Average customer rating:
|
Evolutionary Conservation Biology (Cambridge Studies in Adaptive Dynamics)
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Genetics
| Evolution
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Conservation
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Genetics
| Evolution
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Outdoors & Nature
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Phylogeny and Conservation (Conservation Biology)
-
Conservation and the Genetics of Populations
ASIN: 0521827000 |
Book Description
As human threats to the Earth's biota span unprecedented temporal and spatial scales, it has become urgent to integrate currently disparate areas of conservation biology into a unified framework. Combining conservation genetics, demography, and ecology, this book presents an integrative approach to managing species as well as ecological and evolutionary processes. The contributions are intended for students, professionals, and researchers in conservation biology, ecology, genetics, and evolution.
Book Description
The first comprehensive synthesis on development and evolution: it applies to all aspects of development, at all levels of organization and in all organisms, taking advantage of modern findings on behavior, genetics, endocrinology, molecular biology, evolutionary theory and phylogenetics to show the connections between developmental mechanisms and evolutionary change. This book solves key problems that have impeded a definitive synthesis in the past. It uses new concepts and specific examples to show how to relate environmentally sensitive development to the genetic theory of adaptive evolution and to explain major patterns of change. In this book development includes not only embryology and the ontogeny of morphology, sometimes portrayed inadequately as governed by "regulatory genes," but also behavioral development and physiological adaptation, where plasticity is mediated by genetically complex mechanisms like hormones and learning. The book shows how the universal qualities of phenotypes--modular organization and plasticity--facilitate both integration and change. Here you will learn why it is wrong to describe organisms as genetically programmed; why environmental induction is likely to be more important in evolution than random mutation; and why it is crucial to consider both selection and developmental mechanism in explanations of adaptive evolution. This book satisfies the need for a truly general book on development, plasticity and evolution that applies to living organisms in all of their life stages and environments. Using an immense compendium of examples on many kinds of organisms, from viruses and bacteria to higher plants and animals, it shows how the phenotype is reorganized during evolution to produce novelties, and how alternative phenotypes occupy a pivotal role as a phase of evolution that fosters diversification and speeds change. The arguments of this book call for a new view of the major themes of evolutionary biology, as shown in chapters on gradualism, homology, environmental induction, speciation, radiation, macroevolution, punctuation, and the maintenance of sex. No other treatment of development and evolution since Darwin's offers such a comprehensive and critical discussion of the relevant issues. Developmental Plasticity and Evolution is designed for biologists interested in the development and evolution of behavior, life-history patterns, ecology, physiology, morphology and speciation. It will also appeal to evolutionary paleontologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and teachers of general biology.
Customer Reviews:
One of the important books no one reads.......2007-03-17
There seems to be a consensus in evolutionary biology that this is an important book representing a major advance in our understanding. However, most of the biologists saying this haven't read the book; or have, perhaps, skimmed a chapter or two. The reason for this is simple: this book is far too long, far too dense, and far too abstruse. There is a lot of potential here; rewritten as a 150-200 page book with a good editor, it could have been an excellent and influential book. At 640 pages of text with constant grammatical & spelling errors (Lamarck only has his "c" about half the time) and writing that is, even by academic standards, hopelessly tangled, this is bound to be only an excellent decoration for the academic bookshelf.
Nonetheless, for those willing to take the long slog through there really is a lot of value here. There are just so many more enjoyable ways to spend one's time...
OK but who's going to read this ?.......2006-07-29
I have a PhD in biochemistry (meaning I can understand a reasonable amount of jargon) and hoped that with this book I'd be able to understand what modern developmental biology (in particular developmental genetics, "evo-devo", etc.) is about, but this book bored me to death. There is no continuum, no logical progression in the teaching. When you reach the end of a chapter you've forgotten what it was about. I admire the central concept and the work but, frankly, as a book it's completely missed. It is not a textbook, it is not a popularization book, it's a 600+pages small print dissertation. Who wants to read that ? Who has the time to go to the library and check the details of any of the hundreds of referenced articles (all of them are treated only superficially) ? Not students, not professional scientists (their time would be better spent reading review articles), not laypersons. Who then ?
