scholarly journals Universal rules of life: metabolic rates, biological times and the equal fitness paradigm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Burger ◽  
Chen Hou ◽  
Charles Hall ◽  
James Brown
Keyword(s):  
Structure And Function ◽  
The Other ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Synthetic Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Single Origin ◽  
The One ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
And Function ◽  
Dynamics Of Populations

Here we review and extend the equal fitness paradigm (EFP) as an important step in developing and testing a synthetic theory of ecology and evolution based on energy and metabolism. The EFP states that all organisms are equally fit at steady state, because they allocate the same quantity of energy, ~22.4 kJ/g/generation to production of offspring. On the one hand, the EFP may seem tautological, because equal fitness is necessary for the origin and persistence of biodiversity. On the other hand, the EFP reflects universal laws of life: how biological metabolism – the uptake, transformation and allocation of energy – links ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes across levels of organization from: i) structure and function of individual organisms, ii) life history and dynamics of populations, iii) interactions and coevolution of species in ecosystems. The physics and biology of metabolism have facilitated the evolution of millions of species with idiosyncratic anatomy, physiology, behavior and ecology but also with many shared traits and tradeoffs that reflect the single origin and universal rules of life.

scholarly journals Universal rules of life: metabolic rates, biological times and the equal fitness paradigm

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Robert Burger ◽  
Chen Hou ◽  
Charles A.S Hall ◽  
James H. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Structure And Function ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Synthetic Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Single Origin ◽  
The One ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
And Function ◽  
Dynamics Of Populations

AbstractHere we develop and extend the equal fitness paradigm (EFP) of (Brown et al. 2018) as an important step in developing and testing a synthetic theory of ecology and evolution based on energy and metabolism. The EFP states that all species are equally fit at steady state, because all species allocate the same quantity of energy, ∼22.4 kJ/g/generation to production of offspring. On the one hand, the EFP may seem tautological, because equal fitness across species is necessary for the origin and persistence of biodiversity. On the other hand, the EFP reflects universal laws of life: how biological metabolism – the uptake, transformation and allocation of energy – links ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes across levels of organization: from the structure and function of individual organisms, to the life history and dynamics of populations, to the coevolution of species in ecosystems. The physics and biology of metabolism have simultaneously facilitated the origin and maintenance of enormous biodiversity, so that the millions of species have idiosyncratic features of anatomy, physiology, behavior and ecology. However, there are universal constraints on biodiversity, so that all species share common features of metabolism that reflect the single origin and universal biophysical constraints of life.

More on the Hippodrome-Stadium of Caesarea Maritima: a response to the comments of Y. Porath

2003 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 456-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Patrich
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Near East ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moderate Size ◽  
Circus Maximus ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function ◽  
Definitive Form

The Herodian multi-purpose entertainment structure under discussion is the earliest and largest of its kind to have been entirely excavated, and it will have far-reaching implications for our knowledge of the development of stadia and hippodromes at the transition between the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. The study and interpretation of its remains therefore deserve care and attention before definitive interpretations are presented and become ‘set in stone’. Unfortunately, Y. Porath's preceding remarks suggest that he will not change his ideas on the identification of the building. However, the chronology which I presented in JRA 14, different from the one he offered in his preliminary report in The Roman and Byzantine Near East (JRA Suppl. 14,1995) 15-27, is not a focus of his objections, and that is encouraging.To name the structure a circus, as Porath is doing, reflects a misconception. A U-shaped entertainment structure of moderate size like this one is a stadium, not a circus. But we are dealing with a special kind of stadium, wider and provided with permanent carceres for chariot races, thereby adapted to serve as a hippodrome. Stadia, Greek in origin, underwent a profound evolution in structure and function during the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods. Conceiving stadia in their Classical Greek forms leads Porath to deny the affiliation of the Herodian structure to Hellenistic/Early Roman stadia. On the other hand, the Circus Maximus, the archetype of Roman circuses, attained its definitive form only under Trajan.

scholarly journals Estrogen-related Receptor β (ERRβ) – Renaissance Receptor or Receptor Renaissance?

