David P. Hughes and Patrizia d'Ettorre
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199216840
- eISBN:
- 9780191712043
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216840.003.0017
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
As evidenced by this contributed volume communication is multifarious. It exists among organisms but also between cells and in networks, and even possesses inorganic properties as a result of ...
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As evidenced by this contributed volume communication is multifarious. It exists among organisms but also between cells and in networks, and even possesses inorganic properties as a result of collective organization. The approaches that can be adopted to study communication are similarly varied — from the mechanistic to the functional, and from cell biology to linguistics. This book has formulated the synthesis that this volume has achieved in a personal sociobiological view that encompasses both a reductionist and a systems biology view. The expanding toolbox with which to dissect mechanisms requires a robust interdisciplinary logic and sound theory to achieve the functional balance needed to make further progress in the evolutionary study of communication.Less
As evidenced by this contributed volume communication is multifarious. It exists among organisms but also between cells and in networks, and even possesses inorganic properties as a result of collective organization. The approaches that can be adopted to study communication are similarly varied — from the mechanistic to the functional, and from cell biology to linguistics. This book has formulated the synthesis that this volume has achieved in a personal sociobiological view that encompasses both a reductionist and a systems biology view. The expanding toolbox with which to dissect mechanisms requires a robust interdisciplinary logic and sound theory to achieve the functional balance needed to make further progress in the evolutionary study of communication.
Michael Doebeli
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691128931
- eISBN:
- 9781400838936
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691128931.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Understanding the mechanisms driving biological diversity remains a central problem in ecology and evolutionary biology. Traditional explanations assume that differences in selection pressures lead ...
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Understanding the mechanisms driving biological diversity remains a central problem in ecology and evolutionary biology. Traditional explanations assume that differences in selection pressures lead to different adaptations in geographically separated locations. This book takes a different approach and explores adaptive diversification—diversification rooted in ecological interactions and frequency-dependent selection. In any ecosystem, birth and death rates of individuals are affected by interactions with other individuals. What is an advantageous phenotype therefore depends on the phenotype of other individuals, and it may often be best to be ecologically different from the majority phenotype. Such rare-type advantage is a hallmark of frequency-dependent selection and opens the scope for processes of diversification that require ecological contact rather than geographical isolation. This book investigates adaptive diversification using the mathematical framework of adaptive dynamics. Evolutionary branching is a paradigmatic feature of adaptive dynamics that serves as a basic metaphor for adaptive diversification, and the book explores the scope of evolutionary branching in many different ecological scenarios, including models of coevolution, cooperation, and cultural evolution. It also uses alternative modeling approaches. Stochastic, individual-based models are particularly useful for studying adaptive speciation in sexual populations, and partial differential equation models confirm the pervasiveness of adaptive diversification. Showing that frequency-dependent interactions are an important driver of biological diversity, the book provides a comprehensive theoretical treatment of adaptive diversification.Less
Understanding the mechanisms driving biological diversity remains a central problem in ecology and evolutionary biology. Traditional explanations assume that differences in selection pressures lead to different adaptations in geographically separated locations. This book takes a different approach and explores adaptive diversification—diversification rooted in ecological interactions and frequency-dependent selection. In any ecosystem, birth and death rates of individuals are affected by interactions with other individuals. What is an advantageous phenotype therefore depends on the phenotype of other individuals, and it may often be best to be ecologically different from the majority phenotype. Such rare-type advantage is a hallmark of frequency-dependent selection and opens the scope for processes of diversification that require ecological contact rather than geographical isolation. This book investigates adaptive diversification using the mathematical framework of adaptive dynamics. Evolutionary branching is a paradigmatic feature of adaptive dynamics that serves as a basic metaphor for adaptive diversification, and the book explores the scope of evolutionary branching in many different ecological scenarios, including models of coevolution, cooperation, and cultural evolution. It also uses alternative modeling approaches. Stochastic, individual-based models are particularly useful for studying adaptive speciation in sexual populations, and partial differential equation models confirm the pervasiveness of adaptive diversification. Showing that frequency-dependent interactions are an important driver of biological diversity, the book provides a comprehensive theoretical treatment of adaptive diversification.
Roger Cousens, Calvin Dytham, and Richard Law
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199299126
- eISBN:
- 9780191715006
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299126.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter considers aspects of the maternal parent, other than the tissues immediately around the seed, which contribute to the distances dispersed by plant propagules. It shows how plant ...