New ways of thinking about Biology.......2006-03-09
I think that Mary Jane West-Eberhard is trying to formulate a new Shyntesis in Biology, she is trying to include Development in Neo-Darwinism. Her book makes the difference in the role that gives to phenotype, every biologist needs to read it to express his/her own opinions. Really deserves to be read.
jump starting a revolutiion.......2006-01-04
Darwin developed his theory of evolution without knowing much about the mechanisms of heredity. These mechanisms were rediscovered in the 1900's as part of the science of genetics. By the 1930's a school of evolutionary thinkers came to the realization that Darwin's theory could be further developed by recasting it in terms of population genetics. The resulting synthetic theory of evolution has ruled mainstream biology ever since. But genetics has not stood still in the meantime. The rise of molecular biology has made possible a new discipline, evo-devo which seeks to explain how the genes control development. Evo-devo has developed a new approach to evolution. While the synthetic theory tended to see evolution as a matter of the loss of old genes within a population or the fixation of new ones, evo-devo has found that large parts of the genome are conserved over vast periods of time and shared by widely divergent phyla. Evolution has produced diversity by modifying the mechanisms which control the expression of these ancient genes. New ideas are now required to explain how this kind of diversity evolves. West-Eberhard proposes that genetic control mechanisms can be exposed to selection by the phenotypic adaptation of organisms to new kinds of environmemt. This phenotypic adaptation ultimately drives evolution. The germ of this idea had been put forward by J. Baldwim more than one hundred years ago but neither Baldwin or anybody else knew about evo-devo and the idea had little influence. Now its time may have come.
Developmental plasticity and evolution.......2005-06-15
Being unfamilar with the jargon of her field, I had difficulty in following her arguments. Exacerbating the problem was scholarly syntax that packed sentences with so many clauses that I had to parce them to locate subjects and verbs.
From what I could glean from graphics and summaries, she has made a major contribution to our understanding of the process of evolution. A follow-up book on 'evolution for dummies' should enhance the public's understanding of evolution.
Book Description
Phenotypic plasticity is the property of a given genotype to produce different phenotypes (morphologies or behaviors) in respone to distinct environmental conditions. The fundamental goal of plasticity studies is to go beyond the old nature-nurture (i.e., genes-environment) dichotomy to gain a deeper insight into how organisms are shaped by the interqaction of their genetics and ecology. Typical questions in plasticity studies include: how do novel adaptive phenotypes originate? How do organisms detect and respond to stressful environments? What is the balance between costs or constraints and natural selection? As a field of research, phenotypic plasticity has gained momentum during the past two decades, taking center stage at the interface of ecological genetics, developmental biology, and evolutionary theory. This work is the first to synthesize this burgeoning area of research, providing a conceptual overview as well as a technical treatment of its major componenets. Pigliucci describes what phenotpyic plasticity is and how it is studied, discusses types of experiments with their statistical and graphical analaysis, and provides extended examples of the molecular basis of plasticity, the plasticity of development, the ecology of plastic responses, and the role of costs and constraints in the evolution of plasticity. A brief epilogue looks at how plasticity studies shed light on the nature/nurture debate in the popular media.
Customer Reviews:
Nature-Nurture in Synthesis.......2005-12-20
Phenotypic Plasticity examines the way elements outside the organism influence the effects of the collection of genes that constitute an organism (genotype) to form it (phenotype). The author, Massimo Pigliucci, a professor of evolutionary biology and philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook has achieved a widely acclaimed synthesis of research in ecological genetics, developmental biology and evolutionary theory that is "must reading" for specialists in these fields as attested by the reviews above. It will also be a richly rewarding (and challenging) read for non-specialists in the social sciences and medicine as well as the life-long learner interested in the hoary nature-nurture polemic.
