Ecological Developmental Biology
Integrating Epigenetics, Medicine, and Evolution
Published on 9. December 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-0-87893-299-3 (ISBN)
Description
Written for a new field currently lacking a proper textbook, it relates the embryo to its environment, and demonstrates how development in nature is different from development in the laboratory. This book introduces a new field of Biology that is currently lacking a textbook. The coverage provided intersects numerous disciplines. The book provides new and important perspectives on Ecology, Conservation Biology, Cancer Biology, Ageing Research, Medicine, and Evolution; and allows students to approach the study of nature in a new way.This is a text for a new field of Biology that relates the embryo to its environment. Intersecting numerous disciplines in the Biological and Life Sciences, the authors have provided coverage in which the molecular biology of epigenetic development meets and interacts with the evolutionary aspects of phenotypic plasticity.
Reviews / Votes
'Overall, a masterful synthesis! It's one of those things that makes one say, "Damn, I wish I had written that!"' - Fred Nijhout, Duke University, USA 'A unique, thought-provoking, and clearly written treatment, at the molecular level, of the environment's influence on embryonic development and the paths of evolutionary change.' - John Gerhart, University of California, Berkeley, USA 'This is an incredible piece of work, and something that is sorely needed, right now.' - Mary Tyler, University of Maine, USA 'This is an extraordinary work ! first-class conceptually and pedagogically.' - John Beatty, University of British Columbia, Canada '...contains a wealth of facinating information about the biological world, described in a crystal-clear and engaging writing style and with informative, aestheic figures...clear and comprehensive..a didactic masterpiece...You can feel on every page that this work was written with care...Read it and be inspired! Highly conceptual, thought-provoking and beautiful - this is biology at its best.' - Lab TimesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Sunderland
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
Illustrations (chiefly col.), col. maps
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
1010 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-87893-299-3 (9780878932993)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
SCOTT A. GILBERT, Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology, Martin Laboratories, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, USA DAVID EPEL, Jane& Marshall Steel Jr. Professor in Marine Sciences, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Monterey, CA, USA
Content
PART I: ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNALS AND NORMAL DEVELOPMENT The Environment as a Normal Agent in Producing Phenotypes How Agents in the Environment Effect Molecular Changes in Development Developmental Symbiosis: Co-Development as a Strategy for Life Embryonic Defenses: Survival in a Hostile World PART II: ECOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY AND DISEASE STATES Teratogenesis: Environmental Assaults on Development Endocrine Disruptors The Epigenetic Origin of Adult Diseases PART III: TOWARD A DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS The Modern Synthesis: Natural Selection of Allelic Variation Evolution through Developmental Regulatory Genes Environment, Development, and Evolution: Toward a New Synthesis CODA: Philosophical Concerns Raised by Ecological Developmental Biology APPENDX A: Lysenko, Kammerer, and the Truncated Tradition of Ecological Developmental Biology APPENDIX B: The Molecular Mechanisms of Epigenetic Change APPENDIX C: Writing Development Out of the Modern Synthesis APPENDIX D: Epigenetic Inheritance Systems: The Inheritance of Environmentally Induced Traits