Origins of Biodiversity
Origins of Biodiversity

Author: Lindell Bromham

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 0199608717

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Origins of Biodiversity is a unique introduction to the fields of macroevolution and macroecology, which explores the evolution and distribution of biodiversity across time, space and lineages. Using an enquiry-led framework to encourage active learning and critical thinking, each chapter is based around a case-study to explore concepts and research methods from contemporary macroevolution and macroecology. The book focuses on the process of science as much as the biology itself, to help students acquire the research skills and intellectual tools they need to understand and investigate the biological world around them. In particular, the emphasis on hypothesis testing encourages students to develop and test their own ideas. This text builds upon the foundations offered in most general introductory evolutionary biology courses to introduce an exciting range of ideas and research tools for investigating patterns of biodiversity.

Biodiversity and Earth History
Biodiversity and Earth History

Author: Jens Boenigk

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-03-31

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 3662463946

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This uniquely interdisciplinary textbook explores the exciting and complex relationship between Earth’s geological history and the biodiversity of life. Its innovative design provides a seamless learning experience, clarifying major concepts step by step with detailed textual explanations complemented by detailed figures, diagrams and vibrant pictures. Thanks to its layout, the respective concepts can be studied individually, as part of the broader framework of each chapter, or as they relate to the book as a whole. It provides in-depth coverage of: - Earth’s formation and subsequent geological history, including patterns of climate change and atmospheric evolution; - The early stages of life, from microbial ‘primordial soup’ theories to the fossil record’s most valuable contributions; - Mechanisms of mutual influence between living organisms and the environment: how life changed Earth’s history whilst, at the same time, environmental pressures continue to shape the evolution of species; - Basic ideas in biodiversity studies: species concepts, measurement techniques, and global distribution patterns; - Biological systematics, from their historical origins in Greek philosophy and Biblical stories to Darwinian evolution by natural selection, and to phylogenetics based on cutting-edge molecular techniques. This book’s four major sections offer a fresh cross-disciplinary overview of biodiversity and the Earth’s history. Among many other concepts, they reveal the massive diversity of eukaryotes, explain the geological processes behind fossilisation, and provide an eye-opening account of the relatively short period of human evolution in the context of Earth’s 4.6 billion-year history. Employing a combination of proven didactic tools, the book is simultaneously a reading reference, illustrated guide, and encyclopaedia of organismal biology and geology. It is aimed at school- and university-level students, as well as members of the public fascinated by the intricate interrelationship of living organisms and their environment.

Origin and Evolution of Biodiversity
Origin and Evolution of Biodiversity

Author: Pierre Pontarotti

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-08-27

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 3319959549

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The book includes 19 selected contributions presented at the 21st Evolutionary Biology Meeting, which took place in Marseille in September 2017. The chapters are grouped into the following five categories: · Genome/Phenotype Evolution · Self/Nonself Evolution · Origin of Biodiversity · Origin of Life · Concepts The annual Evolutionary Biology Meetings in Marseille serve to gather leading evolutionary biologists and other scientists using evolutionary biology concepts, e.g. for medical research. The aim of these meetings is to promote the exchange of ideas to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations. Offering an up-to-date overview of recent findings in the field of evolutionary biology, this book is in invaluable source of information for scientists, teachers and advanced students.

Biodiversity and Evolution
Biodiversity and Evolution

Author: Philippe Grandcolas

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2018-04-17

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 008102567X

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Biodiversity and Evolution includes chapters devoted to the evolution and biodiversity of organisms at the molecular level, based on the study of natural collections from the Museum of Natural History. The book starts with an epistemological and historical introduction and ends with a critical overview of the Anthropocene epoch. - Explores the study of natural collections of the Museum of Natural History - Examines evolution and biodiversity at the molecular level - Features an introduction focusing on epistemology and history - Provides a critical overview

Biodiversity
Biodiversity

Author: John I. Spicer

Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

Published: 2009-01-15

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1435851676

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Discusses the many different life forms that have existed on Earth, their importance, and how they have changed over time.

