Biased embryos and evolution / / Wallace Arthur [[electronic resource]]

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910457954803321
• Autore: Arthur Wallace
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2004
• ISBN: 1-107-14932-0; 1-280-54045-1; 9786610540457; 0-511-21538-X; 0-511-21717-X; 0-511-21180-5; 0-511-31578-3; 0-511-60683-4; 0-511-21357-3
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xiii, 233 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)
• Disciplina: 571.8
• Soggetti: Developmental biology; Embryos; Evolution (Biology)
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-230) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1 The microscopic horse; 2 What steers evolution?; 3 Darwin: pluralism with a single core; 4 How to build a body; 5 A brief history of the last billion years; 6 Preamble to the quiet revolution; 7 The return of the organism; 8 Possible creatures; 9 The beginnings of bias; 10 A deceptively simple question; 11 Development's twin arrows; 12 Action and reaction; 13 Evolvability: organisms in bits; 14 Back to the trees; 15 Stripes and spots; 16 Towards 'the inclusive synthesis'; 17 Social creatures; Glossary; ReferencesIndex
• Sommario/riassunto: What determines the direction of evolutionary change? This book provides a revolutionary answer to this question. Many biologists, from Darwin's day to our own, have been satisfied with the answer 'natural ; selection'. Professor Wallace Arthur is not. He takes the controversial view that biases in the ways that embryos can be altered are just as important as natural selection in determining the directions that evolution has taken, including the one that led to the origin of humans. This argument forms the core of the book. However, in addition, the book summarizes other important issues relating to how embryonic (and post-embryonic) development evolves. Written in an easy, conversational style, this is the first book for students and the general reader that provides an account of the exciting new field of Evolutionary Developmental Biology ('Evo-Devo' to its proponents).