Genetics (non-medical) Books

Book SynopsisWith tremendous success of genomic research in discovering genetic variations determining human diseases, it is now time to re-evaluate how the environment affects disease risk by taking into consideration these genetic findings. This book addresses a rapidly growing interest in assessing the relations between environmental risk factors (such as diet, lifestyle) and human diseases, by considering the potential roles of genomic make-up. The book brings together a selection of chapters written by specialists with a variety of backgrounds such as epidemiology, nutrition, genetics, epigenetics, microbiome, biostatistics and bioinformatics. These authors are united in their concerns on the same scientific question how do genomic events modify the effects of traditional, environmental risk factors on disease risk? This book offers an expert overview of the advances in the field of gene-environment interactions on human diseases and the cutting-edge methods used to detect the interactions. The majority of the chapters provide detailed up-to-date descriptions of the major findings of gene-environment interactions on various chronic diseases and risk factors such as obesity, lipids, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, pancreatitis, Parkinson''s disease, and longevity. The book also covers the potential influence of epigenetic events and microbiome on the relation between environment and diseases. In addition, the book also captures the potential application of the findings from this field in personalised prevention and treatment of human diseases.

Read more less

Book SynopsisGenetic instability leads to the accumulation of many changes necessary to transform the stable genome of a normal cell into an unstable genome. Such a transformation can be the cause of radiation mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and aging â the main long-term effects of ionizing radiation, UV light, and other harmful environmental factors. A new quantitative assessment of the genetic instability was suggested, taking into account the delay in the formation of colonies by cells surviving after exposure to harmful agents. It was demonstrated that the genetic instability of yeast cells is mainly determined by cell ploidy, but not by the sigmoid shape of the survival curve or the cell's ability of post-irradiation recovery. New experimental data confirm the participation of recovery processes in the manifestation of the relative biological effectiveness of densely ionizing radiation both for cell inactivation and for radiation-induced genetic instability. A number of universal patterns of synergic interactions are demonstrated, which did not depend on the used biological test and objects nor the interacting physical and chemical factors. Potential significance of synergy at low intensities of physical and chemical environmental factors is proved. Original data on the influence of cyclic heating and cooling on cell survival are obtained. It is concluded that osmotic homeostasis of cells, along with DNA, is an important target responsible for cell viability under the damaging action of various agents. Data on the favorable effect of the increased natural background of ionizing radiation are discussed. The manifestations of radiation hormesis were revealed for various radiation accidents, professional and medical exposure. The results obtained demonstrate that the action of high-energy ionizing radiation is accompanied by irradiation with UV light that occurs when charged particles move at a speed exceeding the speed of light in a given medium.Table of ContentsForeword (K P Mishra); Preface; Introduction; Biological Significance of Genetic Instability; Genetic Instability of Yeast Cells Irradiated with Sparsely Ionizing Radiation; Genetic Instability of Yeast Cells After Exposure to Densely Ionizing Radiation; Genetic Instability of Yeast Cells After Irradiation with UV Light; Universal Patterns of Synergistic Interactions; Peculiarities of an Osmotic Homeostasis Display; Radiation Hormesis After Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation; Involvement of Molecule Excitations in the Biological Action of Ionizing Radiation; Conclusion; References; About the Authors; Index.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis• A New York Times Notable Book •“The richest, freshest, most fun book on genetics in some time.” —The New York Times Book Review We are doomed to repeat history if we fail to learn from it, but how are we affected by the forces that are invisible to us? In The Invisible History of the Human Race Christine Kenneally draws on cutting-edge research to reveal how both historical artifacts and DNA tell us where we come from and where we may be going. While some books explore our genetic inheritance and popular television shows celebrate ancestry, this is the first book to explore how everything from DNA to emotions to names and the stories that form our lives are all part of our human legacy. Kenneally shows how trust is inherited in Africa, silence is passed down in Tasmania, and how the history of nations is written in our DNA. From fateful, anci