The familiar story of Gregor Mendel's magnificent and painstaking genetic studies with peas often leaves out the care the good monk took to isolate pisum sativum from environmental influences. His research procedures mostly eliminated what in the early era of the gene was called the "noise" of environmental influences on the development of the pea characteristics he studied. Mendel's 1866 publication, largely ignored until it caught the attention of a new generation of biologists in 1900, ushered in the classical period of genetics. The active discussion of Mendel's thought provoking paper led Wilhelm Johannsen, a Danish botanist, to emphasize the distinction Mendel had made between the "factors" and the "characters" they produced by introducing in 1909 the terms "gene," "genotype" (the complete set of genes or more properly alleles) and "phenotype" (the appearance or expression of characters in living things). It was this distinction, with an assist from Francis Galton, which mainly accounts for the enthusiastic 20th century debate about whether we are what we are as a result of genetic inheritance (nature) or environmental influences (nurture). The reader who desires a more detailed history of genetics will find it in Sturtevant's A History of Genetics (Cold Spring Harbor, 1965/2001) and Stubbe's History of Genetics (MIT Press, 1972) among many sources.
The plot surrounding nature v. nurture thickened with renewed emphasis on the early 20th century work of the German botanist Richard Woltereck demonstrating that the genotype could produce a range of characteristics depending on the particular environments in which it developed. The implication: There was plasticity to the genotype. Pigliucci uses Woltereck's concept of the Reaction Norm as a point of departure to explore plasticity. First, he carefully explicates the concept of phenotypic plasticity, the often misunderstood idea of "heritability," and the way plasticity is studied by biologists. Also recommended in this context is the work of Sarkar, for example, Genetics And Reductionism (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998). In Chapter Three Pigliucci provides a brief but much needed conceptual history of phenotypic plasticity. The fact that Woltereck or reaction norm, norm of reaction, or the German "reactionsnorm" cannot be found in either Sturtevant or Stubbe's histories provides silent but eloquent testimony about the emphasis on the one gene-one character notion that dominated early 20th century genetics and perserveres today in press releases that usually begin: A gene has been found for...
Chapter Four (The Genetics of Phenotypic Plasticity), Five (The Molecular Biology of Phenotypic Plasticity) and Eight (Behavior and Phenotypic Plasticity) dig into the evidence for plasticity and, of particular relevance to humans, the ways in which hormones can effect adaptation to a specific ecological (outside the organism) environment by carrying information from that environment to the genotypic-specific reactions triggered by that environment. These adaptations and the responsible mechanisms are also discussed in some detail by Cellura in Chapters Two through Five of The Genomic Environment And Niche-Experience (Cedar Springs Press, 2005). Pigliucci also has chapters on developmental, theoretical and evolutionary biology and the ecology of phenotypic plasticity. In an epilogue he discusses philosophical and policy issues often encountered in the nature-nurture debate.
Phenotypic Plasticity is a sweeping review of the literature that is forging a new paradigm in biology, closing the loop in the misleading dichotomy between nature and nurture. Reading it and re-reading it will provide insight upon insight about real world biological adaptation.
Average customer rating:
- Homosexuality is a "queer" thing
|
Straight Science?: Homosexuality, Evolution and Adaptation
Jim McKnight
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Nonfiction
| Gay & Lesbian
| Subjects
| Books
Child Psychology
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
| Development
| Psychology
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mental Health
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gender Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Gay & Lesbian
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Mammals
| Animals
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Mammals
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Evolution
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Internal Medicine
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
| Cardiology
| Critical Care
| Endocrinology & Metabolism
| Gastroenterology
| General
| Hematology
| Hepatology
| Infectious Disease
| Nephrology
| Neurology
| Oncology
| Pulmonary
| Rheumatology
| Urology
Gay & Lesbian Studies
| Social Sciences
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
Social
| Psychology
| Social Sciences
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0415157722 |
Book Description
Homosexuality is a problem for evolutionary theory. How does a non-reproductive sexual preference survive? There is increasing evidence for a biological basis to homosexuality, not least the discovery of markers for a gay gene. Yet Darwinism, the most widely accepted evolutionary theory, emphasizes successful reproduction.
