Serial Homology as a Challenge to Evolutionary Theory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Serial Homology ◽  
The Core ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Development And Evolution

The problem of the repeated parts of organisms was at the center of the biological sciences as early as the first decades of the 19th century. Some concepts and theories (e.g., serial homology, unity of plan, or colonial theory) introduced in order to explain the similarity as well as the differences between the repeated structures of an organism were reused throughout the 19th and the 20th century, in spite of the fundamental changes during this long period that saw the diffusion of the evolutionary theory, the rise of experimental approaches, and the emergence of new fields and disciplines. Interestingly, this conceptual heritage was at the core of any attempt to unify the problems of inheritance, development, and evolution, in particular in the last decades, with the rise of “evo-devo.” This chapter examines the conditions of this theoretical continuity and the challenges it brings out for the current evolutionary sciences.

scholarly journals Evolution and development: some insights from evolutionary theory

2001 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEAN R. DAVID
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Genetics ◽  
Developmental Genetics ◽  
Homologous Genes ◽  
Evolution And Development ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
Why Questions ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Novel Structures

Developmental biology and evolutionary biology are both mature integrative disciplines which started in the 19th century and then followed parallel and independent scientific pathways. Recently, a genetical component has stepped into both disciplines (developmental genetics and evolutionary genetics) pointing out the need for future convergent maturation. Indeed, the Evo-Devo approach is becoming popular among developmental biologists, based on the facts that distant groups share a common ancestry, that precise phylogenies can be worked out and that homologous genes often play similar roles during the development of very different organisms. In this essay, I try to show that the real future of Evo-Devo thinking is still broader. The evolutionary theory is a set of diverse concepts which can and should be used in any biological field. Evolutionary thinking trains to ask « why » questions and to provide logical and plausible answers. It can shed some light on a diversity of general problems such as how to distinguish homologies from analogies, the costs and benefits of multicellularity, the origin of novel structures (e.g. the head), or the evolution of sexual reproduction. In the next decade, we may expect a progressive convergence between developmental genetics and quantitative genetics.

Evo-Devo and the Structure(s) of Evolutionary Theory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan C. Love
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Mechanistic Explanation ◽  
Evolutionary Developmental Biology ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Adaptive Function ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Central Location ◽  
Developmental Form ◽  
Evo Devo

Many researchers have argued that evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) constitutes a challenge to standard evolutionary theory, requiring the explicit inclusion of developmental processes that generate variation and attention to organismal form (rather than adaptive function). An analysis of these developmental-form challenges indicates that the primary concern is not the inclusion of specific content but the epistemic organization or structure of evolutionary theory. Proponents of developmental-form challenges favor moving their considerations to a more central location in evolutionary theorizing, in part because of a commitment to the value of mechanistic explanation. This chapter argues there are multiple legitimate structures for evolutionary theory, instead of a single, overarching or canonical organization, and different theory presentations can be understood as idealizations that serve different investigative and explanatory goals in evolutionary inquiry.

The “core principles” of physiology: what should students understand?

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Michael ◽  
Harold Modell ◽  
Jenny McFarland ◽  
William Cliff
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
The Core ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Constituent Component ◽  
Thinking Tools ◽  
Student Attention

The explosion of knowledge in all of the biological sciences, and specifically in physiology, has created a growing problem for educators. There is more to know than students can possibly learn. Thus, difficult choices have to be made about what we expect students to master. One approach to making the needed decisions is to consider those “core principles” that provide the thinking tools for understanding all biological phenomena. We identified a list of “core principles” that appear to apply to all aspects of physiology and unpacked them into their constituent component ideas. While such a list does not define the content for a physiology course, it does provide a guideline for selecting the topics on which to focus student attention. This list of “core principles” also offers a starting point for developing an assessment instrument to be used in determining if students have mastered the important unifying ideas of physiology.

