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In the Light of Evolution: Volume I: Adaptation and Complex Design

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In the Light of Evolution

Volume I: Adaptation and Complex Design (2007)
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Description

In December 2006, the National Academy of Sciences sponsored a colloquium (featured as part of the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia series) on "Adaptation and Complex Design" to synthesize recent empirical findings and conceptual approaches toward understanding the evolutionary origins and maintenance of complex adaptations. Darwin's elucidation of natural selection as a creative natural force was a monumental achievement in the history of science, but a century and a half later some religious believers still contend that biotic complexity registers conscious supernatural design. In this book, modern scientific perspectives are presented on the evolutionary origin and maintenance of complex phenotypes including various behaviors, anatomies, and physiologies. After an introduction by the editors and an opening historical and conceptual essay by Francisco Ayala, this book includes 14 papers presented by distinguished evolutionists at the colloquium. The papers are organized into sections covering epistemological approaches to the study of biocomplexity, a hierarchy of topics on biological complexity ranging from ontogeny to symbiosis, and case studies explaining how complex phenotypes are being dissected in terms of genetics and development.

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Suggested Citation

National Academy of Sciences. 2007. In the Light of Evolution: Volume I: Adaptation and Complex Design. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11790.

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Publication Info

378 pages | 6 x 9
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-309-10405-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/11790
Contents

Table of Contents

 skim chapter
Front Matter i-xviii
Part I: INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 1-2
1 Darwin's Greatest Discovery: Design Without Designer--FRANCISCO J. AYALA 3-22
Part II: EPISTEMOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO BIOCOMPLEXITY ASSESSMENT 23-24
2 Functional Information and the Emergence of Biocomplexity--ROBERT M. HAZEN, PATRICK L. GRIFFIN, JAMES M. CAROTHERS, and JACK W. SZOSTAK 25-44
3 The Theory of Facilitated Variation--JOHN GERHART and MARC KIRSCHNER 45-64
4 Between ‘‘Design'' and ‘‘Bricolage'': Genetic Networks, Levels of Selection, and Adaptive Evolution--ADAM S. WILKINS 65-82
5 The Frailty of Adaptive Hypotheses for the Origins of Organismal Complexity--MICHAEL LYNCH 83-104
Part III: FROM INDIVIDUAL ONTOGENY TO SYMBIOSIS: A HIERARCHY OF COMPLEXITY 105-108
6 Emerging Principles of Regulatory Evolution--BENJAMIN PRUD'HOMME, NICOLAS GOMPEL, and SEAN B. CARROLL 109-128
7 Evolution of Individuality During the Transition from Unicellular to Multicellular Life--RICHARD E. MICHOD 129-144
8 Insect Societies as Divided Organisms: The Complexities of Purpose and Cross-Purpose--JOAN E. STRASSMANN and DAVID C. QUELLER 145-164
9 Symbiosis as an Adaptive Process and Source of Phenotypic Complexity--NANCY A. MORAN 165-182
Part IV: CASE STUDIES: DISSECTING COMPLEX PHENOTYPES 183-186
10 Adaptive Evolution of Color Vision as Seen Through the Eyes of Butterflies--FRANCESCA D. FRENTIU, GARY D. BERNARD, CRISTINA I. CUEVAS, MARILOU P. SISON-MANGUS, KATHLEEN L. PRUDIC, and ADRIANA D. BRISCOE 187-204
11 Plant Domestication, a Unique Opportunity to Identify the Genetic Basis of Adaptation--JEFFREY ROSS-IBARRA, PETER L. MORRELL, and BRANDON S. GAUT 205-224
12 An Experimental Test of Evolutionary Trade-Offs During Temperature Adaptation--ALBERT F. BENNETT and RICHARD E. LENSKI 225-238
13 Two Routes to Functional Adaptation: Tibetan and Andean High-Altitude Natives--CYNTHIA M. BEALL 239-256
14 On the Origin and Evolutionary Diversification of Beetle Horns--DOUGLAS J. EMLEN, LAURA CORLEY LAVINE, and BEN EWEN-CAMPEN 257-282
Part V: CONCLUDING ESSAY 283-284
15 Biological Design in Science Classrooms--EUGENIE C. SCOTT and NICHOLAS J. MATZKE 285-304
References 305-344
Index 345-360
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