Straight Science? considers the latest research and examines this apparent paradox from an evolutionary perspective.
While social constructionism offers explanations in terms of social learning and cultural preferences, the body of evidence for a genetic predisposition to homosexuality grows. Jim McKnight considers both biological and social evolutionary theories of the causation of homosexuality, and puts forward a model of the most likely causes. He concludes with an overview of the adequacy of a social constructivist view versus a sociobiological one.
Customer Reviews:
Homosexuality is a "queer" thing.......2004-11-24
Come to think of it, homosexuality is a strange phenomenon indeed. If sexual attraction between the opposite sexes evolved to encourage reproduction, same-sex attraction should have been a curious evolutionary error inevitably selected against. And yet gay people has always been around. Could it be Mother Nature found this situation advantageous to the species? If so, why? This book tries to answer this evolutionary puzzle.Intriguing read for both gay and straight people interested in evolutionary science.
Average customer rating:
|
Genetics and Molecular Biology of Muscle Adaptation (Advances in Sport and Exercise Science)
Manufacturer: Churchill Livingstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Physical Therapy
| Allied Health Professions
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Physiology
| Basic Science
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Sports Medicine
| Specialties
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Physical Therapy
| Allied Health Professions
| Medical
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Physiology
| Basic Sciences
| Medical
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Injuries & Rehabilitation
| Exercise & Fitness
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0443100772 |
Book Description
This title is directed primarily towards health care professionals outside of the United States. It starts with the origin of life and ends with the mechanisms that make muscles adapt to different forms of training. In between, it considers how evidence has been obtained about the extent of genetic influence on human capacities, how muscles and their fibres are studied for general properties and individual differences, and how molecular biological techniques have been combined with physiological ones to produce the new discipline of molecular exercise physiology. This is the first book on such topics written specifically for modules in exercise and sport science at final year Hons BSc and taught MSc levels.
Customer Reviews:
A Quickstart to the central issues in developmental biology.......2000-12-17
I was prompted to write this after reading the review below from the New Mexico reader. He misses the point, not Maynard-Smith. This little book (45 pages)is based on a lecture given by Smith at the London School of Economics. The central theme of his lecture was to make the point that the two views in developmental biology i.e. dynamic-holistic view and the local-reductionist view are both important. But, he extends this thinking by suggesting that this dichotomy in biology is a pattern that exists in all aspects/spheres/disciplines in life. This is what I found so revealing. Gore Vs Bush could not be a better (current) example that comes to mind when reading the final chapter 5 - Reductionists to the right, Holists to the left.
Total misunderstanding.......1999-11-22
Although I certainly enjoy most books and articles by Maynard Smith, this book was a tremendous disappointment. He argues against self-organization in biology in a very bad way. Instead of a good argument, one finds a subjective, totally biased and unscientific argument (what a splash pattern has to do with morphogenesis? no idea, really ... that's a funny picture but nothing to do with development). Still worse, Maynard Smith tries to "put down" previous and current work on development from the point of view of complexity by claiming that it has to do with some obscure disappointment with Marxism and with some feminist-like reasoning (? ). I find this strategy really unfair and not appropiate for a great scientist and writer such as Maynard Smith. I think that it is clear that selforganization is, **together with information and adaptation** a fundamental part of the understanding of life. In trying to ridiculize complexity and selforganization, the author is (perhaps uncounsciously) acting in a way not far from "scientific creationists".
Average customer rating:
|
Drought Adaptation in Cereals (Crop Science) (Crop Science)
Manufacturer: Food Products Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Agricultural Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Agronomy
| Agricultural Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Crop Science
| Agricultural Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Agricultural Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Crop Science
| Agricultural Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1560222778 |
Book Description
Learn how to best improve yield in cereal plants—even in dry conditions
The impact of drought on crop production can be economically devastating. Drought Adaptation in Cereals provides a comprehensive review of the latest research on the tolerance of cereal crops to water-limited conditions. Renowned experts extensively describe basic concepts and cutting-edge research results to clearly reveal all facets of drought adaptation in cereals. More than simply a fine reference for plant biology and plant improvement under water-limited conditions, this book spotlights the most relevant biological approaches from plant phenotyping to functional genomics.