The Obligation to Tear Through the Veil: An Analysis and Transformation of Mankind’s Insufficient Complacency Through the Novels of Jenny Offill

Meliora ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Toole
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Nuclear Family ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Clear Picture ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Evolutionary Aspects

This thesis explores the ways in which we as humans are alienated by the fundamental social structures of our world and how the novels of Jenny Offill offer a possible remedy. With a specific focus on the psychological and evolutionary aspects of womanhood and motherhood, this text attempts to illustrate the ways in which these novels address the imposing weight of such fundamental structures in the 21st century. Through an analysis of the nuclear family, this thesis examines the debilitating and profound existence of women, and more specifically, mothers. Offill’s novels present a profoundly clear picture of the modern world as it depicts the reality and ramifications of psychoanalytic and evolutionary theory. This work demonstrates how Offill’s texts attempt to remedy the core dissonance of our binary-laden human existence with clarity and realization rather than acceptance of an oversimplified past and a debilitating future.

scholarly journals Mantle Rayleigh waves from the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952*

1954 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-479
Author(s):  
Maurice Ewing ◽  
Frank Press
Keyword(s):  
Internal Friction ◽  
Rayleigh Waves ◽  
Shear Velocity ◽  
Velocity Curve ◽  
The Core ◽  
Long Period ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Dispersion Data ◽  
Kamchatka Earthquake

Abstract Mantle Rayleigh waves from the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952, are analyzed. The new Palisades long-period vertical seismograph recorded orders R6–R15, the corresponding paths involving up to seven complete passages around the earth. The dispersion data for periods below 400 sec. are in excellent agreement with earlier results and can be explained in terms of the known increase of shear velocity with depth in the mantle. Data for periods 400-480 sec. indicate a tendency for the group velocity curve to level off, suggesting that these long waves are influenced by a low or vanishing shear velocity in the core. Deduction of internal friction in the mantle from wave absorption gives a value 1/Q = 370 × 10−5 for periods 250-350 sec. This is a little over half the value reported earlier for periods 140-215 sec.

scholarly journals Neuromolecular Underpinnings of Negative Cognitive Bias in Depression

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3157
Author(s):  
Karolina Noworyta ◽  
Agata Cieslik ◽  
Rafal Rygula
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Depressive Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Judgment Bias ◽  
Cognitive Correlates ◽  
The Core ◽  
Pharmacological Challenge ◽  
Treatment Of Depression ◽  
Abnormal Response ◽  
Experimental Approaches

This selective review aims to summarize the recent advances in understanding the neuromolecular underpinnings of biased cognition in depressive disorder. We begin by considering the cognitive correlates of depressed mood and the key brain systems implicated in its development. We then review the core findings across two domains of biased cognitive function in depression: pessimistic judgment bias and abnormal response to negative feedback. In considering their underlying substrates, we focus on the neurochemical mechanisms identified by genetic, molecular and pharmacological challenge studies. We conclude by discussing experimental approaches to the treatment of depression, which are derived largely from an improved understanding of its cognitive substrates.

scholarly journals Kaama-taguste udmurtide sügispalvus: rituaali etnograafiline kirjeldus välitööde põhjal

2018 ◽  
pp. 102-115
Author(s):  
Eva Toulouze
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
Close Range ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Village ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Eastern Udmurt autumn rituals: An ethnographic description based on fieldwork There is a good amount of literature about Eastern Udmurt religious practice, particularly under its collective form of village rituals, as the Eastern Udmurt have retained much of their ethnic religion: their ancestors left their villages in the core Udmurt territory, now Udmurtia, as they wanted to go on living according to their customs, threatened by forceful Evangelisation. While many spectacular features such as the village ceremonies have drawn scholarly attention since the 19th century, the Eastern Udmurt religious practice encompasses also more modest rituals at the family level, as for example commemorations of the dead, Spring and Autumn ceremonies. Literature about the latter is quite reduced, as is it merely mentioned both in older and more recent works. This article is based on the author's fieldwork in 2017 and presents the ceremonies in three different families living in different villages of the Tatyshly district of Bashkortostan. It allows us to compare them and to understand the core of the ritual: it is implemented in the family circle, with the participation of a close range of kin, and encompasses both porridge eating and praying. It can at least give an idea of the living practice of this ritual in today's Eastern Udmurt villages. This depends widely on the age of the main organisers, on their occupations: older retired people will organise more traditional rituals than younger, employed Udmurts. Further research will ascertain how much of this tradition is still alive in other districts and in other places.

