
Life Cycles
An evolutionary approach to the physiology of reproduction, development and ageing
P. Calow(Author)
Chapman and Hall (Publisher)
Published on 14. December 1978
Book
Paperback/Softback
X, 164 pages
978-0-412-21520-9 (ISBN)
Description
As time progresses, biology becomes more and more fragmented and specialized and it becomes increasingly difficult to see how all the dis- ! parate facts fit together. It is completely proper that biologists should have sought to reduce complex biological wholes into their parts, and it is natural that studies on the products of this reduction should have diverged from more holistic studies on evolution and ecology. Yet the biological parts, what they do and how they are organized are products of an evolutionary process which fits organisms for life in particular ecological circumstances. Physiology, developmental biology, ecology and evolutionary biology must not be allowed to grow too far apart, therefore, because all these disciplines and the way their subject matters interact are crucial to understanding organisms - and it is this, it seems to me, which is the fundamental goal of the biological sciences. This book has been written in the spirit of unification and synthesis. It is, in a sense, a general biology of the organism - not, however, of organisms as static unchanging systems, but of organisms as dynamic entities which progress through a definite cycle of events from birth to maturity. The central theme, therefore, will be the life cycle, and the book is organized around the three main phases which are characteristic of all life cycles; growth (Part II), reproduction (Part III) and ageing (Part IV).
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Research
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
1 s/w Abbildung
X, 164 p. 1 illus.
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
277 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-412-21520-9 (9780412215209)
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4613-3430-9
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

P. Calow
Life Cycles
An evolutionary approach to the physiology of reproduction, development and ageing
E-Book
12/2012
Springer
€53.49
Available for download
Content
One Introduction.- 1 Life's logic.- Two Growing.- 2 life as an energy transforming system.- 3 Life as a cellular system.- 4 Life as a dynamic steady-state.- 5 On the adaptive significance of growing.- Three Reproduction.- 6 How organisms reproduce.- 7 Quantitative aspects of reproduction.- Four Ageing.- 8 The ageing process.- 9 The cycle reversed.- Five Summary and Conclusions.- References.- Index of organisms.