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. nrs.14002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shailaja D. Divekar ◽  
Deanna M. Tiek ◽  
Aileen Fernandez ◽  
Rebecca B. Riggins
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Splicing ◽  
Nuclear Receptor ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
The Other ◽  
Orphan Nuclear Receptor ◽  
Nuclear Receptor Superfamily ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Estrogen Related Receptor

Estrogen-related receptors (ERRs) are founding members of the orphan nuclear receptor (ONR) subgroup of the nuclear receptor superfamily. Twenty-seven years of study have yet to identify cognate ligands for the ERRs, though they have firmly placed ERRα (ESRRA) and ERRγ (ESRRG) at the intersection of cellular metabolism and oncogenesis. The pace of discovery for novel functions of ERRβ (ESRRB), however, has until recently been somewhat slower than that of its family members. ERRβ has also been largely ignored in summaries and perspectives of the ONR literature. Here, we provide an overview of established and emerging knowledge of ERRβ in mouse, man, and other species, highlighting unique aspects of ERRβ biology that set it apart from the other two estrogen-related receptors, with a focus on the impact of alternative splicing on the structure and function of this receptor.

scholarly journals The essentialness of diachrony

Diacronia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisc Gafton
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Natural Entities ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function

Natural entities—plants and animals, on the one hand, society, language, and culture, on the other—emerge through an assiduous diachronic effort, respond to diachronically developed needs, exist and function diachronically. However, through the instruments at his disposal, man can only perceive and grasp the “fragment”, seizing it for a prolonged instant, which explains his objective tendency to segment the spatiotemporal reality according to his own proportions and abilities. Reality itself, however, cannot be subjected to the unnatural segregation of one of its own products and elements, and cannot be fully comprehended in any other way than how it exists: as a whole. At the end of the synchronic road, what offers comprehension and understanding of the ontologically-becoming whole is the path of the diachronic method.

mirror, a Drosophila homeobox gene in the Iroquois complex, is required for sensory organ and alula formation

Development ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 125 (7) ◽  
pp. 1217-1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.T. Kehl ◽  
K.O. Cho ◽  
K.W. Choi
Keyword(s):  
Protein Structure ◽  
Genetic Analysis ◽  
Genetic Map ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
Homeobox Gene ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
The Other ◽  
Complex Region ◽  
Sensory Bristles ◽  
And Function

The Drosophila notum, the dorsal body wall of the thorax, is subdivided genetically into longitudinal domains (Calleja, M., Moreno, E., Pelaz, S. and Morata, G. (1996) Science 274, 252–255). Two homeobox genes clustered in the iroquois complex, araucan and caupolican, regulate proneural genes and are required for development of sensory bristles in the lateral notum (Gomez-Skarmeta, J. L., del Corral, R. D., de la Calle-Mustienes, E., Ferres-Marco, D. and Modolell, J. (1996) Cell 85, 95–105). An iroquois-related homeobox gene, mirror, was recently isolated and is localized close to the iroquois complex region (McNeil, H., Yang, C.-H., Brodsky, M., Ungos, J. and Simon, M. A. (1997) Genes and Development 11, 1073–1082; this study). We show that mirror is required for the formation of the alula and a subset of sensory bristles in the lateral domain of the notum. Genetic analysis suggests that mirror and the other iroquois genes interact to form the alula as well as the sensory organs. Based on similarities between mirror and the iroquois genes in their genetic map positions, expression, protein structure and function, mirror is considered a new member of the iroquois complex and is involved in prepatterning sensory precursor cells in the lateral notum.

The heart as a functional unit

ESC CardioMed ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 76-81
Author(s):  
Philip J. Kilner ◽  
Sonya V. Babu-Narayan
Keyword(s):  
Functional Unit ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
And Function

This chapter and Chapter 3.6 address the interrelatedness of heart form, structure, and function. The principle of reciprocation between the alternate contractions of atrial and ventricular cavities is outlined, and it is explained how it is enhanced with the increased output of exercise by virtue of the directions of the forces associated with changes of momentum through the looped curvatures of the heart. The human heart’s sinuous paths of flow and its fully septated, four-chamber arrangement are features shared by the hearts of other mammals and the birds, which are also warm-blooded with relatively high cardiac outputs for high metabolic rates. These morphological features are not found among the hearts of the exothermic invertebrate phyla such as worms, arthropods, or molluscs. The possible evolutionary origins and potential functional advantages of cardiac septation for mammalian life are considered. This chapter addresses the interrelatedness of macroscopic structural morphodynamics with the fluid morphodynamics of passing blood streams while Chapter 3.6 considers the smaller-scale morphodynamics of myocardium in an attempt to convey a multiscale morphodynamic interpretation of the heart form, structure, and function.

