Biology

Ecologists, both practical and theoretical, now appreciate that to understand biological systems they must consider the spatial dimension. Consequently, dispersal has become one of the hottest topics in plant ecology. However, in the midst of so much research output on dispersal, there is a need for a stock-take to determine the needs of future research: what has been achieved to date, where do current studies fit in, and what still needs to be determined? What are the implications of dispersal for those engaged in managing plant populations and communities? This is the first book for many years to present a synthesis of research on dispersal and its implications for plant population dynamics. The book consists of three sections: Section A reviews information on the biological and environmental processes that determine the path of an individual dispersing propagule, usually a seed, and the theory that has been developed to predict these trajectories; Section B discusses the distributions of seeds resulting from dispersal from an entire plant, theoretical research predicting the shapes of these distributions and design issues for future dispersal studies; Section C explores the implications of dispersal for expansion of populations, structure within existing populations and communities, and the evolution of dispersal traits.

This book addresses the most paradoxical finding of recent aging research: the cessation of demographic aging. The authors show that aging stops at the level of the individual organism, and explain why evolution allows this. The implications of this counter-intuitive conclusion are profound. Aging research now needs to accept three uncomfortable truths. First, aging is not a cumulative physiological process. Second, the fundamental theory that is required to explain, manipulate, and probe the phenomena of aging comes from evolutionary biology. Third, strong-inference experimental strategies for aging must be founded in evolutionary research, not cell or molecular biology. But there are also significant consequences of this work for human aging. First, biomedical strategies that are founded on the traditional cell-molecular theories of aging are bound to fail, because their fundamental premises are incorrect. Second, the ultimate technological problem of controlling human aging is redefined by the authors as having two parts:(a) ameliorating an aging phase that can now be seen as merely transitory; and (b) achieving an earlier and healthier post-aging phase. Third, the authors propose one possibility by which both of these goals might be achieved. The outcome of fifteen years of research by the authors, this book brings together new applications of evolutionary theory, new models for demography, and massive experimentation. As hard as it is to deal scientifically with the paradoxes and complexities of aging that stops, this key finding unlocks the box containing one of the most profound mysteries of biology.

The main aim of this book is to provide a basis for a complete dog behavioural biology based on concepts derived from contemporary ethology. Thus, dog behaviour is viewed from both functional (evolution and ecology) and mechanistic and developmental points of view. The study of dogs is placed in a comparative context which involves comparison with their ancestors (wolves), as well as with humans with which dogs share their present environment. Instead of advocating a single theory which would explain the emergence of dogs during the last 20,000 years of human evolution, this book gives an overview of present knowledge which has been collected by scientists from various fields. It aims to find novel ways to increase our understanding of this complex evolutionary process by combining different methods originating from different scientific disciplines. This is facilitated by describing complementing knowledge provided by various field of science, including zooarchaeology, cognitive and comparative ethology, human-animal interaction, behaviour genetics, behavioural physiology and development, and behavioural ecology. This interdisciplinary approach to the study of dogs deepens our biological understanding of dog behaviour, but also utilizes this knowledge to reveal secrets to behavioural evolution in general, even with special reference to the human species.

This book recreates the story of life before Homo sapiens walked the earth. It was once thought that “Peking Man”, the remains of a cave man discovered at the famous fossil site of Dragon Bone Hill in China, had been a great hunter. But Peking Man was actually a composite of the remains of some fifty women, children, and men unfortunate enough to have been the prey of a giant cave hyena. The book retells the story of the cave's unique species of early human, Homo erectus. New evidence shows that Homo erectus was an opportunist who rode a tide of environmental change out of Africa into Eurasia, puddle-jumping from one gene pool to the next. Armed with a shaky hold on fire and some sharp rocks, Homo erectus survived for over 1.5 million years, much longer than Homo sapiens, our own species, has been on Earth. Tell-tale marks on fossil bones show that the lives of these early humans were brutal, yet there are fleeting glimpses of human compassion as well. The small brain of Homo erectus and its strangely unchanging culture indicate that the species could not talk. Part of that primitive culture included ritualized aggression, to which the extremely thick skulls of Homo erectus bear witness.

This book is a collection of nineteen chapters where summaries of major ecological and evolutionary questions have been asked and responded using dragonflies and damselflies as study subjects. Each chapter is written by a well-respected scientist. The topics covered are: demography, population and community ecology, life-history, distribution, abundance, migration, conservation, applied use, predator-prey interactions, mating isolation, lifetime reproductive success estimates, reproduction vs. survival, parasite-host relationships, cryptic female choice, sexual conflict, territoriality, sex-limited colour polymorphisms, sexual size dimorphism, flight performance, and wing evolution. Each chapter puts forward new data and hypothesis in relation to further ecological and evolutionary questions.

