The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant-Plant Mutualisms (Cambridge Studies in Ecology)

Book Description

Mutualistic interactions between ants and plants involve rewards offered by plants and services performed by ants in a mutually advantageous relationship. The rewards are principally food and/or nest sites, and ants in turn perform a number of services for plants: They disperse and plant seeds; they protect foliage, buds, and reproductive structures from enemies such as herbivores and seed predators; they fertilize plants with essential nutrients; and they may sometimes function as pollinators. In this book Professor Beattie reviews the fascinating natural history of ant-plant interactions, discusses the scientific evidence for the mutualistic nature of these relationships, and reaches some conclusions about the ecological and evolutionary processes that mold them. Mutualisms involving single pairs of species are the exception rather than the rule; usually arrays of ant species interact with arrays of plant species. Variation generated by this complexity results in variation in the function and the effectiveness of the mutualism. The result is that at any given time and place some or all of the interacting species may experience full, intermediate, or episodic benefits, or no benefits at all. This highly dynamic picture is unlikely to be confined to ant-plant mutualisms, but rather may be representative of a host of other kinds of species interactions. This important work is the first broad and thorough treatment of the subject of ant-plant mutualisms. Its natural history, experimental approach, and integration with contemporary evolutionary and ecological literature will appeal to a wide variety of biologists.

Evolutionary Ecology of Plant Reproductive Strategies

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Good, detailed overview of plant reproductive systems

Evolutionary Ecology of Plant Reproductive Strategies
Tom de Jong , and Peter Klinkhamer
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521528941

Book Description

Evolutionary biologists have produced a solid body of evidence to explain patterns of diversification, both within and among species. Recent textbooks are weighted towards studies of animals, which is surprising given that plants are ideally suited for answering evolutionary questions. This book places the wealth of data that have been collected on plants into the unifying framework of game theory. It is the authors' hope that many students will take on this challenge and help the study of the evolutionary ecology of plants to develop as a mature, predictive science.

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Good, detailed overview of plant reproductive systems.......2007-03-10

This is a decent, well-documented overview of plant reproductive systems, with much supporting theory as to how and why they evolved. The decidedly theoretical approach works well, but the mathematical underpinnings may be difficult for some with a more empirical background. Nevertheless, this book will probably remain the best general introduction to this topic for quite some time.

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Extremely detailed treatment
What a fantastic book - everything you always wanted to know
This is a fascinating and well written book ýý a must read.
This is a very well written and informative book
A good start--but much is missing

The Evolutionary Biology of Plants
Karl J. Niklas
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226580830

Book Description

Although they are among the most abundant of all living things and provide essential oxygen, food, and shelter to the animal kingdom, few books pay any attention to how and why plants evolved the wondrous diversity we see today. In this richly illustrated and clearly written book, Karl J. Niklas provides the first comprehensive synthesis of modern evolutionary biology as it relates to plants.

After presenting key evolutionary principles, Niklas recounts the saga of plant life from its origins to the radiation of the flowering plants. To investigate how living plants might have evolved, Niklas conducts a series of computer-generated "walks" on fitness "landscapes," arriving at hypothetical forms of plant life strikingly similar to those of today and the distant past. He concludes with an extended consideration of molecular biology and paleontology. An excellent overview for undergraduates, this book will also challenge graduate students and researchers.

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Extremely detailed treatment.......2007-03-04

There are many natural questions that arise when considering the evolution of plants: Why did seeds evolve? How did the three separate genomes evolve in plants? How and why did plants evolve from aquatic habitats to terrestrial ones? Why do leafy plants have the leaf arrangements that they do? What is the average time scale needed for the evolution of a new plant species? What are the largest plant species that have yet evolved? How common is horizontal gene transfer in plants? What evolutionary advantages are there in pollination? From the standpoint of molecular biology, why do plants have the particular morphology that they do, as contrasted with other forms that seem plausible with respect to physical laws but do not occur? How extensive is the plant fossil record? Can the evolution of plants, indeed of living organisms in general, be simulated on a computing machine?

