Author : David Michael Bryson
Publisher :
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 36,52 MB
Release : 2012
Category : Electronic dissertations
ISBN : 9781267576026
Author : Brendan O'Fallon
Publisher :
Page : 108 pages
File Size : 23,33 MB
Release : 2009
Category : Evolution
ISBN :
Author : Sergey Gavrilets
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 497 pages
File Size : 43,15 MB
Release : 2018-06-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 0691187053
The origin of species has fascinated both biologists and the general public since the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859. Significant progress in understanding the process was achieved in the "modern synthesis," when Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, and others reconciled Mendelian genetics with Darwin's natural selection. Although evolutionary biologists have developed significant new theory and data about speciation in the years since the modern synthesis, this book represents the first systematic attempt to summarize and generalize what mathematical models tell us about the dynamics of speciation. Fitness Landscapes and the Origin of Species presents both an overview of the forty years of previous theoretical research and the author's new results. Sergey Gavrilets uses a unified framework based on the notion of fitness landscapes introduced by Sewall Wright in 1932, generalizing this notion to explore the consequences of the huge dimensionality of fitness landscapes that correspond to biological systems. In contrast to previous theoretical work, which was based largely on numerical simulations, Gavrilets develops simple mathematical models that allow for analytical investigation and clear interpretation in biological terms. Covering controversial topics, including sympatric speciation and the effects of sexual conflict on speciation, this book builds for the first time a general, quantitative theory for the origin of species.
Author : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 189 pages
File Size : 46,83 MB
Release : 2019-01-05
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 0309465184
Scientific advances over the past several decades have accelerated the ability to engineer existing organisms and to potentially create novel ones not found in nature. Synthetic biology, which collectively refers to concepts, approaches, and tools that enable the modification or creation of biological organisms, is being pursued overwhelmingly for beneficial purposes ranging from reducing the burden of disease to improving agricultural yields to remediating pollution. Although the contributions synthetic biology can make in these and other areas hold great promise, it is also possible to imagine malicious uses that could threaten U.S. citizens and military personnel. Making informed decisions about how to address such concerns requires a realistic assessment of the capabilities that could be misused. Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology explores and envisions potential misuses of synthetic biology. This report develops a framework to guide an assessment of the security concerns related to advances in synthetic biology, assesses the levels of concern warranted for such advances, and identifies options that could help mitigate those concerns.
Author : for the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 47,71 MB
Release : 1995-02-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 0309552672
Since George Gaylord Simpson published Tempo and Mode in Evolution in 1944, discoveries in paleontology and genetics have abounded. This volume brings together the findings and insights of today's leading experts in the study of evolution, including Ayala, W. Ford Doolittle, and Stephen Jay Gould. The volume examines early cellular evolution, explores changes in the tempo of evolution between the Precambrian and Phanerozoic periods, and reconstructs the Cambrian evolutionary burst. Long-neglected despite Darwin's interest in it, species extinction is discussed in detail. Although the absence of data kept Simpson from exploring human evolution in his book, the current volume covers morphological and genetic changes in human populations, contradicting the popular claim that all modern humans descend from a single woman. This book discusses the role of molecular clocks, the results of evolution in 12 populations of Escherichia coli propagated for 10,000 generations, a physical map of Drosophila chromosomes, and evidence for "hitchhiking" by mutations.
Author : Erik Svensson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 37,73 MB
Release : 2012-05-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 0199595372
The 'Adaptive Landscape' has been a central concept in population genetics and evolutionary biology since this powerful metaphor was first formulated in 1932. This volume brings together historians of science, philosophers, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists, to discuss the state of the art from several different perspectives.
Author : Steven Hecht Orzack
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 424 pages
File Size : 32,45 MB
Release : 2001-06-04
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780521598361
These essays are intended to provide useful advice to "biologists in the trenches" but also to assess the larger theoretical and conceptual issues that form the basis of the current controversy." "This volume will serve to substantially advance the debate over adaptationism. It will be of interest to biologists, philosophers and historians of biology, anthropologists, psychologists, and cognitive scientists."--BOOK JACKET.
Author : Jan Michiels
Publisher : Humana
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,74 MB
Release : 2015-10-15
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9781493928538
This volume presents a comprehensive collection of methods that have been instrumental to the current understanding of bacterial persisters. Chapters in the book cover topics ranging from general methods for measuring persister levels in Escherichia coli cultures, protocols for the determination of the persister subpopulation in Candida albicans, quantitative measurements of Type I and Type II persisters using ScanLag, to in vitro and in vivo models for the study of the intracellular activity of antibiotics. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Bacterial Persistence: Methods and Protocols brings together the most respected researchers in bacterial persistence whose studies will remain vital to understanding this field for many years to come.
Author : M. Lässig
Publisher : Springer
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 33,24 MB
Release : 2008-01-11
Category : Science
ISBN : 3540456929
This set of lecture notes gives a first coherent account of a novel aspect of the living world that can be called biological information. The book presents both a pedagogical and state-of-the art roadmap of this rapidly evolving area and covers the whole field, from information which is encoded in the molecular genetic code to the description of large-scale evolution of complex species networks. The book will prove useful for all those who work at the interface of biology, physics and information science.
Author : Douglas W. Morris
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 20,60 MB
Release : 2011-07-14
Category : Science
ISBN : 0191626589
Pillars of Evolution provides a fresh and provocative perspective on adaptive evolution. Readers new to the study of evolution will find a refreshing new insight that establishes evolutionary biology as a rigorous and predictive science, whilst practicing biologists will discover a provocative book that challenges traditional approaches. The book begins by leading readers through the mechanics of heredity, reproduction, movement, survival, and development. With that framework in place, it then explores the numerous ways that traits emerge from the interactions between genetics, development, and the environment. The key message is that adaptive changes in traits (and their underlying allelic frequencies) evolve through the traits' functions and their connection with fitness. The complex mappings from genes-to-traits-to-fitness are characterized in the structure of evolution. A single "structure matrix" describes why individuals vary in the values of adaptive traits, their ability to perform the function of those traits, and in the fitness they accrue. Fitness depends on how organisms interact with and perceive their environment in time and space. These relationships are made explicit in spatial, temporal, and organizational scale that also sets the stage for the crucially important role that ecology always plays in evolution. The ecological hallmarks of density- and frequency-dependent interactions allow the authors to explore new and exciting insights into evolution's dynamics. The theories and principles are then brought together in a final synthesis on adaptation. The book's unique approach unites genetic, development, and environmental influences into a single comprehensive treatment of the eco-evolutionary process.