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn what will certainly be one of the key works in the emerging science of complexity, Kauffman here presents a brilliant new paradigm for evolutionary biology. It extends the basic concepts of Darwinian evolution to accommodate recent findings and perspectives from the fields of biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. The book drives to the heart of the exciting debate on the origins of life and maintenance of order in complex biological systems. It focuses on the concept of self-organization - the first time this concept has been incorporated into evolutionary theory. The book shows how complex systems, contrary to expectations, can spontaneously exhibit stunning degrees of order, and how this order in turn is essential for the emergence and development of life on Earth. Origins of Order will advance our understanding of evolution and provoke considerable discussion among evolutionary, molecular, and developmental biologists.Trade Review. . . an integrative book that will become a landmark and a classic as we grope towards a more comprehensive and satisfying theory of evolution. * Stephen Jay Gould *Stuart Kauffman's book . . . is a global representation of a new field, that will greatly enhance our physical understanding of Nature . . . A superb reading, not limited to physicists and biologists, having most important implications in natural philosophy. * Manfred Eigen *Here is a big book with a big purpose. . . . The Origins of Order is the first book to be written by any of the complexity theorists themselves, and it presents Kauffman's view of the biological realm. . . . The Origins of Order will be seen as a major work in the progression of biological theory. At the very least, Kauffman has made a persuasive case to have his bold hypothesis heard. * Roger Lewin *Table of ContentsPART I: ADAPTATION ON THE EDGE OF CHAOS; PART II: THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF LIFE; PART III: ORDER AND ONTOGENY

Read more less

Book SynopsisDeath, for bacteria, is not inevitable. Protect a bacterium from predators, and provide it with adequate food and space to grow, and it would continue living--and reproducing asexually--forever. But a paramecium (a slightly more advanced single-cell organism), under the same ideal conditions, would stop dividing after about 200 generations--and die. Death, for paramecia and their offspring, is inevitable. Unless they have sex. If at any point during that 200 or so generations, two of the progeny of our paramecium have sex, their clock will be reset to zero. They and their progeny are granted another 200 generations. Those who fail to have sex eventually die. Immortality for bacteria is automatic; for all other living beings--including humans--immortality depends on having sex. But why is this so? Why must death be inevitable? And what is the connection between death and sexual reproduction? In Sex and the Origins of Death, William R. Clark looks at life and death at the level of the cell, as he addresses such profound questions as why we age, why death exists, and why death and sex go hand in hand. Clark reveals that there are in fact two kinds of cell death--accidental death, caused by extreme cold or heat, starvation, or physical destruction, and programmed cell death, initiated by codes embedded in our DNA. (Bacteria have no such codes.) We learn that every cell in our body has a self-destruct program embedded into it and that cell suicide is in fact a fairly commonplace event. We also discover that virtually every aspect of a cell''s life is regulated by its DNA, including its own death, that the span of life is genetically determined (identical twins on average die 36 months apart, randomly selected siblings 106 months apart), that human tissue in culture will divide some 50 times and then die (an important exception being tumor cells, which divide indefinitely). But why do our cells have such programs? Why must we die? To shed light on this question, Clark reaches far back in evolutionary history, to the moment when inevitable death (death from ageing) first appeared. For cells during the first billion years, death, when it occurred, was accidental; there was nothing programmed into them that said they must die. But fierce competition gradually led to multicellular animals--size being an advantage against predators--and with this change came cell specialization and, most important, germ cells in which reproductive DNA was segregated. When sexual reproduction evolved, it became the dominant form of reproduction on the planet, in part because mixing DNA from two individuals corrects errors that have crept into the code. But this improved DNA made DNA in the other (somatic) cells not only superfluous, but dangerous, because somatic DNA might harbour mutations. Nature''s solution to this danger, Clark concludes, was programmed death--the somatic cells must die. Unfortunately, we are the somatic cells. Death is necessary to exploit to the fullest the advantages of sexual reproduction. In Sex and the Origins of Death, William Clark ranges far and wide over fascinating terrain. Whether describing a 62-year-old man having a major heart attack (and how his myocardial cells rupture and die), or discussing curious life-forms that defy any definition of life (including bacterial spores, which can regenerate after decades of inactivity, and viruses, which are nothing more than DNA or RNA wrapped in protein), this brilliant, profound volume illuminates the miraculous workings of life at its most elemental level and finds in these tiny spaces the answers to some of our largest questions.Trade ReviewAnyone who reckons that science writing is dry stuff may find their outlook broadened by this little book about the biology of death. * New Scientist *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDevelopmental Plasticity and Evolution is the first comprehensive synthesis on development and evolution: it applies to all aspects of development, at all levels of organization and in all organisms, taking advantage of modern findings on behaviour, genetics, endocrinology, molecular biology, evolutionary theory and phylogenetics to show the connections between developmental mechanisms and evolutionary change. This book solves key problems that have impeded a definitive synthesis in the past. It uses new concepts and specific examples to show how to relate environmentally sensitive development to the genetic theory of adaptive evolution and to explain major patterns of change.In this book development includes not only embryology and the ontogeny of morphology, sometimes portrayed inadequately as governed by regulatory genes, but also behavioural development and psychological adaptation, where plasticity is mediated by genetically complex mechanisms like hormones and learning. The book Trade ReviewNo other treatment of development and evolution since Darwin's offers such a comprehensive and critical discussion of the relevant issues. * Ethology Ecology & Evolution *The arguments of this book call for a new view of the major themes of evolutionary biology. * Ethology Ecology & Evolution *This book satisfies the need for a truly general book on development, plasticity and evolution that applies to living organisms in all of their life stages and environments. * Ethology Ecology & Evolution *This book solves key problems that have impeded a definitive sythesis in the past. * Ethology Ecology & Evolution *The first comprehensive synthesis on development and evolution. * Ethology Ecology & Evolution *Table of ContentsPart 1: Framework for a Synthesis ; 1. Gaps and Inconsistencies in Modern Evolutionary Thought ; 2. Material for a Synthesis ; 3. The Nature of the Phenotype: Plasticity ; 4. The Nature of the Phenotype: Modularity ; 5. Development ; 6. Adaptive Evolution ; 7. General Principles of Development and Evolution ; 8. Darwin's Theory of Development and Evolution ; Part 2: The Origins of Novelty ; 9. The Nature and Analysis of Phenotype Transitions ; 10. Duplication ; 11. Deletion ; 12. Reversion ; 13. Heterochrony ; 14. Heterotopy ; 15. Cross-sexual Transfer ; 16. Correlated Shifts in Quantitative Traits ; 17. Combinational Evolution at the Molecular Level ; 18. Phenotypic Recombination by Learning ; 19. Recurrent Phenotypes ; Part 3: Alternative Phenotypes ; 20. Alternative Pheontypes as a Phase of Evolution ; 21. Divergence without Speciation ; 22. Maintenance without Equilibrium ; 23. Assessment ; Part 4: Developmental Plasticity and the Major Themes of Evolutionary Biology ; 24. Gradualism ; 25. Homology ; 26. Environmental Modifications ; 27. Speciation ; 28. Adaptive Radiation ; 29. Macroevolution ; 30. Punctuation ; 31. One Final Word: Sex