The need to understand plant response to the lack of water is integral to forming strategies to best manage crops. Drought Adaptation in Cereals starts by offering an overview of the biological basis and defines the adaptive mechanisms found in plants under water-limited conditions. Different approaches are presented to provide understanding of plant genetics basics and plant breeding, including phenotyping, physiology, and biotechnology. The book details drought adaptation mechanisms at the cellular, organ, and entire plant levels, focusing on plant metabolism and gene functions. This resource is extensively referenced and contains tables, charts, and figures to clearly present data and enhance understanding.
After a foreword by J. O'Toole and a prologue by A. Blum, Drought Adaptation in Cereals presents a full spectrum of informative topics from other internationally respected scientists. These include:
drought's economic impact (P. Heisey)
genotype-by-environment interactions (M. Cooper)
secondary traits for drought adaptation (P. Monneveux)
leaf growth (F. Tardieu)
carbon isotope discrimination (T. Condon)
drought adaptation in barley (M. Sorrells), maize (M. Sawkins), rice (R. Lafitte), sorghum (A. Borrell) and wheat (M. Reynolds)
carbohydrate metabolism (A. Tiessen)
the role of abscisic acid (T. Setter)
protection mechanisms and stress proteins (L. Mtwisha)
genetic basis of ion homeostasis and water deficit (H. Bohnert)
transcriptional factors (K. Yamaguchi-Shinozaki)
resurrection plants (D. Bartels)
Drought Adaptation in Cereals is a unique, vital reference for scientists, educators, and students in plant biology, agronomy, and natural resources management.
Average customer rating:
- The founder's words
- Not an Introductory book
- Genetic Algorithms Classic for Engineering
|
Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems: An Introductory Analysis with Applications to Biology, Control, and Artificial Intelligence
John H. Holland
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Control Systems
| Microprocessors & System Design
| Hardware
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
Artificial Life
| Artificial Intelligence
| Computer Science
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Artificial Intelligence
| Computer Science
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
Computer Mathematics
| Artificial Intelligence
| Computer Science
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Cognitive
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Genetics
| Evolution
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Evolution
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Cognitive Psychology
| Behavioral Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Behavioral Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Cognitive Psychology
| Behavioral Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Cognitive Science
| Behavioral Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Computer Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Computers & Internet
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity (Helix Books)
-
An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms (Complex Adaptive Systems)
-
Induction: Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discovery
-
Emergence: From Chaos to Order (Helix Books)
-
Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning
ASIN: 0262581116 |
Amazon.com
John Holland's Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems is one of the classics in the field of complex adaptive systems. Holland is known as the father of genetic algorithms and classifier systems and in this tome he describes the theory behind these algorithms. Drawing on ideas from the fields of biology and economics, he shows how computer programs can evolve. The book contains mathematical proofs that are accessible only to those with strong backgrounds in engineering or science.
Book Description
Genetic algorithms are playing an increasingly important role in studies of complex adaptive systems, ranging from adaptive agents in economic theory to the use of machine learning techniques in the design of complex devices such as aircraft turbines and integrated circuits. Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems is the book that initiated this field of study, presenting the theoretical foundations and exploring applications.
In its most familiar form, adaptation is a biological process, whereby organisms evolve by rearranging genetic material to survive in environments confronting them. In this now classic work, Holland presents a mathematical model that allows for the nonlinearity of such complex interactions. He demonstrates the model's universality by applying it to economics, physiological psychology, game theory, and artificial intelligence and then outlines the way in which this approach modifies the traditional views of mathematical genetics.