These questions, among many others, are addressed in this superbly written book, which despite being targeted towards readers with an advanced knowledge of botany can still be read by anyone curious about the subject matter. Unless the reader is an expert in evolutionary biology (which this reviewer is not), it would be difficult to assess the accuracy of the subject matter as compared to other works. The author does include however many references that can be consulted if readers find it necessary to gain more details on a particular topic. In addition to the quality of the writing, there are numerous diagrams and figures that illustrate the important principles. The inclusion of diagrams in any book on botany is of course a must, given the diversity of plant morphology. For readers with a background in modeling and simulation, the author includes a highly interesting discussion on how to simulate plant evolution by using computer-generated "adaptive walks" on "fitness landscapes". Simulations of course are not a replacement for sound and painstaking experimentation and scientific hypothesis building, but they can serve as a guide to understanding, at least in a general sense, of what is possible in biological evolution. In order to really appreciate the discussion on adaptive walks, the reader will need a fairly strong background in modeling and simulation, even though the discussion is purely descriptive, with no explicit mathematical formalism put down on paper.

The book is dense, being packed full of interesting information, demands the reader frequently back up and take pause so that the information can be assimilated more effectively. But the author's writing style is concise enough to keep the book at a manageable size. The different views on evolution, most of these coming down to the time scales over which changes are occurring, find their place in the book. The Darwinian view, which of course is the predominant one in the scientific community, is referred to as 'phyletic gradualism' in this book, and encapsulates the view that evolution is essentially an adaptive walk over a fitness landscape, driven by natural selection. One other view, called 'punctuated equilibrium', is at first glance a somewhat radical hypothesis, for it allows one to drop the requirement for intermediate phenotypes and view evolutionary change as "hopscotching" (in the author's words) from one fitness peak to another. The view of punctuated equilibrium is no doubt attractive to those who are wondering why the intermediate phenotypes are frequently missing observationally. Whichever of these viewpoints is closer to the truth, the wide variability in plants is quite amazing, over and above the case for other biological lifeforms in the opinion of the author. He refers to this as 'phenotypic plasticity' in the book, and alludes to the high rate of phenotypic innovation in some time periods. The concept of phenotypic plasticity is interesting for it allows a more quantitative measure of the degree to which changes are possible, i.e. a measurement of the impediments to evolutionary changes.

When contemplating the mechanisms of evolution it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that the morphology and functioning of an organism is the result of some sort of optimization process. The marvelous ingenuity of plants in dealing with their environments and their ingenious methods of reproduction sometimes begs for an explanation that is purposeful or goal-directed. There is no reason to believe however that the current morphology and functioning of a plant is the result of adaptation through natural selection. The author's view of adaptations is that they are specific to particular environmental contexts, namely that they are features that allow biological organisms to survive under very specific environmental conditions. In addition, any benefit that an organism obtains from an adaptation must assessed in relative terms. It would not be appropriate therefore to view a particular adaptation for a particular organism in a particular environment as being appropriate to another organism in another environment, even though the environments to both are similar enough that they tempt one to believe that the adaptations can be compared meaningfully. Of course, adaptations can only work by genetic transmission from one generation to the next, and there is no guarantee that they will remain efficacious for all future generations of the organism. An adaptation the author argues, is only a set of features that increases the probability that the organism will survive or reproduce successfully for a specific environment. It is natural to ask at this point whether if given a particular plant one can ascertain whether a certain feature is adaptive or not. The author is aware of this difficulty, since it requires the identification of the selection pressures that underly the functioning of the proposed adaptation. The resolution of this problem requires years of careful experimentation and observation, a course of activity that has characterized and will continue to characterize sound science.

What a fantastic book - everything you always wanted to know.......1999-05-18

A friend of mine told me about this book and said I had to read it. I am not a science student, but I found the book in my school library and read it anyway. It's a great book and I'm sure glad my friend told me about it. Plants are truly interesting, perhaps more so than animals because plants are so different from everything we are taught about in high school biology. Niklas's book is also well written. He speaks directly to the reader, using simple words to describe really complicated biological issues. Everything I always wondered about is found in this book. I've recommended it to my friends. I think everybody ought to know about the 'green world' that surrounds us!