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis text unifies conceptual and empirical advances in evolutionary ecology and provides a volume that can be used as a primary textbook or supplemental reading in an advanced undergraduate or graduate course. The focus is on current concepts in evolutionary ecology and the empirical study of these concepts. Chapters are written by prominent biologists who have made significant contributions to this field and both synthesize the current state of knowledge and identify areas for future investigation. It is divided into five major sections: an overview of the major topics in evolutionary biology for ecologists, and sections on life histories, behaviour, co-evolution, and adaptation to anthropogenic change.Trade Review"[A]n excellent overview of research in evolutionary ecology. The book is extremely up-to-date, authoritative, well written, and ... well produced. ... The editors certainly are to be commended on the list of authors that they have gathered. The table of contents reads like a miniature who's who of evolutionary ecology ... The authors and editors have done a better job of referring between chapters than in any other edited volume I have read. ... a valuable book for a wide audience."--Ecology "This work introduces many of the important topics in evolutionary ecology. ... [the] chapters [are] written almost exclusively by notable scientists ..."--Choice "[E]ven experts working within particular areas of the field will find many of the chapters outside their primary area of research interesting and stimulating ... the 35 authors constitute a vertiable "who's who" in the field. ... the breadth of coverage is impressive ... In many respects the book has a cohesiveness usually found only in single authored works."--The Quarterly Review of Biology "Evolutionary ecology, according to the editors of this collection of essays, combines the two approaches to examine variation in organisms in relation to both past and the present. Edited collections often disappoint but this one does not. One factor in its success is the broad, conceptual theme given to each contribution, covering such topics as variation, natural selection, adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, population structure, inbreeding and outbreeding. . .Each essay sets out the theoretical basis for the topic covered and then it illustrates it with experimental and field examples. . .The level at which the essays are constructed would be suitable for advanced undergraduate studies and ideal for postgraduate students wishing to assimilate an authoritative account on the subject and should be introduced to the current literature. All teachers in such courses should certainly have this book on their shelves."--British Ecological Society "It is a daunting task to develop an integrated text that successfully draws from the diverse disciplines within ecology and evolutionary biology, yet Fox et al. have done this quite well.This text should prove especially useful to professors seeking a well-organized and thorough volume for advanced undergraduate and graduate level courses focusing on evolutionary ecology. ..Given the void of textbooks for teaching evolutionary ecology at the graduate level and the high quality of this volume, we expect Fox et al.'s text to become a standard reader for evolution and ecology graduate programmes, as well as for researchers seeking an up-to-date overview of evolutionary ecology research."--Animal Behaviour "Provides an overview of evolutionary ecology, a field spanning the disciplines of ecology and evolutionary biology and incorporating the techniques and approaches of each. Chapters are written by prominent researchers and are organized into five sections: themes in evolutionary ecology, life histories, behavior, co-evolution, and adaptation to anthropogenic change. For researchers seeking a current overview and graduate or advanced undergraduate students seeking an introduction to the field."--SciTech Book News "[A]n excellent overview of research in evolutionary ecology. The book is extremely up-to-date, authoritative, well written, and ... well produced. ... The editors certainly are to be commended on the list of authors that they have gathered. The table of contents reads like a miniature who's who of evolutionary ecology ... The authors and editors have done a better job of referring between chapters than in any other edited volume I have read. ... a valuable book for a wide audience."--Ecology "This work introduces many of the important topics in evolutionary ecology. ... [the] chapters [are] written almost exclusively by notable scientists ..."--Choice "[E]ven experts working within particular areas of the field will find many of the chapters outside their primary area of research interesting and stimulating ... the 35 authors constitute a vertiable "who's who" in the field. ... the breadth of coverage is impressive ... In many respects the book has a cohesiveness usually found only in single authored works."--The Quarterly Review of BiologyTable of ContentsPART 1: RECURRING THEMES ; 1. Nature and Causes of Variation ; 2. Evolutionary Significance of Variation ; 3. Natural Selection ; 4. Adaptation ; 5. Phenotypic Plasticity ; 6. Population Structure ; 7. Inbreeding and Outbreeding ; PART 2: LIFE HISTORIES ; 8. Age and Size at Maturity ; 9. Offspring Size and Number ; 10. Senescence ; 11. Life Cycles ; 12. Sex and Gender ; 13. Sex Ratios and Sex Allocation ; 14. Ecological Specialization and Generalization ; PART 3: BEHAVIOR ; 15. Mating Systems ; 16. Sexual Selection ; 17. Cooperation and Altruism ; 18. Foraging Behaviour ; 19. The Evolutionary Ecology of Management ; PART 4: INTERSPECIFIC INTERACTIONS ; 20. Ecological Character Displacement ; 21. Predator-Prey Interactions ; 22. Parasite-Host Interactions ; 23. Plant-Herbivore Interactions ; 24. Mutualisms ; 25. The Geographic Dynamics of Coevolution ; PART 5: ADAPTATION TO ANTHROPOGENIC CHANGE ; 26. Pesticide Resistance ; 27. Predicting the Outcome of Biological Control ; 28. Evolutionary Conservation Biology ; REFERENCES ; INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book gives an overview of the potential and the practical details that need to be resolved to make human germline engineering possible. Chapters present the ethical and social concerns and implications of the fast-approaching capability to alter the human germline and take an active role in the future evolution of the species.Trade ReviewThe book should be commended for bringing to the fore the possibilityof germline manipulation within the next decade * New Genetics & Society *...interesting reading. * Heredity *The participants, mostly drawn from Us academic institutions, fall into three categories: eminent practising scientists; panelists, including James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA; and commentators- scientists, ethcicists and theologians * Nature *Table of ContentsSection One ; 1. A vision for human germline engineering ; 2. The human genome project - launch pad for human genetic engineering ; 3. Ethics and Safety ; 4. Human germline gene therapy: how and why ; 5. A new front in the battel against disease ; 6. Aging as a target for genetic engineering ; 7. Reprogenetics: how reproductive and genetic technolgies will be combined to provide new opportunities for people to reach their reproductive goals ; Section Two ; Panel: The road ahead ; Section Three"R ; 1. Other voices - Introduction ; 2. Parental choices ; 3. Thoughts on the... ; 4. The psycho-social limits on human germline modification ; 5. Do we know ourselves well enough to be engineering humans? ; 6. Germline manipulation ; 7. Maximize parental choice ; 8. Our societal obligations for keeping human nature untouched ; 9. The question of purpose ; 10. Gene modification technology ; 11. Justice and the germline ; 12. Human germ line intervention: What's the fuss about? ; 13. Germline culture: The genetics of hubris ; 14. Liberty, equality, and solidarity in our genetically engineered future ; 15. Would humanity be better off...Or, what would it be better for? ; 16. Human dignity should not keep us from genetically engineering our children ; 17. Universal bioethics for the human germline ; 18. Multi-jurisdiction regulation of germline intervention 'A policy with neither virtue nor prospect of success ; Section 4. Chapter Contributors and Essay Contributors