Morphological evolution of the bivalvePtychomyathrough the Lower Cretaceous of Argentina

Paleobiology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-117
Author(s):  
Pablo S. Milla Carmona ◽  
Darío G. Lazo ◽  
Ignacio M. Soto
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Morphological Variation ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Upward Trend ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Upper Hauterivian ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Early Late

AbstractThe complex morphological evolution of the bivalvePtychomyathroughout the well-studied Agrio Formation in the Neuquén Basin (west-central Argentina, lower/upper Valanginian–lowest Barremian) constitutes an ideal opportunity to study evolutionary patterns and processes occurring at geological timescales. Ptychomyais represented in this unit by four species, the morphological variation of which needs to be temporally assessed to obtain a thorough picture of the evolution of the group. Here we use geometric morphometrics to measure variation in shell outline, ribbing pattern, and shell size in these species. We bracket the ages of our samples using a combination of ammonoid biostratigraphy and absolute ages and study the anagenetic pattern of evolution of each trait by means of paleontological time-series analysis and change tracking. We find that evolution inPtychomyais mostly speciational, as the majority of traits show stasis, with the exceptions of shell size inP. coihuicoensisand shell outline inP. windhauseni, which seem to evolve directionally toward larger and higher shells, respectively.Ptychomyadisplays changes in its average morphology and disparity, which are the result of a mixture of taxonomic turnover and mosaic evolution of traits. Pulses of speciation would have been triggered by ecological opportunity, as they occur during the recovery of shallow-burrowing bivalve faunas after dysoxic events affecting the basin. On the other hand, the presence of directional patterns of evolution inP. coihuicoensisandP. windhauseniseems to be the result of a general shallowing-upward trend observed in the basin during the upper Hauterivian–lowest Barremian, as opposed to the cyclical paleoenvironmental stability inferred for the early/late Valanginian–early Hauterivian, which would have prompted stasis inP. koeneniandP. esbelta.

The Molecular Mechanism of Photoinhibition — Facts and Fiction

1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Critchley
Keyword(s):  
Photosystem Ii ◽  
Molecular Mechanism ◽  
Functional Group ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
The Other ◽  
Proteolytic Degradation ◽  
Reaction Centre ◽  
Herbicide Binding ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
And Function

In this paper, the evidence supporting two different models for the molecular mechanism of photoinhibition is discussed. One hypothesis centres around the suggestion that photoinhibition is due to the loss of the herbicide-binding Dl polypeptide of photosystem II. The other model suggests that damage to a functional group in the reaction centre is the primary cause of photoinhibition. In order to put the apparent controversy into context, recent developments in our understanding of the structure and function of the photosystem II reaction centre are described. Interpretation and judgement of all available evidence suggest primary photoinhibitory damage to be incurred by the reaction-centre chlorophyll P680 destabilising the apoprotein(s) and eventually resulting in their proteolytic degradation and removal from the photosystem II complex and the thylakoid membrane.

Observations on the Structure and Function of Cephalic Skin Glands in Bandicoots (Marsupialia: Peramelidae).

1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
DM Stoddart
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Hair Shaft ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
The Other ◽  
Courtship Behaviour ◽  
Guard Hair ◽  
Skin Glands ◽  
Skin Gland ◽  
And Function

Bandicoots (Marsupialia : Peramelidae) of the genera Isoodon, Perameles and Macrotis possess either subauricular or interauricular cephalic skin gland complexes. The pig-footed bandicoot Chaeropus is the only genus apparently lacking cephalic skin glands. Skin gland complexes consist of enlarged sebaceous acini and sudoriferous tubules. though the latter are less apparent in Macrotis than the other genera. The surface of the gland complex has a pockmarked appearance with a small depression surrounding each guard hair shaft. The complex increases in activity very markedly during the breeding season in both sexes. but particularly in males. The most noticeable aspect of the pre-breeding hypertrophy is an expansion of the sebaceous element, which presses the sudoriferous element down into the deeper layers of the dermis. It is suggested that the pungent odour secreted by these complexes plays a calming and reassuring role in the courtship behaviour of these solitary and pugnacious small marsupials.

The alignment of form and function

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunstan Brown ◽  
Carole Tiberius ◽  
Greville G. Corbett
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Frequency Information ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Frequent Form ◽  
Single Function ◽  
The One ◽  
Default Rules ◽  
And Function

This paper analyses constraints on inflectional syncretism and inflectional allomorphy using frequency information. Syncretism arises where one form is associated with more than one function, whereas inflectional allomorphy occurs where there is more than one inflectional class, and a single function is associated with two or more forms. If high frequency is associated with more differentiation on both sides, we expect, on the one hand, that a frequent function will have a high number of forms and, on the other, that a frequent form will have a high number of functions. Our study focuses on Russian nominals, in particular nouns, which exhibit both syncretism and inflectional allomorphy. We find that there is a relationship between frequency and differentiation, but that it is not exceptionless, and that the exceptions can be understood in terms of the use of referrals as default rules.

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