T. J. Crow (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263112
- eISBN:
- 9780191734885
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263112.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
This volume addresses the question of the speciation of modern Homo Sapiens. The subject raises profound questions about the nature of the species, our defining characteristic (it is suggested it is ...
More
This volume addresses the question of the speciation of modern Homo Sapiens. The subject raises profound questions about the nature of the species, our defining characteristic (it is suggested it is language), and the brain changes and their genetic basis that make us distinct. The British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences have brought together experts from palaeontology, archaeology, linguistics, psychology, genetics and evolutionary theory to present evidence and theories of our understanding of these issues. Palaeontological and genetic work suggests that the transition from a precursor hominid species to modern man took place between 100,000 and 150,000 years ago. Some chapters discuss what is most characteristic of the species, focussing on language and its possible basis in brain lateralization. This work is placed in the context of speciation theory, which has remained a subject of considerable debate since the evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics and Darwinian theory. The timing of specific transitions in hominid evolution is discussed, as also is the question of the neural basis of language. Other chapters address the possible genetic nature of the transition, with reference to changes on the X and Y chromosomes that may account for sex differences in lateralization and verbal ability. These differences are discussed in terms of the theory of sexual selection, and with reference to the mechanisms of speciation.Less
This volume addresses the question of the speciation of modern Homo Sapiens. The subject raises profound questions about the nature of the species, our defining characteristic (it is suggested it is language), and the brain changes and their genetic basis that make us distinct. The British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences have brought together experts from palaeontology, archaeology, linguistics, psychology, genetics and evolutionary theory to present evidence and theories of our understanding of these issues. Palaeontological and genetic work suggests that the transition from a precursor hominid species to modern man took place between 100,000 and 150,000 years ago. Some chapters discuss what is most characteristic of the species, focussing on language and its possible basis in brain lateralization. This work is placed in the context of speciation theory, which has remained a subject of considerable debate since the evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics and Darwinian theory. The timing of specific transitions in hominid evolution is discussed, as also is the question of the neural basis of language. Other chapters address the possible genetic nature of the transition, with reference to changes on the X and Y chromosomes that may account for sex differences in lateralization and verbal ability. These differences are discussed in terms of the theory of sexual selection, and with reference to the mechanisms of speciation.
Alessandro Minelli
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780198566205
- eISBN:
- 9780191713866
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198566205.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Animal phylogeny is currently undergoing a major revolution due to the availability of an exponentially increasing amount of molecular data and the application of novel methods of phylogenetic ...
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Animal phylogeny is currently undergoing a major revolution due to the availability of an exponentially increasing amount of molecular data and the application of novel methods of phylogenetic reconstruction, as well as the many spectacular advances in palaeontology and molecular developmental biology. Traditional views of the relationships among major phyla have been shaken up and new, often unexpected, relationships are now being considered. At the same time, the emerging discipline of evolutionary developmental biology, or evo-devo, has offered new insights into the origin and evolvability of major traits of animal architecture and life cycle. All these developments call for a revised interpretation of the pathways along which animal structure and development has evolved since the origin of the Metazoa. This book takes on this challenge, successfully integrating morphological, fossil, and molecular evidence to produce a novel reinterpretation of animal evolution. Central to the book's approach is an evo-devo perspective on animal evolution (with all the fresh insights this has given into the origin of animal organization and life cycles), complementary to the more traditional perspectives of pattern (cladistics, comparative anatomy, and embryology), mechanisms (developmental biology), and adaptation (evolutionary biology). The book advocates the need to approach the study of animal evolution with a critical attitude towards many key concepts of comparative morphology and developmental biology. Particular attention in the book is paid to the evolution of life cycles and larval forms.Less
Animal phylogeny is currently undergoing a major revolution due to the availability of an exponentially increasing amount of molecular data and the application of novel methods of phylogenetic reconstruction, as well as the many spectacular advances in palaeontology and molecular developmental biology. Traditional views of the relationships among major phyla have been shaken up and new, often unexpected, relationships are now being considered. At the same time, the emerging discipline of evolutionary developmental biology, or evo-devo, has offered new insights into the origin and evolvability of major traits of animal architecture and life cycle. All these developments call for a revised interpretation of the pathways along which animal structure and development has evolved since the origin of the Metazoa. This book takes on this challenge, successfully integrating morphological, fossil, and molecular evidence to produce a novel reinterpretation of animal evolution. Central to the book's approach is an evo-devo perspective on animal evolution (with all the fresh insights this has given into the origin of animal organization and life cycles), complementary to the more traditional perspectives of pattern (cladistics, comparative anatomy, and embryology), mechanisms (developmental biology), and adaptation (evolutionary biology). The book advocates the need to approach the study of animal evolution with a critical attitude towards many key concepts of comparative morphology and developmental biology. Particular attention in the book is paid to the evolution of life cycles and larval forms.