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book presents the statistical methods that are useful in the study of molecular evolution and illustrates how to use them in actual data analysis. Molecular evolution has been developing at a great pace over the past decade or so, driven by the huge increase in genetic sequence data from many organisms, the improvement of high-speed microcomputers, and the development of several new methods for phylogenetic analysis. This book for graduate students and researchers, assuming a basic knowledge of evolution, molecular biology, and elementary statistics, should make it possible for many investigators to incorporate refined statistical analysis of large-scale data in their own work. Nei is one of the leading workers in this area. He and Kumar have developed a computer program called MEGA, which has been sold for about $20 to over 1900 users. For the book, the authors are thoroughly revising MEGA and will make it available via FTP. The book also included analysis using the other most poTrade ReviewIt is worth its price * Plant Systematics and Evolution *Table of Contents1. Molecular basis of evolution ; 2. Evolutionary changes of amino acid sequences ; 3. Evolutionary changes of DNA sequences ; 4. Synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions ; 5. Phylogenetic trees ; 6. Phylogenetic inference: Distance methods ; 7. Phylogenetic inference: Maximum parsimony methods ; 8. Phylogenetic inference: Maximum likelihood methods ; 9. Accuracies and statistical tests of phylogenetic trees ; 10. Molecular clocks and linearized trees ; 11. Ancestral nucleotide and amino acid sequences ; 12. Genetic polymorphism and evolution ; 13. Population trees from genetic markers ; 14. Perspectives ; Appendices ; A. Mathematical sumbols and notations ; B. Geological timescale ; C. Geological events in the Cenozoic and Meszoic eras ; D. Evolution of organisms based on the fossil record

