The character concept in evolutionary biology / edited by Gunter P. Wagner.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Wagner, Günter P.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evolution (Biology).

Character.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (647 p.)

Place of Publication:

San Diego, Calif. : Academic Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Almost all evolutionary biologists, indeed all biologists, use particular features to study life. These characteristics or features used by evolutionary biologists are used in a particular way to unravel a tangled evolutionary history, document the rate of evolutionary change, or as evidence of biodiversity. ""Characters"" are the ""data"" of evolutionary biology and they can be employed differently in research providing both opportunities and limitations. The Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology is about characters, their use, how different sorts of characters are limited, and wha

Contents:

Front Cover; THE CHARACTER CONCEPT IN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY; Copyright Page; CONTENTS; CONTRIBUTORS; PREFACE; Foreword; Characters, Units and Natural Kinds: An Introduction; SECTION I: HISTORICAL ROOTS OF THE CHARACTER CONCEPT; Chapter 1. A History of Character Concepts in Evolutionary Biology; Chapter 2. An Episode in the History of the Biological Character Concept: The Work of Oskar and Cécile Vogt; Chapter 3. Preformationist and Epigenetic Biases in the History of the Morphological Character Concept; SECTION II: NEW APPROACHES TO THE CHARACTER CONCEPT; Chapter 4. Character Replication

Chapter 5. Characters as the Units of Evolutionary ChangeChapter 6. Character Identification: The Role of the Organism; Chapter 7. Functional Units and Their Evolution; Chapter 8. The Character Concept: Adaptationalism to Molecular Developments; Chapter 9. The Mathematical Structure of Characters and Modularity; Chapter 10. Wholes and Parts in General Systems Methodology; SECTION III: OPERATIONALIZING THE DETECTION OF CHARACTERS; Chapter 11. What Is a Part?; Chapter 12. Behavioral Characters and Historical Properties of Motor Patterns; Chapter 13. Homology and DNA Sequence Data

Chapter 14. Character Polarity and the Rooting of CladogramsSECTION IV: THE MECHANISTIC ARCHITECTURE OF CHARACTERS; Chapter 15. The Structure of a Character and the Evolution of Patterns; Chapter 16. Characters and Environments; Chapter 17. The Genetic Architecture of Quantitative Traits; Chapter 18. The Genetic Architecture of Pleiotropic Relations and Differential Epistasis; Chapter 19. Homologies of Process and Modular Elements of Embryonic Construction

Chapter 20. Comparative Limb Development as a Tool for Understanding the Evolutionary Diversification of Limbs in Arthropods: Challenging the Modularity ParadigmSECTION V: THE EVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN OF CHARACTERS; Chapter 21. Origins of Flower Morphology; Chapter 22. Origin of Butterfly Wing Patterns; Chapter 23. Perspectives on the Evolutionary Origin of Tetrapod Limbs; Chapter 24. Epigenetic Mechanisms of Character Origination; Chapter 25. Key Innovations and Radiations; INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1-281-05713-4

9786611057138

0-08-052890-2

OCLC:

476098345