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This chapter considers aspects of the maternal parent, other than the tissues immediately around the seed, which contribute to the distances dispersed by plant propagules. It shows how plant phenotype, the abiotic environment, competition, and herbivory all help to determine where the trajectories of propagules begin. Plant phenology dictates when the force required separating the propagule from its parent is at a minimum, and therefore when the trajectory is likely to begin. This can be critical for the survival of animal vectors as well as for movement of seeds contained in fruits. In some cases, the parent provides an additional force to launch the propagule away from its parent.Less
This chapter considers aspects of the maternal parent, other than the tissues immediately around the seed, which contribute to the distances dispersed by plant propagules. It shows how plant phenotype, the abiotic environment, competition, and herbivory all help to determine where the trajectories of propagules begin. Plant phenology dictates when the force required separating the propagule from its parent is at a minimum, and therefore when the trajectory is likely to begin. This can be critical for the survival of animal vectors as well as for movement of seeds contained in fruits. In some cases, the parent provides an additional force to launch the propagule away from its parent.
Kim Cornish and John Wilding
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195179941
- eISBN:
- 9780199864652
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179941.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience, Development
What is attention? How does it go wrong? Do attention deficits arise from genes or from the environment? Can we cure it with drugs or training? Are there disorders of attention other than deficit ...
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What is attention? How does it go wrong? Do attention deficits arise from genes or from the environment? Can we cure it with drugs or training? Are there disorders of attention other than deficit disorders? The past decade has seen a burgeoning of research on the subject of attention. This research has been facilitated by advances on several fronts: New methods are now available for viewing brain activity in real time, there is expanding information on the complexities of the biochemistry of neural activity, individual genes can be isolated and their functions identified, analysis of the component processes included under the broad umbrella of “attention” has become increasingly sophisticated, and ingenious methods have been devised for measuring typical and atypical development of these processes, from infancy into childhood, and then into adulthood. This book is concerned with attention and its development, both typical and atypical, particularly in disorders with a known genetic etiology or assumed genetic linkage. Tremendous advances across seemingly diverse disciplines — molecular genetics, pediatric neurology, child psychiatry, developmental cognitive neuroscience, and education s— have culminated in a wealth of new methods for elucidating disorders at multiple levels, possibly paving the way for new treatment options. The book uses three specific-yet-interlinking levels of analysis: genetic blueprint (genotype), the developing brain, and the behavioral-cognitive outcomes (phenotype), as the basis for charting the attention profiles of six well-documented neurodevelopmental disorders: ADHD, autism, fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and 22q11 deletion syndrome.Less
What is attention? How does it go wrong? Do attention deficits arise from genes or from the environment? Can we cure it with drugs or training? Are there disorders of attention other than deficit disorders? The past decade has seen a burgeoning of research on the subject of attention. This research has been facilitated by advances on several fronts: New methods are now available for viewing brain activity in real time, there is expanding information on the complexities of the biochemistry of neural activity, individual genes can be isolated and their functions identified, analysis of the component processes included under the broad umbrella of “attention” has become increasingly sophisticated, and ingenious methods have been devised for measuring typical and atypical development of these processes, from infancy into childhood, and then into adulthood. This book is concerned with attention and its development, both typical and atypical, particularly in disorders with a known genetic etiology or assumed genetic linkage. Tremendous advances across seemingly diverse disciplines — molecular genetics, pediatric neurology, child psychiatry, developmental cognitive neuroscience, and education s— have culminated in a wealth of new methods for elucidating disorders at multiple levels, possibly paving the way for new treatment options. The book uses three specific-yet-interlinking levels of analysis: genetic blueprint (genotype), the developing brain, and the behavioral-cognitive outcomes (phenotype), as the basis for charting the attention profiles of six well-documented neurodevelopmental disorders: ADHD, autism, fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and 22q11 deletion syndrome.
Patrizia d'Ettorre and Allen J Moore
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199216840
- eISBN:
- 9780191712043
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216840.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Effective communication, often involving pheromones, is a fundamental component of social life. Communication requires interactions to be expressed and it is convenient to consider communication ...