Read more less

Book SynopsisA new voice in the nature-nurture debate can be heard at the interface between evolution and development. Phenotypic integration--or, how large numbers of characteristics are related to make up the whole organism, and how these relationships evolve and change their function--is a major growth area in research, attracting the attention of evolutionary biologists, developmental biologists, and geneticists, as well as, more broadly, ecologists, physiologists, and paleontologists. This edited collection presents much of the best and most recent work the topic.Trade ReviewI think this volume will provide stimulating reading for most students, teachers and researchers in a variety of biological disciplines. HeredityTable of ContentsForeword: The diversity of complexity ; Phenotypic Integration: Studying the Ecology and Evolution of Complex Phenotypes ; SECTION I: ADAPTATION AND CONSTRAINTS ; 1. Floral integration, modularity, and accuracy: distinguishing complex adaptations from genetic constraints ; 2. Integration and modularity in the evolution of sexual ornaments: An overlooked perspective ; 3. the Evolution of allometry in modular organisms ; 4. Phenotypic integration as a constraint and adaptation ; 5. Evolvability, stabilizing selection, and the problem of stasis ; SECTION II: PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY AND INTEGRATION ; 6. Studying the plasticity of phenotypic integration in a model organism ; 7. Integrating phenotypic plasticity when death is on the line: Insights from predator-prey systems ; SECTION III: GENETICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF PHENOTYPIC INTEGRATION ; 8. QTL Mapping: a first step towards an understanding of molecular genetic mechanisms behind phenotypic complexity/integration ; 9. Integration, modules, and development: molecules to morphology to evolution ; 10. Studying mutational effects on G-matrices ; SECTION IV: MACROEVOLUTIONARY PATTERNS IN PHENOTYPIC INTEGRATION ; 11. the Macroevolution of phenotypic integration ; 12. Form, Function and Life-History: Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Integration ; 13. Morphological Integration in Primate Evolution ; SECTION V: THEORY AND ANALYSIS OF PHENOTYPIC INTEGRATION ; 14. Phylogenetic comparative analysis of multivariate data ; 15. The Evolution of genetic architecture ; 16. Multivariate phenotypic evolution in developmental hyperspace ; 17. the Relativism of constraints on phenotypic evolution ; 18. The Developmental Systems Perspective: Organism-environment systems as units of development and evolution ; Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis edition of Are We Hardwired addresses the role of genes in governing behaviour. It explains the genetic and molecular basis of human behaviour within the broader context of animal behaviour generally. Behaviour is treated as a complex interaction of nature and nurture; to understand ourselves fully, neither can be dismissed out of hand.Trade ReviewThis book tells the story of how genes and other aspects of biology such as pheromones and neurotransmitters affect important behaviours such as aggression, eating disorders, drug use and abuse, sexual preference, learning and memory, and mental function. The story begins with the real stars of genetic research - sea slugs, roundworms, and fruit flies - and builds up to what we know about our own species. The story is told in a captivating way--exciting yet erudite. Excellent! * Robert Plomin, MRC Research Professor, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London and author of the upcoming fourth edition of Behaviour Genetics *Are we hardwired? Do billion-year old genes play an important role in human behaviour? Pick up this book. You won't be able to put it down. * Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr., Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota *Table of Contents1. Mirror, mirror ; 2. In the beginning: the evolutionary origins of behaviour ; 3. The nose knows ; 4. As the worm turns: learning and memory in the roundworm C. elegans ; 5. About genes and behaviour ; 6. Life in the fourth dimension: the role of clocks in regulating behaviour ; 7. You must remember this: the evolution of learning and memory ; 8. The role of neurotransmitters in human behaviour ; 9. The genetics of aggression ; 10. The genetics of consumption, Part 1: eating disorders ; 11. The genetics of consumption, Part II: alcoholism and drug abuse ; 12. The genetics of human mental function ; 13. The genetics of human sexual preference ; 14. Genetics, the environment and free will ; Appendix 1: finding and identifying genes ; Appendix 2: a brief history of eugenics