The ever‐increasing knowledge of whole genome sequences is unveiling a variety of new structures and mechanisms that impinge on current evolutionary theory. The origin of species, the evolution of form and the evolutionary impact of transposable elements are just a few of the many processes that have been revolutionized by ongoing genome studies. These novelties are examined in this book in relation to their significance for evolution, emphasizing their human relevance. For example, the small genomic differences between humans and chimps challenges our understanding of what makes us humans in terms of genetic differences. Certainly, neither the increase in number of genes nor, probably, the changes in coding sequences are the key evolutionary differences that define our humanity. Most probably the relevant steps towards the evolution of higher forms, humans among them, have arisen in regulatory and assembling processes that decide when, where, and in which combination the already existing genetic blocks operate. These are just a few glimpses of these controversial issues that this book examines in the context of Darwinian evolution. Recently this debate has centred on arguments extracted from genomic and molecular information that have been intended to ‘deconstruct’ the Darwinian Theory. The purpose of this book is to show that whilst genome dynamism is providing new, and previously unanticipated, sources of variability, there is no reason to dismiss the role of natural selection as the leading mechanism that sorts out the adaptive potentialities. This book provides many examples to justify the argument to ‘reconstruct’, rather than to ‘deconstruct’, the Darwinian Theory.

Amphibians are the descendants of the first vertebrate class to successfully colonize terrestrial environments. They rely on water more than any other terrestrial group and occupy a unique position between fishes and reptiles. This book provides a synthesis of current research on the ecological and environmental physiology of amphibians, with a particular emphasis on metabolic and water balance strategies associated with the range of habitats, aquatic to terrestrial, that are occupied by extant amphibian species. The topics include the suite of morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations associated with specific habitats, and the use of systematics in elucidating patterns of evolutionary change. The book includes over one thousand references on basic physiological principles, ecology, phylogeny, and development.

This book focuses on the current understanding of a set of topics in ecological and environmental physiology that are of particular interest to ornithologists, but which also have broad biological relevance. The introductory chapter covers the basic body plan of birds and their still-enigmatic evolutionary history. The focus then shifts to a consideration of the essential components of that most fundamental of avian attributes: the ability to fly. The emphasis is on feather evolution and development, flight energetics and aerodynamics, migration, and as a counterpoint, the curious secondary evolution of flightlessness that has occurred in several lineages. This sets the stage for subsequent chapters, which present specific physiological topics within a strongly ecological and environmental framework. Chapter 2 covers gas exchange and thermal and osmotic balance, together with the central role of body size. Chapter 3 addresses ‘classical’ life history parameters — male and female reproductive costs, parental care and investment in offspring, and fecundity versus longevity tradeoffs — from an eco-physiological perspective. Chapter 4 offers a comprehensive analysis of feeding and digestive physiology, adaptations to challenging environments (high altitude, deserts, marine habitats, cold), developmental adaptations, and neural specializations (notably those important in foraging, long-distance navigation, and song production). Throughout the book, classical studies are integrated with the latest research findings. Numerous important and intriguing questions await further work, and the book concludes with a discussion of research methods and approaches — emphasizing cutting-edge technology — and a final chapter on future directions that should help point the way forward for both young and senior scientists.

This book aims to provide a critical appraisal of the theory and practice of key methods of forest pest management. The appropriate application of these ‘ecological methods’ in the development of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes depends on a clear understanding of pest biology and population dynamics, and an appreciation of the ecology and economic importance of both semi-natural and plantation forests. These aspects provide a focus for discussion throughout the book. The main themes of the first four chapters are the influence of forest composition and structure on the nature and severity of pest problems, the threat posed by the introduction of exotic pests in global trade, how risk-rating of forests can provide an early warning of outbreaks, and the role that silviculture can play in both contributing to and helping to reduce the impact of pests. The following four chapters discuss in turn the nature of tree resistance and its exploitation, the principles and practice of biological and microbial control, and the use of semiochemicals in manipulating insect populations. The final chapter on IPM includes a discussion of the economic and environmental impact of pests, with practical examples of IPM illustrated in a series of case studies. The potential impact of climate change is briefly discussed. Many of the examples and case studies relate to insect pests, but the term ‘pest’ is used in its widest sense to include fungal pathogens. Brief reference is also made to mammalian herbivores.

The main focus of the book is the presentation of the inertial view of population growth. This view provides a rather simple model for complex population dynamics, and is achieved at the level of the single species without invoking species interactions. An important part of the account is the maternal effect. Investment of mothers in the quality of their daughters makes the rate of reproduction of the current generation depend not only on the current environment, but also on the environment experienced by the previous generation.