Private and collective interests; conflicts and solutions: the central theme of current thinking in evolutionary biology

Zoology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 104 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 184-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Wieser
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Current Thinking

From Sin to Disease: Differences and Similarities between past and Current Conceptions of Chronic Drunkenness

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ferentzy
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Current Conception ◽  
Current Thinking

The disease conception of alcoholism, as a unified body of ideas, is barely over 200 years old despite the presence of specific tenets in older texts. Scrutiny of preindustrial sermons wherein drunkenness is identified as compulsive and progressive reveals crucial distinctions between past and current thinking on the matter: first, abstinence from drink is not the preferred solution; second, unlike today, compulsion is not a central theme even if it is mentioned; third, other sins such as fornication and even swearing are treated as out of control—and progressive—in much the same manner as drunkenness. The latter reflected a broader conception of sin wherein drunkenness was a subset, simply one example among many, pointing to a possible prototype for the more inclusive conception of dependency—involving behaviors such as gambling—that has become popular over the last 20 years. The current conception, however, involves closer scrutiny of conflicts within the self along with a far greater emphasis on compulsion.

Is cultivating “biological blindness” a viable route to understanding behavioral phenomena?

2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Olsson ◽  
Ame Öhman
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
Behavioral Phenomena

AbstractMitchell et al. propose that associative learning in humans and other animals requires the formation of propositions by means of conscious and controlled reasoning. This approach neglects important aspects of current thinking in evolutionary biology and neuroscience that support the claim that learning, here exemplified by fear learning, neither needs to be conscious nor controlled.

scholarly journals Ecological specificity of the metagenome in a set of lower termite species supports contribution of the microbiome to adaptation of the host

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Waidele ◽  
Judith Korb ◽  
Christian R. Voolstra ◽  
Franck Dedeine ◽  
Fabian Staubach
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Host Adaptation ◽  
Lignocellulose Degradation ◽  
Atmospheric Nitrogen ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Termite Species ◽  
Limiting Nutrients ◽  
Ecological Specificity ◽  
Life Type ◽  
Food Substrate

Abstract Background Elucidating the interplay between hosts and their microbiomes in ecological adaptation has become a central theme in evolutionary biology. A textbook example of microbiome-mediated adaptation is the adaptation of lower termites to a wood-based diet, as they depend on their gut microbiome to digest wood. Lower termites have further adapted to different life types. Termites of the wood-dwelling life type never leave their nests and feed on a uniform diet. Termites of the foraging life type forage for food outside the nest and have access to other nutrients. Here we sought to investigate whether the microbiome that is involved in food substrate breakdown and nutrient acquisition might contribute to adaptation to these dietary differences. We reasoned that this should leave ecological imprints on the microbiome. Results We investigated the protist and bacterial microbiomes of a total of 29 replicate colonies from five termite species, covering both life types, using metagenomic shotgun sequencing. The microbiome of wood-dwelling species with a uniform wood diet was enriched for genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Furthermore, metagenomic patterns suggest that the microbiome of wood-dwelling species relied primarily on direct fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, while the microbiome of foraging species entailed the necessary pathways to utilize nitrogen in the form of nitrate for example from soil. Conclusion Our findings are consistent with the notion that the microbiome of wood-dwelling species bears an imprint of its specialization on degrading a uniform wood diet, while the microbiome of the foraging species might reflect its adaption to access growth limiting nutrients from more diverse sources. This supports the idea that specific subsets of functions encoded by the microbiome can contribute to host adaptation.

Gene trees: A powerful tool for exploring the evolutionary biology of species and speciation

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan R. Templeton ◽  
Stephanie D. Maskas ◽  
Mitchell B. Cruzan
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Gene Trees

Current Thinking About the Later Portion of the Life Course

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-148
Author(s):  
Marion Perlmutter
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
The Life Course

Darwin's two competing phylogenetic trees: marsupials as ancestors or sister taxa?

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
The Other ◽  
Charles Lyell ◽  
Single Origin ◽  
Molecular Studies ◽  
Richard Owen ◽  
First Time

Studies of the origin and diversification of major groups of plants and animals are contentious topics in current evolutionary biology. This includes the study of the timing and relationships of the two major clades of extant mammals – marsupials and placentals. Molecular studies concerned with marsupial and placental origin and diversification can be at odds with the fossil record. Such studies are, however, not a recent phenomenon. Over 150 years ago Charles Darwin weighed two alternative views on the origin of marsupials and placentals. Less than a year after the publication of On the origin of species, Darwin outlined these in a letter to Charles Lyell dated 23 September 1860. The letter concluded with two competing phylogenetic diagrams. One showed marsupials as ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals, whereas the other showed a non-marsupial, non-placental as being ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals. These two diagrams are published here for the first time. These are the only such competing phylogenetic diagrams that Darwin is known to have produced. In addition to examining the question of mammalian origins in this letter and in other manuscript notes discussed here, Darwin confronted the broader issue as to whether major groups of animals had a single origin (monophyly) or were the result of “continuous creation” as advocated for some groups by Richard Owen. Charles Lyell had held similar views to those of Owen, but it is clear from correspondence with Darwin that he was beginning to accept the idea of monophyly of major groups.

‘Are we on the same wavelength?’ International nurses and the process of confronting and adjusting to clinical communication in Australia

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonia Crawford ◽  
Peter Roger ◽  
Sally Candlin
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Care Setting ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
The Other ◽  
Culturally And Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Clinical Communication ◽  
Professional Experiences

Effective communication skills are important in the health care setting in order to develop rapport and trust with patients, provide reassurance, assess patients effectively and provide education in a way that patients easily understand (Candlin and Candlin, 2003). However with many nurses from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds being recruited to fill the workforce shortfall in Australia, communication across cultures with the potential for miscommunication and ensuing risks to patient safety has gained increasing focus in recent years (Shakya and Horsefall, 2000; Chiang and Crickmore, 2009). This paper reports on the first phase of a study that examines intercultural nurse patient communication from the perspective of four Registered Nurses from CALD backgrounds working in Australia. Five interrelating themes that were derived from thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews are discussed. The central theme of ‘adjustment’ was identified as fundamental to the experiences of the RNs and this theme interrelated with each of the other themes that emerged: professional experiences with communication, ways of showing respect, displaying empathy, and vulnerability.

Food Matters

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Martha Finch
Keyword(s):  
Food Studies ◽  
Religious Group ◽  
Cultural Group ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Common Food ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Sensory Effects

Each week in my religion and food course during Spring 2016, a student or I brought foods related to the religious group we were studying into the classroom for all to try. With the first dish they tasted, students asked, “So what makes this food ‘religious’?” This question formed the central theme throughout the semester as we wrestled with what religion is in the context of food and foodways: the network of material aspects (food itself; practices like growing, distributing, cooking, eating; sensory experiences such as taste) and conceptual aspects (ideas, meanings, metaphors, symbols, values such as taste) of food in a particular social/cultural group. The familiar and unfamiliar foods elicited visceral reactions from students. This essay argues that paying closer attention to religion as an independent interpretive category and especially to food itself, as a material agent eliciting powerful sensory effects that precede religious ideas and enable those ideas, provides an alternative to dependence on common food studies’ interpretive categories and on the Protestant-influenced focus on food as abstracted symbol or metaphor of ‘meaning.’

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