Evolutionary Biology

by Max K. Hecht (Editor), Ross J. MacIntyre (Editor), Michael T. Clegg (Editor)

Overview

After volume 33, this book series was replaced by the journal "Evolutionary Biology." Please visit www.springer.com/11692 for further information.

This volume continues bringing to readers the findings of eminent evolutionary biologists and paleobiologists. Among the topics discussed in this book are the origin of the dermal skeleton in conodont chordates, patterns of nucleotide substitution and codon usage in plasmid DNA evolution, a model to explain phenotype stability in functional systems, and inter-island speciation of Hawaiian biota.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461368779
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	11/02/2012
Series:	Evolutionary Biology , #31
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2000
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

1. Speciation Processes in the Adaptive Radiation of Hawaiian Plants and Animals.- The Geology of Hawaii and Biological Consequences.- Speciation in Hawaiian Plants.- Speciation in Hawaiian Animals.- Speciation Processes in Hawaii.- Summary.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 2. Codon Bias and the Context Dependency of Nucleotide Substitutions in the Evolution of Plastid DNA.- The Plastid Genome.- Codon Bias.- Mutation Dynamics.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 3. The Origin of the Mineral Skeleton in Chordates.- Architecture of Conodont Apparatuses.- Function of Conodont Apparatuses.- Growth and Function of Conodont Elements.- Conodont Element Morphogenesis.- Relationships of Yunnanozoon.- Paraconodonts and the Evolutionary Origin of the Conodont Apparatus.- Dickinsonia and the Ancestry of Chordates.- The Problem of Proonodonts.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 4. Evolutionarily Stable Configurations: Functional Integration and the Evolution of Phenotypic Stability.- The Evolutionarily Stable Configuration: Overview.- Case-Study: Lingual Feeding in Iguanian Lizards.- The ESC: Characterization and Postulates.- Origin of an ESC.- Escaping from an ESC.- Character Analysis, Phylogenetic Patterns, and Comparative Methods.- A Brief Review of Relevant Concepts: Functional Integration and Internal Selection.- Developmental and Functional Constraint.- Problems.- Some General Implications of the ESC Concept.- Acknowledgments.- Appendix 1: Millikan’s (1984) “Proper Function”.- Appendix 2: Character Evolution within an ESC.- References.

Editorial Reviews

A survey of the paleobiology of ammonoids presenting reviews of previous work and new material in ammonoid phylogeny, ecology, growth rate, and locomotion. The nine investigating scholars cover topics in the organization of eukaryotic genes, Drosophila ADH evolution, substrate specificity and function, aspects of stress, resources, energy balance, pollination biology and the evolution of mating systems, sympatry and niche shift among temperate zone Chymomyza, and developmental perspectives on paleontological and morphological evidence. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

From reviews of the series:

‘Evolutionary Biology occupies a unique and valuable place in the evolutionary literature...The editors are to be congratulated on their continuing ability to attract interesting articles.' (The Journal of Evolutionary Biology)

‘The scope of Evolutionary Biology is vast...This series is...excellent; we should all press for its maintenance in our institutions, libraries.' (Biologist)

From the Publisher