat the dangerous spread of "scientific creationism" in public education, this powerful book can serve as both a beacon and a guide.

Neotropical Biogeography: Regionalization and Evolution presents the most comprehensive single-source treatment of the Neotropical region derived from evolutionary biogeographic studies. The book provides a biogeographic regionalization based on distributional patterns of plant and animal taxa, discusses biotic relationships drawn from track and cladistic biogeographic analyses, and identifies cenocrons (subsets of taxa within biotas identified by their common origin and evolutionary history). It includes maps, area cladograms and vegetation profiles. The aim of this reference is to provide a biogeographic regionalization that can be used by graduate students, researchers and other professionals concerned with understanding and describing distributional patterns of plants and animals in the Neotropical region. It covers the 53 biogeographic provinces of the Neotropical region that are classified into the Antillean, Brazilian and Chacoan subregions, and the Mexican and South American transition zones.

With the debate between Richard Owen and Thomas Huxley on the differences between the ape and human brains as its focus, this book explores some of the ways in which philosophical ideas and scientific practice influenced the discussion of evolution in the years before and after Darwin's publication of Origin of Species in 1859. It also shows how this episode can shed light on current philosophical notions of scientific practice and how they in turn influence our understanding of the history of science. The book advances the current historical discussion of the Owen Huxley debate by making clear that Owen's anatomical claims had much more support than most historians and philosophers of science assume.

One vital way Owen and Huxley differed in their approach to anatomy was how they handled absolute brain size. Owen argued that because the average human brain size was more than double the size of the record ape brain, absolute brain size distinguished humans from apes. Huxley by contrast, argued that because you can find a hippocampus minor in both ape and human brains, there was no great difference. In his 1863 book, Huxley had the artist make a human and chimpanzee brain the same length so that they appear similar size. But if the brain of a full grown chimpanzee is compared at the same scale with a fully grown human brain, the absolute brain size of human is as large as Owen insisted in the debate.
Owen s Ape and Darwin s Bulldog also seeks to explore differences in how Owen and Huxley approached racial issues in their debate as a case study on the interplay between values and laboratory science. Beginning in his 1835 paper and throughout the debate Owen maintained that all racial groups have similar brain sizes and intellectual abilities. By contrast, Huxley argued that African brains were intermediate between Europeans and apes: "if we place A, the European brain, B, the Bosjesman brain, and C, the orang brain, in a series, the differences between A and B, so far as they have been ascertained, are of the same nature as the chief of those between B and C.""

By asking how well theological views of human nature stand up to the discoveries of modern science, Alan Olding re-opens the question of whether the "design" argument for the existence of God is fatally undermined. A distinctive feature of the work is its emphasis on the metaphysical implications of biology and how these at times conflict with other, more plausible metaphysical positions. Another is its close critical examination of the "design" argument and of the relation God has to the world he creates. "Modern Biology and Natural Theology" takes up issues currently of concern to many thinkers and will provide fascinating reading for anyone interested in philosophical problems, particularly the impact of Darwinism on natural theology.

In most habitats, adaptations are the single most obvious aspects of an organisma (TM)s phenotype. However, the most obvious feature of many subterranean animals are losses, not adaptations. Even Darwin saw subterranean animals as degenerates: examples of eyelessness and loss of structure in general. For him, the explanation was a straightforward Lamarckian one, and one that did not involve adaptation and the struggle of existence. This volume is a comprehensive account of all known species of subterranean fishes. It includes an extensive introduction, history of investigations, consideration of non-stygobitic fishes in caves, and detailed analysis of the conservation status of these very rare animals.

The Vertebrata is one of the most speciose groups of animals, comprising more than 58,000 living species. This book provides a detailed account on the comparative anatomy, development, homologies and evolution of the head, neck, pectoral and forelimb muscles of vertebrates. It includes hundreds of illustrations, as well as numerous tables showing the homologies between the muscles of all the major extant vertebrate taxa, including lampreys, elasmobranchs, hagfish, coelacanths, dipnoans, actinistians, teleosts, halecomorphs, ginglymodians, chondrosteans, caecilians, anurans, urodeles, turtles, lepidosaurs, crocodylians, birds, and mammals such as monotremes, rodents, tree-shrews, flying lemurs and primates, including modern humans. It also provides a list of more than a thousand synonyms that have been used by other authors to designate these muscles in the literature. Importantly, it also reviews data obtained in the fields of evolutionary developmental biology, molecular biology and embryology, and explains how this data helps to understand the evolution and homologies of vertebrate muscles. The book will useful to students, teachers, and researchers working in fields such as functional morphology, ecomorphology, evolutionary developmental biology, zoology, molecular biology, evolution, and phylogeny. As the book includes crucial information about the anatomy, development, homologies, evolution and muscular abnormalities of our own species, Homo sapiens, it will also be helpful to physicians and medical students.

The way language as a human faculty has evolved is a question that preoccupies researchers from a wide spread of disciplines. In this book, a team of writers has been brought together to examine the evolution of language from a variety of such standpoints, including language's genetic basis, the anthropological context of its appearance, its formal structure, its relation to systems of cognition and thought, as well as its possible evolutionary antecedents. The book includes Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch's seminal and provocative essay on the subject, 'The Faculty of Language, ' and charts the progress of research in this active and highly controversial field since its publication in 2002. This timely volume will be welcomed by researchers and students in a number of disciplines, including linguistics, evolutionary biology, psychology, and cognitive science