This is a fascinating and well written book ýý a must read........1999-04-13

I am a student of animal biology and this book was assigned by one of my professors as a textbook. I knew nothing about plants until I read this book, and I really dreaded the idea of having to learn about plants. Niklas's book opened my eyes to the wonder and fascination of plant biology as well as the wonders of plant evolution, which are very different from what most of us have been taught about animals. I've read this book from cover to cover, at least twice. And each time I've picked up something new and exciting to think about. All of my friends in the class agree with me - - this is a great book and people should pay attention to it.

This is a very well written and informative book.......1999-04-13

The author has written an up to date and thoughtful book about evolution using plants as examples of all major ideas. This book should be read by any one interested in evolution or plant biology. The text is easy to read, with a minimum of jargon, and the book is well illustrated. I was especially interested in how the author combined information for the study of living plants with the information from the fossil record. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I recommend it highly.

A good start--but much is missing.......1998-04-08

The rarity of up-to-date general surveys on this topic makes this a valuable book, but I think a better job could have been done. It starts out in a promising way, with an excellent introduction to the issues and problems of evolution from the perspective of plant biology, and I found this to be the most enlightening section of the book. The writing at that point is clear and purposeful. However, things start ramping down from there. Plant evolution is dealt with in a piecemeal fashion: certain topics, notably the author's own concern with the evolution of morphology, are treated at length; other, equally important, topics, e.g., symbioses, are skipped almost entirely (there is not a single word on the evolution of mycorrhizal or nitrogen-fixation symbiosis, and very little about the various angiosperm-insect symbioses). Interactions with diseases, parasites and herbivores are virtually ignored. This seriously detracts from the book's clear intent to sketch the "big picture" in plant evolution, and the author's increasingly complicated and disconnected prose does not help matters. But for someone thirsting for knowledge on plant evolution, the book provides plenty of things to think about, and the ample bibliography points the way to more.

Phylogenetic Analysis of Morphological Data (Smithsonian Series in Comparative Evolutionary Biology) (Smithsonian Series in Comparative Evolutionary Biology)

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Phylogenetic Analysis of Morphological Data (Smithsonian Series in Comparative Evolutionary Biology) (Smithsonian Series in Comp

Phylogenetic Analysis of Morphological Data (Smithsonian Series in Comparative Evolutionary Biology) (Smithsonian Series in Comparative Evolutionary Biology)
Wiens Jj
Manufacturer: Smithsonian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1560988169

Book Description

New methodological developments in morphological phylogenetics---including approaches for analyzing ontogenetic data, fossils, morphometric characters, intraspecific variation, and hybrid taxa---are summarized in this book. The actual practice of morphological phylogenetics is also evaluated, especially in regard to its controversial use in the study of the evolution of morphological characters.

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Phylogenetic Analysis of Morphological Data (Smithsonian Series in Comparative Evolutionary Biology) (Smithsonian Series in Comp.......2006-10-29

That's an important book for the users of morphological data in phylogenetic analisys. Problems and methods are explained in the several articles of the book.

Species Coexistence: Ecological and Evolutionary Perspectives

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Species Coexistence: Ecological and Evolutionary Perspectives
M. Tokeshi
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0865427445

Book Description

As a novel endeavour in ecological science, this book focuses on a major issue in organismal life on Earth - species coexistence. The book crosses the usual disciplinary boundaries between palaeobiology, ecology and evolutionary biology and provides a timely overview of the patterns and processes of species diversity and coexistence on a range of spatio-temporal scales. In this unique synthesis, the author offers a critical and penetrating examination of the concepts and models of coexistence and community structure, thus making a valuable contribution to the field of community ecology. There is an emphasis on clarity and accessibility without sacrificing scientific rigour, making this book suitable for both advanced students and individual researchers in ecology, palaeobiology and environmental and evolutionary biology.

Evolutionary Ecology across Three Trophic Levels

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Life outlook altering!!! Stunning!

