
Evolution Evolving
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A new scientific view of evolution is emerging-one that challenges and expands our understanding of how evolution works. Recent research demonstrates that organisms differ greatly in how effective they are at evolving. Whether and how each organism adapts and diversifies depends critically on the mechanistic details of how that organism operates-its development, physiology, and behavior. That is because the evolutionary process itself has evolved over time, and continues to evolve. The scientific understanding of evolution is evolving too, with groundbreaking new ways of explaining evolutionary change. In this book, a group of leading biologists draw on the latest findings in evolutionary genetics and evo-devo, as well as novel insights from studies of epigenetics, symbiosis, and inheritance, to examine the central role that developmental processes play in evolution.
Written in an accessible style, and illustrated with fascinating examples of natural history, the book presents recent scientific discoveries that expand evolutionary biology beyond the classical view of gene transmission guided by natural selection. Without undermining the central importance of natural selection and other Darwinian foundations, new developmental insights indicate that all organisms possess their own characteristic sets of evolutionary mechanisms. The authors argue that a consideration of developmental phenomena is needed for evolutionary biologists to generate better explanations for adaptation and biodiversity. This book provides a new vision of adaptive evolution.
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Content
- Cover
- Contents
- Foreword
- Part I: Introduction: Why Consider Development?
- 1. Nothing in Biology Makes Sense . . . Anymore
- 2. Rodents' Teeth and Raptors' Toes
- 3. How the Turtle Got Its Shell
- 4. Understanding the Debates
- Part II: How Development Works
- 5. Opening the Black Box
- 6. Five General Principles of Development
- Part III: The Developmental Bases of Evolutionary Processes
- 7. Developmental Bias
- 8. Plasticity-Led Evolution
- 9. The Causes of Selection
- 10. Inheritance beyond the Gene
- Part IV: Implications of the Developmental Perspective
- 11. Novelty and Innovation
- 12. The Developmental Origins of Evolvability
- 13. Human Evolvability
- 14. The Structure of Evolutionary Theory
- Notes
- References
- Index
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