Initially applying his concepts to simply defined artificial systems with limited numbers of parameters, Holland goes on to explore their use in the study of a wide range of complex, naturally occuring processes, concentrating on systems having multiple factors that interact in nonlinear ways. Along the way he accounts for major effects of coadaptation and coevolution: the emergence of building blocks, or schemata, that are recombined and passed on to succeeding generations to provide, innovations and improvements.
John H. Holland is Professor of Psychology and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He is also Maxwell Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and is Director of the University of Michigan/Santa Fe Institute Advanced Research Program.
Customer Reviews:
The founder's words.......2005-09-10
This is a wonderful time. We can read about information theory in Shannon's own words, fuzzy logic in Zadeh's, relativity in Einstein's, and genetic programming in Holland's. He created evolutionary algorithms, and shares his thoughts in this brief work.
1975, when he first published this work, was a long time ago. Since then, computing has advanced, computing demands have advanced, and biology has advanced. Biology, because it functions at all the levels from atoms to worlds, has bottomless potential for insight. Because the atoms, the worlds, and everything between are all unfriendly, biology has many problems to solve. It doesn't matter whether you are an oak tree, a virus, or a whale, the solution (at the species level) is the same: evolve. Holland was the first to harness that incredible problem-solving power to computational use.
A huge literature has built up from Holland's founding thoughts. Those thoughts are here, in their original and purest form. It is hardly surprising that Holland anticipated so many elaborations of his work. One, in particular, struck me: the idea of 'hot spots' for genetic crossover. Or rather the opposite: 'cold spots' where crossover is inhibited. As a computer scientist, Holland's first thoughts were written in binary. When you allow points where crossover can not occur, you allow coherent multibit values - maybe even floating point. It's easy to laugh at Holland's initial naivete now, but he was talking about the foundations, not the structure built up from it.
If you have ever programmed genetic algorithms, you have been stunned by their effectiveness in creating good solutions. 'Good' doesn't mean precisely optimal, but pretty damm good anyway.
If you were a hard core creationist to start with, you still are. But now you know that evolutionary problem solving is powerful, broad, subtle, and effective - so much, that it's hard to believe it could ever have arisen by chance.
//wiredweird
Not an Introductory book.......2005-04-13
I am learning by myself the topic of Genetic Algorithms (GA) for my PhD dissertation. Even though this book is written for John H. Holland considered the father of Genetics Algorithms, this is not a basic or easy reading book. The book does not contain any source code and even though it contains some kind of pseudocode, it will not give you a clear idea about how to implement a GA. If you want an introduction book maybe you should look for the Mitchell Melanie's book "An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms" , Fogel's book "Evolutionary Computation vol. 1" or Chamber's book "The Practical Handbook of Genetic Algorithms".
The way the author approaches the development of the framework is sometimes overwhelming because the author does not concentrate in one specific case or concept but he mentions all the different possibilities almost at the same time. I think it is worthwhile to buy the book to have it for advanced understanding of the concepts involved in the study of Complex Adaptive System. My approach to learn GA will be reading the above mentioned books and then study this book in a very detailed and slowly way to digest the huge amount of concepts and information provided by it.
Genetic Algorithms Classic for Engineering.......2000-03-31
This book presents an inspirational synthesis from mathematics, computer science and systems theory addressing genetic algorithms and their role in intelligent engineering/business systems.
Topics include: background, a formal framework, illustrations (genetics, economics, game playing, searches, pattern recognition and statistical inference, control and function optimization, and central-nervous system), schemata, the optimal allocation of trials, reproductive plans and genetic operators, the robustness of genetic plans, adaptation of coding and representations, and overview, interim and prospectus.
Inclusion of a disk of spreadsheet-based examples would have increased user-friendliness to the sometimes moderately-complex mathematics. Otherwise, this book is a well presented, and useful classic for researchers and software vendors seeking to develop more innovative intelligent products.