Evolutionary Ecology across Three Trophic Levels
Warren G. Abrahamson , and Arthur E. Weis
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691037337

Book Description

In a work that will interest researchers in ecology, genetics, botany, entomology, and parasitology, Warren Abrahamson and Arthur Weis present the results of more than twenty-five years of studying plant-insect interactions. Their study centers on the ecology and evolution of interactions among a host plant, the parasitic insect that attacks it, and the suite of insects and birds that are the natural enemies of the parasite. Because this system provides a model that can be subjected to experimental manipulations, it has allowed the authors to address specific theories and concepts that have guided biological research for more than two decades and to engage general problems in evolutionary biology.

The specific subjects of research are the host plant goldenrod (Solidago), the parasitic insect Eurosta solidaginis (Diptera: Tephritidae) that induces a gall on the plant stem, and a number of natural enemies of the gallfly. By presenting their detailed empirical studies of the Solidago-Eurosta natural enemy system, the authors demonstrate the complexities of specialized enemy-victim interactions and, thereby, the complex interactive relationships among species more broadly. By utilizing a diverse array of field, laboratory, behavioral, genetic, chemical, and statistical techniques, Abrahamson and Weis present the most thorough study to date of a single system of interacting species. Their interest in the evolutionary ecology of plant-insect interactions leads them to insights on the evolution of species interactions in general. This major work will interest anyone involved in studying the ways in which interdependent species interact.

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Life outlook altering!!! Stunning!.......1999-06-23

This ecological masterpiece is essential to our research here at Bucknell University. Their work with the ball-gall fly and goldenrod is methodical and illustrates the details of the plant/animal interaction. This is a must read for anyone interested in plant-insect interactions! M.B and L.Y.

Diversity and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Flowers (Cambridge Tropical Biology Series)

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Diversity and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Flowers (Cambridge Tropical Biology Series)
Peter K. Endress
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521565103

Book Description

The first part of the volume deals with general structural and biological features of flowers and shows facets of their diversity. The second part focuses on the flowers of selected tropical plants and emphasizes their structural and biological idiosyncrasies and evolutionary features. The author also outlines new trends in the study of floral evolution and the role of flowers in the study of flowering plant phylogeny.

Coevolution of Animals and Plants: Symposium V, First International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, Boulder, Colorado, August 1973 (Dan Danciger Publication Series)

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Coevolution of Animals and Plants: Symposium V, First International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, Boulder, Colorado, August 1973 (Dan Danciger Publication Series)
Lawrence Gilbert
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of Clonal Plants

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Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of Clonal Plants

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1402006802

Book Description

Spontaneous self-cloning or clonality is a widespread phenomenon in the plant kingdom, and has a wide array of ecological and evolutionary implications. This volume is the outcome of an international workshop on clonal plant biology aimed at illustrating current progress and recent developments in the scientific study of clonality in plants. The first section of this book includes a collection of original research articles which demonstrate the wide variety of approaches and scientific challenges linked to clonality in plants. The topics covered in this section include ecological and evolutionary implications of sexual versus asexual propagation, including life-history evolution and sex-ratio dynamics, the importance of internal resource transport and remobilization of storage products for the invasiveness and competitiveness of clonal plants, a survey of clonal growth forms in grassland communities, and studies on the interactions between clonal plants and animals and fungi. The approaches used range from experimental studies on a broad variety of systems to mathematical modeling of clonal growth and its consequences. The second part features discussion and review papers on a diverse array of subjects, ranging from developmental considerations of clonality, principles of selection and evolution in clonal plants, a survey of clonality in algae, to potential implications of clonality for plant mating, and beyond. This part of the volume aims at presenting novel ideas and hypotheses, and at summarizing existing knowledge in previously under-researched areas, thereby providing directions for future research initiatives.

This book captures ongoing cutting-edge research in the field of clonal plant ecology and evolution. It is directed to anyone from the undergraduate to specialist level who is interested in the biology of the intriguing phenomenon of asexual propagation in plants.

Evolutionary Biology of the Fungi (British Mycological Society Symposia)

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Evolutionary Biology of the Fungi (British Mycological Society Symposia)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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