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the story of a profound revolution in the way biologists explore life''s history, understand its evolutionary processes, and reveal its diversity. It is about life''s smallest entities, deepest diversity, and greatest cellular biomass: the microbiosphere. Jan Sapp introduces us to a new field of evolutionary biology and a new brand of molecular evolutionists who descend to the foundations of evolution on Earth to explore the origins of the genetic system and the primary life forms from which all others have emerged. In so doing, he examines-from Lamarck to the present-the means of pursuing the evolution of complexity, and of depicting the greatest differences among organisms. The New Foundations of Evolution takes us into a world that classical evolutionists could never have imagined: a deep phylogeny based on three domains of life and multiple kingdoms, and created by mechanisms very unlike those considered by Darwin and his followers. Evolution by leaps seems to occur regulTrade ReviewIt is a must-read for anyone with the slightest interest in the historical background to the current controversies regarding the role of horizontal gene transfer and how this affects the notion of a tree of life for prokaryotes. * Systematic Biology *Table of ContentsFOREWORD; PREFACE; CONCLUDING REMARKS

Read more less

Book SynopsisAdaptive radiation is the evolution of diversity within a rapidly multiplying lineage. It can cause a single ancestral species to differentiate into an impressively vast array of species inhabiting a variety of environments. Much of life''s diversity has arisen during adaptive radiations. Some of the most famous recent examples include the East African cichlid fishes, the Hawaiian silverswords, and of course, Darwin''s Galápagos finches,. This book evaluates the causes of adaptive radiation. It focuses on the ''ecological'' theory of adaptive radiation, a body of ideas that began with Darwin and was developed through the early part of the 20th Century. This theory proposes that phenotypic divergence and speciation in adaptive radiation are caused ultimately by divergent natural selection arising from differences in environment and competition between species. In The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation the author re-evaluates the ecological theory, along with its most significant extensions aTrade Review[Schluter's] book is an ideal basis for graduate student seminar courses, and can both educate and spark spirited discussion ... finely crafted, deeply thoughtful. * Evolution *... a scholarly work of great clarity and force of argument. It is essential reading for all students of evolution ... a book that will take its place near the ones by Dobzhansky, Lack, Mayr and Simpson that inspired it. * Peter R. Grant, Quarterly Review of Biology *... in each decade, one book stands out in terms of its influence on the field of evolutionary biology ... Although only one-year old, this decade might have already produced its member of this pantheon: Dolph Schluter" The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation ... it will lead to new avenues of research and new ways of thinking about adaptive radiation. * Jonathan B. Losos, Trends in Ecology and Evolution *... presents and impressively thorough evaluation of the empirical evidence that has accumulated since Simpson's snythesis ... an absolute "must read" for all graduate students in the fields of ecology and evolution and for anyone interested in evolutionary diversity. It will become a classic. * Axel Meyer, Science *... should be read and regularly consulted by anybody interested in adaptive radiation, in natural selection, and in speciation. * Konrad Bachmann, Plant Systematics and Evolution *Table of Contents1. The origins of ecological diversity ; 2. Detecting adaptive radiation ; 3. The progress of adaptive radiation ; 4. The ecological theory of adaptive radiation ; 5. Divergent natural selection between environments ; 6. Divergence and species interactions ; 7. Ecological opportunity ; 8. The ecological basis of speciation ; 9. Divergence along genetic lines of least resistance ; 10. The ecology of adaptive radiation

