Essays in Evolution and Genetics in Honor of Theodosius Dobzhansky: A Supplement to Evolutionary Biology

ISBN-13: 9781461595878 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 594 str.

Max K. Hecht; Max K. Hecht

Opis

It is not often that one has the opportunity to send a public birthday greet ing to a friend and colleague of many years, and to congratulate him on having reached the age of reason. In fact it happens only once, and comes then as a surprise. Surely it was only a few years ago that we sat together at an International Genetics Congress in Ithaca, and only yesterday that we became members of the same department. The eighth floor of Schermerhorn Hall had a north end where the flies were and a south end furnished with mice, and in between, a seminar room and laboratory. There the distances were short and the doors open and the coffee pot busy. But it now appears that yesterday has fallen thirty years behind and that we have grown up. I find it interesting and appropriate that Dobzhansky's lifetime spans the period of maturation of the fields to which this volume is devoted. This is true in a chronological sense for his birth occurred in the same year, 1900, in which modern genetics began. The rediscovery of Mendel's princi ples and the interpretation of the nature of heredity and variation to which this event led were necessary prerequisites to the development of evolution ary biology as presented in this collection of essays."

Spis treści

1 Theodosius Dobzhansky Up to Now.- Scientific Work.- A Collecting Expedition.- Acknowledgment.- Career Summary.- Theodosius Dobzhansky: Bibliography 1918–1969.- 2 Uniformitarianism. An Inquiry into Principle, Theory, and Method in Geohistory and Biohistory.- Origins; Hutton.- Lyell; Conybeare.- Lyell; Darwin.- Since Darwin.- Immanence and Configuration.- Classification of Current Issues.- Naturalism.- Actualism.- Historicism.- Evolutionism.- Gradualism.- Historical Inferences.- Summary and Conclusion.- References.- 3 Evolution of Matter and Consciousness and Its Relation to Panpsychistic Identism.- Natural Laws and Their Epigenetic Manifestation.- Causal Analysis of Life Processes.- Factors and Laws of Organismic Evolution.- Psychogenesis and the Epistemological Analysis of Matter.- Physical Analysis of Matter.- The Psychophysical Substrate and the Problem of the Psychophysical Connection.- The Panpsychistic, Polynomistic, and Realistic Identism.- References.- 4 Competition, Coexistence, and Evolution.- The Ecological Niche.- The Concept of Competition.- The Principle of Competitive Exclusion.- The Logistic Theory of Population Growth.- Volterra’s Equations for Competitive Exclusion.- Coexistence of Related Species in Nature.- Coexistence in the Laboratory.- The Role of Natural Selection.- Summary.- References.- 5 Adapted Molecules.- Adaptation at the Molecular Level.- Molecular Adaptation and Phylogeny.- Molecular Adaptation at the Population Level.- Conclusions.- References.- 6 Variation and Evolution in Plants: Progress During the Past Twenty Years.- Variation Patterns.- Examples of Variation Patterns.- The Basis of Individual Variation.- Natural Selection and Variation in Populations.- Genetic Systems as Factors in Evolution.- Isolation and the Origin of Species.- Hybridization and its Effects.- Polyploidy and Apomixis.- Structural Hybridity and Chromosomal Evolution.- Evolution Above the Species Level.- References.- 7 Population Research in the Scandinavian Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.): Recent Experimentation.- Material and Methods.- Climatic Conditions of the Experimental Plantations and the Natural Populations Involved.- Cumulative Mortality and Survival.- Cumulative Mortality and Survival in Selected Experimental Plantations.- Single-Year Mortality.- Height Growth.- Conclusions and Summary.- References.- 8 Heterozygosity and Genetic Polymorphism in Parthenogenetic Animals.- Nature of Parthenogenesis.- Parthenogenesis in Vertebrates.- Parthenogenesis in Insects.- Conclusions.- References.- 9 Evolutionary Studies on Maniola jurtina (Lepidoptera, Satyridae): The “Boundary Phenomenon” in Southern England 1961 to 1968.- Dedication.- Studies of the Southern English and East Cornish Types up to 1960.- 1961 to 1968.- Discussion.- Summary.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 10 The Genetic Basis of a Cell-Pattern Homology in Drosophila Species.- Kynurenine Distribution in the Larval Fat Body.- Hybrid Autofluorescent Patterns.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 11 Ecological Factors and the Variability of Gene-Pools in Drosophila.- Relations Between Ecological Heterogeneity, Genetic Variability, and Fitness in Drosophila Populations.- Conclusions.- Summary.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 12 Mating Propensity and Its Genetic Basis in Drosophila.- Mating Propensity as a Genetic Character in Drosophila.- Chromosomal Polymorphism and Mating Propensity.- Factors Modifying Mating Propensity.- Summary.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 13 Observations on the Microdispersion of Drosophila melanogaster.- The Bryant Park Experiments.- Experimental Populations.- The “Tropical Rainforest” Greenhouse Experiments.- Venetian Experiments.- Discussion.- References.- 14 Studies on the Evolutionary Biology of Chilean Species of Drosophila.- Widespread Species of Drosophila.- Endemic and Ecologically Restricted Species.- Endemic and Ecologically Versatile Species.- Isolation and Chromosomal Structure.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 15 The Evolutionary Biology of the Hawaiian Drosophilidae.- Habitat.- Drosophilid Fauna.- Biology and Behavior.- Chromosomal and Genetic Characteristics.- Evolution, Speciation, and Migration.- Summary.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 16 Human Genetic Adaptation.- Heritability.- Estimation of Heritability.- Random Mating.- The Markov Property.- Shall We Count the Living or the Dead?.- Simplest Selection Model.- Correlated Responses.- Genetic Improvement of Mankind.- Genetic Deterioration.- Decline of Intelligence.- Control of Human Evolution: Reproductive Specialization.- Genotype-Environment Interaction.- Summary and Conclusions.- References.- Author Index.