MARC Record from harvard_bibliographic_metadata

LEADER: 03153cam a2200421 a 4500
001 012955832-X
005 20111209092953.0
008 110328s2011 maua b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2011007840
016 7 $a015816354$2Uk
020 $a9780262016421 (hardcover : alk. paper)
020 $a0262016427 (hardcover : alk. paper)
035 0 $aocn710044918
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dYDX$dYDXCP$dUKMGB$dYAM
050 00 $aQH373$b.M34 2011
060 00 $a2012 H-159
060 10 $aQU 500
082 00 $a576.8$222
100 1 $aMcGhee, George R.
245 10 $aConvergent evolution :$blimited forms most beautiful /$cGeorge R. McGhee Jr.
260 $aCambridge, Mass. :$bMIT Press,$cc2011.
300 $axii, 322 p. :$bill. ;$c24 cm.
490 1 $aVienna series in theoretical biology
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [287]-301) and indexes.
505 0 $aWhat is convergent evolution? -- Convergent animals -- Convergent plants --Convergent ecosystems -- Convergent molecules -- Convergent minds -- Functional and developmental constraint in convergent evolution -- Philosophical implications of convergent evolution -- Appendix: A phylogenetic classification of life.
520 $aCharles Darwin famously concluded On the Origin of Species with a vision of "endless forms most beautiful" continually evolving. More than 150 years later may evolutionary biologists see not endless forms but the same, or very similar, forms evolving repeatedly in many independent species' lineages. A porpoise's fishlike fins, for example, are not inherited from fish ancestors but are independently derived convergent traits. In this book, George McGhee describes the ubiquity of the phenomenon of convergent evolution and connects it directly to the concept of evolutionary constraint--the idea that the evolutionary pathways available to life are not endless, but quite limited. Convergent evolution occurs on all levels, from tiny organic molecules to entire ecosystems of species. McGhee demonstrates its ubiquity in animals, both herbivore and carnivore; in plants; in ecosystems; in molecules, including DNA, proteins, and enzymes; and even in minds, describing problem-solving behavior and group behavior as the products of convergence. For each species example, he provides an abbreviated list of the major nodes in its phylogenetic classification, allowing the reader to see the evolutionary relationship of a group of species that have independently evolved a similar trait by convergent evolution. McGhee analyzes the role of functional and developmental constraints in producing convergent evolution, and considers the scientific and philosophical implications of convergent evolution for the predictability of the evolutionary process.
650 0 $aConvergence (Biology)
650 0 $aEvolution (Biology)$xPhilosophy.
650 0 $aPhylogeny.
650 12 $aPhylogeny.
650 22 $aBiological Evolution.
650 22 $aSociobiology.
776 1 $cElectronic resource $z 9780262299756
830 0 $aVienna series in theoretical biology.
899 $a415_565670
988 $a20111101
049 $aCLSL
906 $0DLC