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is a history of how sheep breeding contributed to knowledge of heredity, and how the theory was vigorously pursued during the early Nineteenth Century in Brno, where Mendel defined the basis of genetics in 1866. This original and perceptive work is rich in previously unpublished detail.Trade ReviewThis is a very valuable book analysing the period of animal breeding, especially sheep, before the discovering of heredity laws by Gregor Mendel. * Folia Mendeliana *Historians of technology will find here a rich case study of the diffusion of a technology, and the book's implications for the relations of science and technology are significant. * British Journal for the History of Science *In illuminating the milieu in which Mendel worked, Wood and Orel add usefully to our knowledge of nineteenth-century conceptions of heredity. * British Journal for the History of Science *Over the last 30 years Orel and Wood have reconstructured the context of Mendel's work more thoroughly than anyone else. This book is a welcome culmination of that project, integrating the various strands of their work into one long argument. * British Journal for the History of Science *Wood and Orel's book offers answers both intriguing and persuasive. * British Journal for the History of Science *Historians of genetics will find Wood and Orel's case compelling. * Journal of the History of Biology *... an interesting and a stimulating study. They have undertaken an impressive amount of research in the archives on sheep-breeding in Europe in the eighteenth and ninteenth centuries, and presented their findings and conclusions clearly and logically. I learnt a lot from the book. * Nature *Table of ContentsLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ; OVERVIEW ; REFERENCES ; INDEX

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Phylogenetics'' is the reconstruction and analysis of phylogenetic (evolutionary) trees and networks based on inherited characteristics. It is a flourishing area of intereaction between mathematics, statistics, computer science and biology.The main role of phylogenetic techniques lies in evolutionary biology, where it is used to infer historical relationships between species. However, the methods are also relevant to a diverse range of fields including epidemiology, ecology, medicine, as well as linguistics and cognitive psychologyThis graduate-level book, based on the authors lectures at The University of Canterbury, New Zealand, focuses on the mathematical aspects of phylogenetics. It brings together the central results of the field (providing proofs of the main theorem), outlines their biological significance,and indicates how algorithms may be derived. The presentation is self-contained and relies on discrete mathematics with some probability theory. A set of exercises and at least one specialist topic ends each chapter.This book is intended for biologists interested in the mathematical theory behind phylogenetic methods, and for mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientists eager to learn about this emerging area of discrete mathematics.''Phylogenetics'' in the 24th volume in the Oxford Lecture Series in Mathematics and its Applications. This series contains short books suitable for graduate students and researchers who want a well-written account of mathematics that is fundamental to current to research. The series emphasises future directions of research and focuses on genuine applications of mathematics to finance, engineering and the physical and biological sciences.Trade ReviewThe authors' versatility in words, as well as in mathematics, makes reading this book altogether an enjoyable experience for the mathematically-inclined. * Systematic Biology *The authors state in the preface that their intention is to provide "a reasonably self-contained overview of an expanding field". In our opinion, they certainly succeed in meeting that goal. * Systematic Biology *All in all, this book should serve as an excellent mathematical introduction to phylogenetics for beginners and as a good reference for experts in the field. * Systematic Biology *Concisely and clearly written, Phylogenetics is a must-read for mathematicians or computer scientists who wish to do research in molecular phylogenetics, computational biology and bioinformatics. I hope the book will attract powerful mathematicians into this exciting area of research. * TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution *... this book provides a concise and lucid summary of the mathematics literature related to phylogenetics. * TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution *Table of ContentsPreliminaries ; 1. Graphs and their role in biology ; 2. X-trees and phylogenetic trees ; 3. Trees and splits ; 4. Compatibility of characters ; 5. Maximum Parsimony ; 6. Subtrees and supertrees ; 7. Tree-based metrics ; 8. Markov models on trees ; References ; Commonly-used symbols ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe field of molecular evolution has experienced explosive growth in recent years due to the rapid accumulation of genetic sequence data, continuous improvements to computer hardware and software, and the development of sophisticated analytical methods. The increasing availability of large genomic data sets requires powerful statistical methods to analyse and interpret them, generating both computational and conceptual challenges for the field.Computational Molecular Evolution provides an up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of modern statistical and computational methods used in molecular evolutionary analysis, such as maximum likelihood and Bayesian statistics. Yang describes the models, methods and algorithms that are most useful for analysing the ever-increasing supply of molecular sequence data, with a view to furthering our understanding of the evolution of genes and genomes. The book emphasizes essential concepts rather than mathematical proofs. It includes detailed derivationsTrade ReviewWhat sets this books apart is the authority and thoughtfulness with which it is written, the thorough coverage of the relevant literature, and the great care that has been taken in the computational examples to compare different methods on the same set of data, and to present the results clearly. It will be an invaluable resource both for new graduate students and established researchers. It will be a major source for insight and enormously helpful for anyone who wants to understand molecular phylogenies. * The Quarterly Review of Biology *Table of ContentsPREFACE ; APPENDIXES ; REFERENCE