Book Description
The metaphor of the adaptive landscape - that evolution via the process of natural selection can be visualized as a journey across adaptive hills and valleys, mountains and ravines - permeates both evolutionary biology and the philosophy of science. The focus of this book is to demonstrate to the reader that the adaptive landscape concept can be put into actual analytical practice through the usage of theoretical morphospaces - geometric spaces of both existent and non-existent biological form - and to demonstrate the power of the adaptive landscape concept in understanding the process of evolution. The adaptive landscape concept further allows us to take a spatial approach to the concepts of natural selection, evolutionary constraint and evolutionary development. For that reason, this book relies heavily on spatial graphics to convey the concepts developed within these pages, and less so on formal mathematics.
Book Description
Understanding the process of adaptive evolution of phenotypes is a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology. It has been approached from the point of view of population and quantitative genetics, optimality theory, or developmental biology. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of research on phenotypic plasticity (the environmentally induced production of different phenotypes by a single genotype) as well as on the molecular details of development, reflecting the increased recognition of their importance in shaping phenotypic evolution. However, the "hardening" of the neodarwinian synthesis in the '40s led to the largely independent investigation of genetic, developmental and environmental bases of phenotypic expression. As a result, these different perspectives have not been integrated into a satisfying cohesive view of phenotypic evolution.
Phenotypic Evolution explicitly recognizes organisms as complex genetic-epigenetic systems developing in response to changing internal and external environments. As a key to a better understanding of how phenotypes evolve, the authors have developed a framework that centers on the concept of the Developmental Reaction Norm. This encompasses their views: (1) that organisms are better considered as integrated units than as disconnected parts (allometry and phenotypic integration); (2) that an understanding of ontogeny is vital for evaluating evolution of adult forms (ontogenetic trajectories, epigenetics, and constraints); and (3) that environmental heterogeneity is ubiquitous and must be acknowledged for its pervasive role in phenotypic expression.
Phenotypic Evolution: A Reaction Norm Perspective can serve as a text for graduate-level courses and seminars on phenotypic evolution or evolutionary developmental biology, and as a supplemental text for evolutionary biology. The extensive references provide links to a wide variety of studies examining the diversity of phenotypes. The book will also be of interest to organismal biologists in general, including ecologists, developmental biologists, and systematists.
Customer Reviews:
Not an introduction, but a great foundation.......2001-06-26
This book introduced me to 'reaction norms' and 'phenotypic plasticity.' Believe me, these are critical notions for any discussion of evolution. Phenotypic plasticity is the notion that different environments produce different phenotypic expressions despite identical genetic material. The book discusses a variety of cases pulled from the animal and plant kingdom. For example, many plant have develop into different 'forms' depending upon the altitude of their environment. In the animal kingdom, twin spiders will build different types of webs depending upon their environment. The 'reaction norm' represents the 'normal' phenotypic response to the environment, something we often mistake as being the genetic 'design.'
The book covers the somewhat daunting topics of allometry, ontogeny and epigentics, but does so in a very readable way. The books is accessible to the interested scientific reader regardless of background. Additionally, the book includes brief historical outlines of major lines of evolutionary thought. These provide an alternative avenue for accessing the theory when the terminology gets difficult.
In short, its the best reference on evolutionary theory I've found.
Books:
- Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life
- Evolutionary Pathways in Nature: A Phylogenetic Approach
- Fields Virology 2 volume set
- Fisher-Price: Historical, Rarity, and Value Guide, 1931-Present (Fisher-Price: a Historical, Rarity & Value Guide)
- Fishes: A Field and Laboratory Manual on Their Structure, Identification and Natural History
- Fundamentals of Molecular Virology
- Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Secret Past
- Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century
- Graph Drawing: Algorithms for the Visualization of Graphs
- Handbook of Food Analytical Chemistry, Water, Proteins, Enzymes, Lipids, and Carbohydrates
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
- Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race
- The Art of the Steal: Inside the Sotheby's-Christie's Auction House Scandal
- The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- The Terror: A Novel
- Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
- Eye of the Storm: The Album Graphics of Storm Thorgerson With Peter Curzon and Jon Crossland
- The Rhodesian Ridgeback
- The Academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia ... Monographs