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Effective communication, often involving pheromones, is a fundamental component of social life. Communication requires interactions to be expressed and it is convenient to consider communication within the context of the theory of interacting phenotypes — those phenotypes that have reduced or no meaning outside of a social context. Pheromonal communication will therefore be subject to social selection and indirect genetic effects and is often highly sophisticated and multifaceted, allowing fine-tuned coordination of messages from senders and receivers. Pheromones can be characterized by nested levels of variation: a multi-component structure in which individual components contain additional source of variation. An integrated understanding of communication by multi-component chemical signals provides insight into the evolution of social signals in general. Insects are ideal model systems to investigate and disentangle the complexity of pheromones and reveal the underestimated potential for reliability that appears to be hidden in chemical signals and their evolutionary stability.Less
Effective communication, often involving pheromones, is a fundamental component of social life. Communication requires interactions to be expressed and it is convenient to consider communication within the context of the theory of interacting phenotypes — those phenotypes that have reduced or no meaning outside of a social context. Pheromonal communication will therefore be subject to social selection and indirect genetic effects and is often highly sophisticated and multifaceted, allowing fine-tuned coordination of messages from senders and receivers. Pheromones can be characterized by nested levels of variation: a multi-component structure in which individual components contain additional source of variation. An integrated understanding of communication by multi-component chemical signals provides insight into the evolution of social signals in general. Insects are ideal model systems to investigate and disentangle the complexity of pheromones and reveal the underestimated potential for reliability that appears to be hidden in chemical signals and their evolutionary stability.
Michael Doebeli
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691128931
- eISBN:
- 9781400838936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691128931.003.0009
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter discusses partial differential equation models. Partial differential equations can describe the dynamics of phenotype distributions of polymorphic populations, and they allow for a ...
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This chapter discusses partial differential equation models. Partial differential equations can describe the dynamics of phenotype distributions of polymorphic populations, and they allow for a mathematically concise formulation from which some analytical insights can be obtained. It has been argued that because partial differential equations can describe polymorphic populations, results from such models are fundamentally different from those obtained using adaptive dynamics. In partial differential equation models, diversification manifests itself as pattern formation in phenotype distribution. More precisely, diversification occurs when phenotype distributions become multimodal, with the different modes corresponding to phenotypic clusters, or to species in sexual models. Such pattern formation occurs in partial differential equation models for competitive as well as for predator–prey interactions.Less
This chapter discusses partial differential equation models. Partial differential equations can describe the dynamics of phenotype distributions of polymorphic populations, and they allow for a mathematically concise formulation from which some analytical insights can be obtained. It has been argued that because partial differential equations can describe polymorphic populations, results from such models are fundamentally different from those obtained using adaptive dynamics. In partial differential equation models, diversification manifests itself as pattern formation in phenotype distribution. More precisely, diversification occurs when phenotype distributions become multimodal, with the different modes corresponding to phenotypic clusters, or to species in sexual models. Such pattern formation occurs in partial differential equation models for competitive as well as for predator–prey interactions.
James A.R. Marshall
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161563
- eISBN:
- 9781400866564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161563.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter examines social behaviors that are expressed conditional on the phenotype of others. David Queller argued that inclusive fitness analyses need to be done on a per-behavior basis, citing ...
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This chapter examines social behaviors that are expressed conditional on the phenotype of others. David Queller argued that inclusive fitness analyses need to be done on a per-behavior basis, citing as an example the decision over whether to reproduce directly, and whether to aid a reproductive. Queller showed that inclusive fitness predictions are only sensible when one analyzes what an individual should do, given it finds itself in a particular behavioral role. The chapter first provides an overview of implicit and explicit conditionality and presents two classic examples: William D. Hamilton's greenbeard traits and Robert Trivers's theory of reciprocal cooperation. It also introduces an extension of Hamilton's rule to deal with explicitly conditional behaviors; this extension features a measure of phenotypic assortment that appears not to be the classic genetic relatedness of Hamilton's rule.Less
This chapter examines social behaviors that are expressed conditional on the phenotype of others. David Queller argued that inclusive fitness analyses need to be done on a per-behavior basis, citing as an example the decision over whether to reproduce directly, and whether to aid a reproductive. Queller showed that inclusive fitness predictions are only sensible when one analyzes what an individual should do, given it finds itself in a particular behavioral role. The chapter first provides an overview of implicit and explicit conditionality and presents two classic examples: William D. Hamilton's greenbeard traits and Robert Trivers's theory of reciprocal cooperation. It also introduces an extension of Hamilton's rule to deal with explicitly conditional behaviors; this extension features a measure of phenotypic assortment that appears not to be the classic genetic relatedness of Hamilton's rule.
