The Origins of Theoretical Developmental Genetics: Reinterpreting William Bateson’s Role in the History of Evolutionary Thought

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-170
Author(s):  
Carlos Ochoa
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Genetics ◽  
Evolutionary Thought ◽  
History Of

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Bill Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Evolutionary Thought ◽  
History Of

The introduction sets the scene by exploring the role of Edinburgh as a centre for the development and propagation of pre-Darwinian evolutionary theories. It gives essential background on natural history in the Scottish capital in early nineteenth century and the history of evolutionary thought and outlines the aims and objectives of the book. In addition, it explores some of the historiographical issues raised by earlier historians of science who have discussed the role of Edinburgh in the development of evolutionary thought in Great Britain.

The History of Evolutionary Thought

Evolution ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 1-48
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Thought ◽  
History Of

The Origins of Diversity: Darwin's Conditions and Epigenetic Variations

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 103-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Double Helix ◽  
Paradigm Change ◽  
Short History ◽  
Adaptive Mutations ◽  
Evolutionary Thought ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Heritable Change

This short history of evolutionary thought during the last few centuries describes how some of our foremost thinkers have debated – and still do – the precise mechanisms at the roots of evolutionary change. Commentators frequently contradicted themselves, as well as each other. The popularity of Christian fundamentalism waned following the World Wars. Eventually the rug was pulled from beneath it – till a more recent reaction. Amidst all this babble coming from numerous towers of Babel over centuries, we failed to see Charles Darwin as the great environmentalist: who said environmental conditions, whilst working hand in glove with natural selection, constituted the more important 'law.' A bird's eye view of 18th and 19th century evolutionary thought is considered against the climate of those times (politics, industrial revolution, trade, religious expansionism, etc). Darwinism superseded Lamarckism helped by the neo-Darwinism of Weismann, higher mathematics, population genetics – the 'Modern Synthesis' of 1935 – culminating in the discovery of the double helix by Watson, Crick et al, assuring us of the correctness of 'primacy of DNA theory'. Stimulation and challenge is currently fuelled by exciting nascent knowledge of epigenetic variations and Cairnsian 'adaptive mutations'. The work of Marcus Pembrey and Barry Keverne tracking human and animal variation back generationally describing how 'genomic imprinting' causes reversible heritable change from slight variations in the chromosomes of parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and parents to be. The purpose of this thesis is to put forward a new theme proposed neither by Lamarck or Darwin. We stand on the threshold of the first paradigm change for 150 years.

scholarly journals Non-trophic Functional Ecology of Vertebrate Teeth: A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 665-675
Author(s):  
Courtney E Gorman ◽  
C Darrin Hulsey
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Functional Ecology ◽  
Developmental Genetics ◽  
Ecological Diversity ◽  
Functional Importance ◽  
Substantial Role ◽  
History Of

Synopsis Teeth are critical to the functional ecology of vertebrate trophic abilities, but are also used for a diversity of other non-trophic tasks. Teeth can play a substantial role in how animals move, manipulate their environment, positively interact with conspecifics, antagonistically interact with other organisms, and sense the environment. We review these non-trophic functions in an attempt to place the utility of human and all other vertebrate dentitions in a more diverse framework that emphasizes an expanded view of the functional importance and ecological diversity of teeth. In light of the extensive understanding of the developmental genetics, trophic functions, and evolutionary history of teeth, comparative studies of vertebrate dentitions will continue to provide unique insights into multi-functionality, many-to-one mapping, and the evolution of novel abilities.

Protochordate body plan and the evolutionary role of larvae: old controversies resolved?

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 216-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thurston C Lacalli
Keyword(s):  
Body Plan ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
Axial Patterning ◽  
Chordate Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Thought ◽  
Full Complement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pelagic Organism ◽  
Evolutionary Role

Motile larvae figure prominently in a number of past scenarios for chordate and vertebrate origins, notably in the writings of Garstang, Berrill, and Romer. All three focus on the motile larva of a primitively sessile tunicate ancestor as a vertebrate progenitor; Garstang went further in deriving chordates themselves by neoteny from a yet more ancient larva of the dipleurula type. Yet the molecular evidence currently available shows convincingly that the part of the tunicate larva that persists to the adult expresses only a subset of the genes required to specify a complete bilaterian body axis, and essentially the same appears to be true of dipleurula larvae. Specifically, both are essentially heads without trunks. Hence, both are highly derived and as such are probably poor models for any real ancestor. A more convincing case can be made for a sequence of ancestral forms that throughout their evolution were active, motile organisms expressing a full complement of axial patterning genes. This implies a basal, ancestral form resembling modern enteropneusts, although a pelagic organism at a hemichordate level of complexity is also possible. A reassessment is thus required of the role played by adult and larval tunicates, and of larvae more generally, in chordate evolution. Tunicates need to be interpreted with caution, since the extreme degree of modification in the adult may have been accompanied by reductions to the larva. Dipleurula larvae may retain some ancestral features (e.g., of apical, oral, and anal organization), but are otherwise probably too specialized to be central players in chordate evolution. Garstang nevertheless remains a key figure in the history of evolutionary thought for his innovative ideas on the relation between ontogeny and phylogeny, and the way in which major innovations in morphology and body plan arise.

The Evolutions of Modernist Epic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Václav Paris
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Darwinism ◽  
Evolutionary Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolutionary Science ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Comparative Theory ◽  
Selection Of

Modernist epic is more interesting and diverse than we have supposed. As a radical form of national fiction, it appeared in many parts of the world in the early twentieth century. Reading a selection of works from the United States, England, Ireland, Czechoslovakia, and Brazil, The Evolutions of Modernist Epic develops a comparative theory of this genre and its global development. That development was, it argues, bound up with new ideas about biological evolution. During the first decades of the twentieth century—a period known, in the history of evolutionary science, as “the eclipse of Darwinism”—evolution’s significance was questioned, rethought, and ultimately confined to the Neo-Darwinist discourse with which we are familiar today. Epic fiction participated in, and was shaped by, this shift. Drawing on queer forms of sexuality to cultivate anti-heroic and non-progressive modes of telling the national story, the new epic contested reductive and reactionary forms of social Darwinism. The book describes how, in doing so, the genre asks us to revisit our assumptions about ethnolinguistics and organic nationalism. It also models how the history of evolutionary thought can provide a fresh basis for comparing diverse modernisms and their peculiar nativisms.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document