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book introduces the reader to all the key concepts and technologies needed to begin developing their own bioinformatics tools. The new edition includes more bioinformatics-specific content and a new chapter on good software engineering practices to help people working in teams.Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. Building Biological Databases with SQL ; 3. Beginning Programming in Perl ; 4. Numerical data analysis using R ; 5. Developing Web Resources ; 6. Software Engineering for Bioinformatics ; Appendix A: Using Command Line Interfaces ; Appendix B: Getting started with Apache HTTP Server ; Appendix C: Setting up a Linux Virtual Machine in Windows

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis account of the origins of modern molecular biology, the lives of pioneering scientists in the field of nucleic acid research, and the discovery of DNA, is aimed not only at scientists, but also at students and general readers with an interest in science.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1957 two young scientists produced an experiment confirming that DNA replicates as predicted by the double helix structure Watson and Cricks had proposed. This text reconstructs the complex route that led to the experiment and provides an inside view of day-to-day scientific research.Trade Review"Holmes has written a remarkable history of one of molecular biology's most significant experiments. His recreation of a seminal time in the development of the field is masterful and detailed, and it is exciting reading for anyone interested in how experimentation is actually done in a molecular biology laboratory." David Baltimore, president, California Institute of Technology

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisRosalind Franklin's research was central to the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. She never received the credit she was due during her lifetime.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Nobel Prize–winning scientist’s elegant explanation of the fundamental ideas in biology and their uses today.Trade Review"A nearly perfect guide to the wonder and complexity of existence." -- Bill Bryson"A beautifully written exploration of perhaps the most important question in science." -- Brian Cox"In this vibrant, lively book, Paul Nurse, discoverer of some of the crucial genes that control the division of cells, takes a deep dive into biology by illuminating five of the essential characteristics of ‘life.’ The writing is so spirited and knowledgeable—and the five sections so full of wondrous revelations—that I could not put it down. This is a book that will inspire a generation of biologists." -- Siddhartha Mukherjee"Paul Nurse is about as distinguished a scientist as there could be. He is also a great communicator. This book explains, in a way that is both clear and elegant, how the processes of life unfold, and does as much as science can to answer the question posed by the title. It’s also profoundly important, at a time when the world is connected so closely that any new illness can sweep from nation to nation with immense speed, that all of us—including politicians—should be as well informed as possible. This book provides the sort of clarity and understanding that could save many thousands of lives." -- Philip Pullman"Wise, visionary, and personal. I read the book in one sitting, and felt exhilarated by the end, as though I’d run for miles—from the author's own garden into the interior of the cell, back in time to humankind’s most distant ancestors, and through the laboratory of a dedicated scientist at work on what he most loves to do." -- Dava Sobel"[E]loquent…Anyone wondering how life works would do well to pick this up." -- Publishers Weekly

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1901 William Bateson, Professor of Biology at Cambridge, published a renewed version of a lecture which he had delivered the year before to the Royal Horticultural Society in London (reprinted in the book as an appendix). In this lecture he recognized the importance of the work completed by Gregor Mendel in 1865, and brought it to the notice of the scientific world. Upon reading Bateson''s paper, Archibald Garrod realized the relevance of Mendel''s laws to human disease and in 1902 introduced Mendelism to medical genetics. The first part of A Century of Mendelism in Human Genetics takes a historical perspective of the first 50 years of Mendelism, including the bitter argument between the Mendelians and the biometricians. The second part discusses human genetics since 1950, ending with a final chapter examining genetics and the future of medicine. The book considers the genetics of both single-gene and complex diseases, human cancer genetics, genetic linkage, and natural sTable of ContentsPart 1: The First Fifty Years of Mendelism. Part 2: Human Genetics from 1950.

Read more less

Book Synopsis A world-renowned paleontologist reveals groundbreaking science that trumps science fiction: how to grow a living dinosaur. Over a decade after Jurassic Park, Jack Horner and his colleagues in molecular biology labs are in the process of building the technology to create a real dinosaur. Based on new research in evolutionary developmental biology on how a few select cells grow to create arms, legs, eyes, and brains that function together, Jack Horner takes the science a step further in a plan to reverse evolution and reveals the awesome, even frightening, power being acquired to recreate the prehistoric past. The key is the dinosaur's genetic code that lives on in modern birds- even chickens. From cutting-edge biology labs to field digs underneath the Montana sun, How to Build a Dinosaur explains and enlightens an awesome new science.

Read more less