James A.R. Marshall
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161563
- eISBN:
- 9781400866564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161563.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter examines four variants of Hamilton's rule and how they give different evolutionary explanations for certain social behaviors such as greenbeard traits. These variants are: HR1, which ...
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This chapter examines four variants of Hamilton's rule and how they give different evolutionary explanations for certain social behaviors such as greenbeard traits. These variants are: HR1, which extends Hamilton's rule with a synergistic coefficient capturing the deviation from additivity of fitness interactions; HR2, which deals with the conditional expression of phenotype; HR3, which is concerned with fitness as partial regression; and HR4, the geometric view of relatedness. These variants differ in how they treat the three key parameters of the original: “relatedness,” “cost,” and “benefit.” The chapter also considers how the nongenetic explanation of the evolution of altruism can actually be recast in a version with genetic relatedness, and how geometric relatedness underlies phenotypic assortment. Finally, it discusses different viewpoints on conditional behaviors.Less
This chapter examines four variants of Hamilton's rule and how they give different evolutionary explanations for certain social behaviors such as greenbeard traits. These variants are: HR1, which extends Hamilton's rule with a synergistic coefficient capturing the deviation from additivity of fitness interactions; HR2, which deals with the conditional expression of phenotype; HR3, which is concerned with fitness as partial regression; and HR4, the geometric view of relatedness. These variants differ in how they treat the three key parameters of the original: “relatedness,” “cost,” and “benefit.” The chapter also considers how the nongenetic explanation of the evolution of altruism can actually be recast in a version with genetic relatedness, and how geometric relatedness underlies phenotypic assortment. Finally, it discusses different viewpoints on conditional behaviors.
James A.R. Marshall
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161563
- eISBN:
- 9781400866564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161563.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter examines which of the equivalent alternative partitions of fitness, including inclusive fitness and group fitness, can be interpreted as being subject to natural selection in a ...
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This chapter examines which of the equivalent alternative partitions of fitness, including inclusive fitness and group fitness, can be interpreted as being subject to natural selection in a meaningful way. Inclusive fitness theory can deal with subtleties such as nonadditive fitness effects and conditionally expressed phenotypes. However, selection based on inclusive fitness gives equivalent predictions to other models of apparently different evolutionary processes, such as multilevel selection. The chapter considers how we can determine whether inclusive fitness really captures the essence of social evolution and whether inclusive fitness is really maximized by the action of selection, as suggested by William D. Hamilton. It also explains what heritability measures, and whether this makes sense biologically. Finally, it discusses the problem of classifying observed social behaviors in terms of their underlying evolutionary explanations.Less
This chapter examines which of the equivalent alternative partitions of fitness, including inclusive fitness and group fitness, can be interpreted as being subject to natural selection in a meaningful way. Inclusive fitness theory can deal with subtleties such as nonadditive fitness effects and conditionally expressed phenotypes. However, selection based on inclusive fitness gives equivalent predictions to other models of apparently different evolutionary processes, such as multilevel selection. The chapter considers how we can determine whether inclusive fitness really captures the essence of social evolution and whether inclusive fitness is really maximized by the action of selection, as suggested by William D. Hamilton. It also explains what heritability measures, and whether this makes sense biologically. Finally, it discusses the problem of classifying observed social behaviors in terms of their underlying evolutionary explanations.
F. Nicholas Braun
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199299188
- eISBN:
- 9780191714979
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299188.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
The extant phylogenetic variability of a given protein contains information about its underlying sequence-fitness landscape, potentially of value to ancestral reconstruction. In extracting such ...
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The extant phylogenetic variability of a given protein contains information about its underlying sequence-fitness landscape, potentially of value to ancestral reconstruction. In extracting such information, it is pertinent to focus on coarse-grained traits of sequence with strong physicochemical bearing on the protein's phenotype. This chapter uses phylogenetic data to stake out roughly the landscape for a protein component of spider silk.Less
The extant phylogenetic variability of a given protein contains information about its underlying sequence-fitness landscape, potentially of value to ancestral reconstruction. In extracting such information, it is pertinent to focus on coarse-grained traits of sequence with strong physicochemical bearing on the protein's phenotype. This chapter uses phylogenetic data to stake out roughly the landscape for a protein component of spider silk.