scholarly journals From Pausanias to Baedeker and Trip Advisor: Textual proto-tourism and the engendering of tourism distribution channels

Turyzm ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Vicky Katsoni ◽  
Anna Fyta
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Digital Storytelling ◽  
Distribution Channels ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Travel Information ◽  
The Core ◽  
Textual Strategies ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Of Greece ◽  
The Way

The key aim of this article is to provide an interdisciplinary look at tourism and its diachronic textual threads bequeathed by the ‘proto-tourist’ texts of the Greek travel author Pausanias. Using the periegetic, travel texts from his voluminous Description of Greece (2nd century CE) as a springboard for our presentation, we intend to show how the textual strategies employed by Pausanias have been received and still remain at the core of contemporary series of travel guides first authored by Karl Baedeker (in the 19th century). After Baedeker, Pausanias’ textual travel tropes, as we will show, still inform the epistemology of modern-day tourism; the interaction of travel texts with travel information and distribution channels produces generic hybrids, and the ancient Greek travel authors have paved the way for the construction of networks, digital storytelling and global tourist platforms.

scholarly journals Tree crowns grow into self-similar shapes controlled by gravity and light sensing

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (142) ◽  
pp. 20170976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Duchemin ◽  
Christophe Eloy ◽  
Eric Badel ◽  
Bruno Moulia
Keyword(s):  
Tree Growth ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Tree Crown ◽  
Tree Crowns ◽  
Light Sensing ◽  
The Core ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Self Similar ◽  
Similar Solutions ◽  
Front Model

Plants have developed different tropisms: in particular, they reorient the growth of their branches towards the light (phototropism) or upwards (gravitropism). How these tropisms affect the shape of a tree crown remains unanswered. We address this question by developing a propagating front model of tree growth. Being length-free, this model leads to self-similar solutions after a long period of time, which are independent of the initial conditions. Varying the intensities of each tropism, different self-similar shapes emerge, including singular ones. Interestingly, these shapes bear similarities to existing tree species. It is concluded that the core of specific crown shapes in trees relies on the balance between tropisms.

The missing Eusarcus: generic relocation of Pucrolia minuta, with synonymic notes (Opiliones: Laniatores: Gonyleptidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4990 (3) ◽  
pp. 587-590
Author(s):  
LUIS E. ACOSTA ◽  
ELIÁN L. GUERRERO
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
Valid Species ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Brazilian Cerrado ◽  
Systematic Revision ◽  
The Core ◽  
The 19Th Century

The harvestmen family Gonyleptidae (Opiliones), the largest one in the Neotropics (Kury 2003), is astonishingly diverse in eastern South America. The species-rich genus Eusarcus Perty, 1833, is characteristic for this area. It is the second largest gonyleptid genus (Kury 2003; Hara & Pinto-da-Rocha 2010), with a long taxonomical history beginning in the 19th century, when Perty (1833) described the genus together with four species. The number of species increased gradually in the 20th century through the addition of new descriptions and the synonymies of several related genera, with the corresponding species transferals (Hara & Pinto-da-Rocha 2010). Eusarcus is a relatively well-studied taxon that has undergone a thorough systematic revision (Hara & Pinto-da-Rocha 2010). Currently the genus contains 40 valid species, some of them cave-dwellers, with 32 species inhabiting the Atlantic rainforest and Paraná semi-deciduous forests (Saraiva & DaSilva 2016; Santos Júnior et al. 2021). The remaining species are peripheral to the core geographic area and are found in the Brazilian Cerrado, in Paraguay, or in the “Pampas” grasslands of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil (Hara & Pinto-da-Rocha 2010).  

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