Samuel T. Turvey (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199535095
- eISBN:
- 9780191715754
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199535095.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
The extent to which human activity has influenced species extinctions during the recent prehistoric past remains controversial due to other factors such as climatic fluctuations and a general lack of ...
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The extent to which human activity has influenced species extinctions during the recent prehistoric past remains controversial due to other factors such as climatic fluctuations and a general lack of data. However, the Holocene (the geological interval spanning the last 11,500 years from the end of the last glaciation) has witnessed massive levels of extinctions that have continued into the modern historical era, but in a context of only relatively minor climatic fluctuations. This makes a detailed consideration of these extinctions a useful system for investigating the impacts of human activity over time. This book describes and analyses the range of global extinction events which have occurred during this key time period, as well as their relationship to both earlier and ongoing species losses. By integrating information from fields as diverse as zoology, ecology, palaeontology, archaeology, and geography, and by incorporating data from a broad range of taxonomic groups and ecosystems, this text provides a fascinating insight into human impacts on global extinction rates, both past and present.Less
The extent to which human activity has influenced species extinctions during the recent prehistoric past remains controversial due to other factors such as climatic fluctuations and a general lack of data. However, the Holocene (the geological interval spanning the last 11,500 years from the end of the last glaciation) has witnessed massive levels of extinctions that have continued into the modern historical era, but in a context of only relatively minor climatic fluctuations. This makes a detailed consideration of these extinctions a useful system for investigating the impacts of human activity over time. This book describes and analyses the range of global extinction events which have occurred during this key time period, as well as their relationship to both earlier and ongoing species losses. By integrating information from fields as diverse as zoology, ecology, palaeontology, archaeology, and geography, and by incorporating data from a broad range of taxonomic groups and ecosystems, this text provides a fascinating insight into human impacts on global extinction rates, both past and present.
Mary Orr
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199258581
- eISBN:
- 9780191718083
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199258581.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
The crucial defamiliarization of 19th‐century French science set up via the Alexandrian Schools in Part Two allows Hilarion to return as intermediary/antagonist once more, this time as ...
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The crucial defamiliarization of 19th‐century French science set up via the Alexandrian Schools in Part Two allows Hilarion to return as intermediary/antagonist once more, this time as commentator‐double of Étienne Geoffroy Saint‐Hilaire as Starr has argued. This chapter however fills crucial gaps in Starr's arguments by elucidating previously unacknowledged 19th‐century intertexts and their importance for tableau five. Its parades of Nature gods (from India to the more familiar Rome and Gaul) turn myth language into 19th‐century scientific ‘story‐telling’ in deep time—geology and palaeontology—to describe creation. Saint‐Hilaire's growing discord with Cuvier is set in place for tableau seven and provides a solution for the knotty problem of Hilarion's departure and the arrival of the Devil (incredibly as Science) at the end of the tableau.Less
The crucial defamiliarization of 19th‐century French science set up via the Alexandrian Schools in Part Two allows Hilarion to return as intermediary/antagonist once more, this time as commentator‐double of Étienne Geoffroy Saint‐Hilaire as Starr has argued. This chapter however fills crucial gaps in Starr's arguments by elucidating previously unacknowledged 19th‐century intertexts and their importance for tableau five. Its parades of Nature gods (from India to the more familiar Rome and Gaul) turn myth language into 19th‐century scientific ‘story‐telling’ in deep time—geology and palaeontology—to describe creation. Saint‐Hilaire's growing discord with Cuvier is set in place for tableau seven and provides a solution for the knotty problem of Hilarion's departure and the arrival of the Devil (incredibly as Science) at the end of the tableau.
Marcelo Sánchez
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520271937
- eISBN:
- 9780520952300
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520271937.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
How can we bring together the study of genes, embryos, and fossils? This is a critical synthesis of the study of individual development in fossils. It brings together an up-to-date review of concepts ...