Saving Nature's Legacy
Saving Nature's Legacy

Author: Timothy J. Farnham

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9780300120059

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Biological diversity is considered one of today’s most urgent environmental concerns, yet the term was first coined only twenty-five years ago. Why did the concept of biological diversity so quickly capture public attention and emerge as a banner issue for the environmental movement? In this book, Timothy J. Farnham explores for the first time the historical roots of biological diversity, tracing the evolution of the term as well as the history of the conservation traditions that contributed to its rapid acceptance and popularity. Biological diversity is understood today as consisting of three components--species diversity, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity. Farnham finds that these three tiers coincided with three earlier, disparate conservation traditions that converged when the cause of preserving biological diversity was articulated. He tells the stories of these different historical foundations, recounts how the term came into the environmental lexicon, and shows how the evolution of the idea of biological diversity reflects an evolution of American attitudes toward the natural world.

Evolution in Action
Evolution in Action

Author: Matthias Glaubrecht

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-07-24

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 3642124259

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Radiations, or Evolution in Action We have just celebrated the “Darwin Year” with the double anniversary of his 200th birthday and 150th year of his masterpiece, “On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection”. In this work, Darwin established the factual evidence of biological evolution, that species change over time, and that new organisms arise by the splitting of ancestral forms into two or more descendant species. However, above all, Darwin provided the mechanisms by arguing convincingly that it is by natural selection – as well as by sexual selection (as he later added) – that organisms adapt to their environment. The many discoveries since then have essentially con?rmed and strengthened Darwin’s central theses, with latest evidence, for example, from molecular genetics, revealing the evolutionary relationships of all life forms through one shared history of descent from a common ancestor. We have also come a long way to progressively understand more on how new species actually originate, i. e. on speciation which remained Darwin’s “mystery of m- teries”, as noted in one of his earliest transmutation notebooks. Since speciation is the underlying mechanism for radiations, it is the ultimate causation for the biological diversity of life that surrounds us.

Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota
Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota

Author: Noreen A. Buster

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2011-05-30

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 1603442901

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Volume 3 of Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota; a series edited by John W. Tunnell Jr., Darryl L. Felder, and Sylvia A. Earle A continuation of the landmark scientific reference series from the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota, Volume 3, Geology provides the most up-to-date, systematic, cohesive, and comprehensive description of the geology of the Gulf of Mexico Basin. The six sections of the book address the geologic history, recent depositional environments, and processes offshore and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Scientific research in the Gulf of Mexico region is continuous, extensive, and has broad-based influence upon scientific, governmental, and educational communities. This volume is a compilation of scientific knowledge from highly accomplished and experienced geologists who have focused most of their careers on gaining a better understanding of the geology of the Gulf of Mexico. Their research, presented in this volume, describes and explains the formation of the Gulf Basin, Holocene stratigraphic and sea-level history, energy resources, coral reefs, and depositional processes that affect and are represented along our Gulf coasts. It provides valuable synthesis and interpretation of what is known about the geology of the Gulf of Mexico. Five years in the making, this monumental compilation is both a lasting record of the current state of knowledge and the starting point for a new millennium of study.

An Introduction to Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics
An Introduction to Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics

Author: Lindell Bromham

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-10-14

Total Pages: 533

ISBN-13: 0191070696

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DNA can be extracted and sequenced from a diverse range of biological samples, providing a vast amount of information about evolution and ecology. The analysis of DNA sequences contributes to evolutionary biology at all levels, from dating the origin of the biological kingdoms to untangling family relationships. An Introduction to Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics presents the fundamental concepts and intellectual tools you need to understand how the genome records information about evolutionary past and processes, how that information can be "read", and what kinds of questions we can use that information to answer. Starting with evolutionary principles, and illustrated throughout with biological examples, it is the perfect starting point on the journey to an understanding of the way molecular data is used in modern biology. Online Resource Centre The Online Resource Centre features: For registered adopters of the book: - Class plans for one-hour hands-on sessions associated with each chapter - Figures from the textbook to view and download