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How can we bring together the study of genes, embryos, and fossils? This is a critical synthesis of the study of individual development in fossils. It brings together an up-to-date review of concepts from comparative anatomy, ecology, and developmental genetics, and examples of different kinds of animals from diverse geological epochs and geographic areas. Can fossil embryos demonstrate evolutionary changes in reproductive modes? How have changes in ocean chemistry in the past affected the development of marine organisms? What can the microstructure of fossil bone and teeth reveal about maturation time, longevity, and changes in growth phases? This book addresses these and other issues, and documents with numerous examples and illustrations how fossils provide evidence not only of adult anatomy, but also of the life history of individuals at different growth stages. The central topic of biology today—the transformations occurring during the life of an organism and the mechanisms behind them—is addressed in an integrative manner for extinct animals.Less
How can we bring together the study of genes, embryos, and fossils? This is a critical synthesis of the study of individual development in fossils. It brings together an up-to-date review of concepts from comparative anatomy, ecology, and developmental genetics, and examples of different kinds of animals from diverse geological epochs and geographic areas. Can fossil embryos demonstrate evolutionary changes in reproductive modes? How have changes in ocean chemistry in the past affected the development of marine organisms? What can the microstructure of fossil bone and teeth reveal about maturation time, longevity, and changes in growth phases? This book addresses these and other issues, and documents with numerous examples and illustrations how fossils provide evidence not only of adult anatomy, but also of the life history of individuals at different growth stages. The central topic of biology today—the transformations occurring during the life of an organism and the mechanisms behind them—is addressed in an integrative manner for extinct animals.
Curtis W. Marean, Hayley C. Cawthra, Richard M. Cowling, Karen J. Esler, Erich Fisher, Antoni Milewski, Alastair J. Potts, Elzanne Singels, and Jan De Vynck
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199679584
- eISBN:
- 9780191791949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199679584.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
The human origins story (palaeoanthropology) is often set in the African Palaeotropics,
yet the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) plays an internationally prominent role
that surpasses its small ...
More
The human origins story (palaeoanthropology) is often set in the African Palaeotropics,
yet the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) plays an internationally prominent role
that surpasses its small size. Some of the earliest evidence for the complex behaviours
associated with fully modern humans is found here, with prehistoric stone age
hunter-gatherers adapting to a unique and changing environment from about 1 million
years ago to near-present. The GCFR has an astonishing variety of vegetation types, an
unparalleled diversity and abundance of geophytic plants, and a resource-rich coastline.
These features had a dominating influence on the adaptations and demography of past
hunter-gatherer societies. The GCFR had a relatively stable palaeoclimate through the
Pleistocene, but the landscape changed dramatically as the now-submerged Palaeo-Agulhas
Plain expanded and contracted. The palaeontology of the region shows it provided
grasslands supporting the large ungulates that dominate the Pleistocene faunal
assemblages, and a habitat to hunter-gatherers that is absent through the Holocene. Late
in the Pleistocene early modern humans figured out how to exploit coastal resources, and
shortly after this there is a florescence in complexity in material culture. But the
rapidly changing sea levels of the Pleistocene may have held in check the tendency of
coastal hunter-gatherer economies to rise in population and complexity. With the
Holocene, world climate enters a peculiar phase of stability, and like many areas of the
world, populations rise and coastal adaptations ratchet up in complexity, only to be
overcome by a militarily superior pastoral economy around 1,800 years ago.Less
The human origins story (palaeoanthropology) is often set in the African Palaeotropics,
yet the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) plays an internationally prominent role
that surpasses its small size. Some of the earliest evidence for the complex behaviours
associated with fully modern humans is found here, with prehistoric stone age
hunter-gatherers adapting to a unique and changing environment from about 1 million
years ago to near-present. The GCFR has an astonishing variety of vegetation types, an
unparalleled diversity and abundance of geophytic plants, and a resource-rich coastline.
These features had a dominating influence on the adaptations and demography of past
hunter-gatherer societies. The GCFR had a relatively stable palaeoclimate through the
Pleistocene, but the landscape changed dramatically as the now-submerged Palaeo-Agulhas
Plain expanded and contracted. The palaeontology of the region shows it provided
grasslands supporting the large ungulates that dominate the Pleistocene faunal
assemblages, and a habitat to hunter-gatherers that is absent through the Holocene. Late
in the Pleistocene early modern humans figured out how to exploit coastal resources, and
shortly after this there is a florescence in complexity in material culture. But the
rapidly changing sea levels of the Pleistocene may have held in check the tendency of
coastal hunter-gatherer economies to rise in population and complexity. With the
Holocene, world climate enters a peculiar phase of stability, and like many areas of the
world, populations rise and coastal adaptations ratchet up in complexity, only to be
overcome by a militarily superior pastoral economy around 1,800 years ago.
