Evolutionary Theory: A Hierarchical Perspective
Evolutionary Theory: A Hierarchical Perspective
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Abstract
The hierarchical approach to evolution, emerged since the 1980s at the crossroads of paleobiology, genetics, and developmental biology, has grown into a unifying perspective on the natural world and today offers an operational framework to understand the way complex biological systems work and evolve. This volume, written by a multidisciplinary group of authoritative contributors, provides an integrated, comprehensive, cutting-edge introduction to the hierarchy theory of evolution. Part 1 clarifies the kinds of hierarchies, levels and relations that the hierarchical approach has outlined over decades of theoretical work. These foundational, terminological and epistemological issues lead to Part 2, devoted to exploring several evolutionary scales and their interactions, from genes and genomes, to organismal phenotype and development, to natural selection and individuality at multiple scales, to the evolving biosphere. Part 3 illustrates theoretically and empirically the interactions between the two main hierarchies of the theory – the ecological or economic hierarchy and the evolutionary or genealogical hierarchy – especially at macroevolutionary scale. The dual hierarchical framework re-conceptualizes pivotal notions such as speciation, niche, stasis and community, and provides insights into the macroevolutionary role of humanity. The editors, including Niles Eldredge one of the founders of hierarchy theory, guide the reader with introductions and linking sections to understand the internal logic and the historical importance of the hierarchical perspective, and its advantages compared to other unifying proposals in evolutionary biology. The hierarchical evolutionary theory is to be studied as a candidate research programme where different approaches and models can find their reciprocal relevance.
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Front Matter
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Introduction
The Checkered Career of Hierarchical Thinking in Evolutionary Biology
Niles Eldredge
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Part 1 Hierarchy Theory of Evolution
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General Principles of Biological Hierarchical Systems
Ilya Tëmkin andEmanuele Serrelli
- Summaries for Part 1
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1
Pattern versus Process and Hierarchies: Revisiting Eternal Metaphors in Macroevolutionary Theory
Bruce S. Lieberman
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2
Lineages and Systems: A Conceptual Discontinuity in Biological Hierarchies
Gustavo Caponi
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3
Biological Organization from a Hierarchical Perspective: Articulation of Concepts and Interlevel Relation
Jon Umerez
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4
Hierarchy: The Source of Teleology in Evolution
Daniel W. McShea
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5
Three Approaches to the Teleological and Normative Aspects of Ecological Functions
Gregory J. Cooper and others
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General Principles of Biological Hierarchical Systems
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Part 2 Hierarchical Dynamics: Process Integration across Levels
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Information and Energy in Biological Hierarchical Systems
Ilya Tëmkin andEmanuele Serrelli
- Summaries for Part 2
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Why Genomics Needs Multilevel Evolutionary Theory
T. Ryan Gregory and others
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7
Revisiting the Phenotypic Hierarchy in Hierarchy Theory
Silvia Caianiello
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Multilevel Selection in a Broader Hierarchical Perspective
Telmo Pievani andAndrea Parravicini
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9
Systems Emergence: The Origin of Individuals in Biological and Biocultural Evolution
Mihaela Pavličev and others
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Information and Energy in Biological Hierarchical Systems
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Part 3 Biological Hierarchies and Macroevolutionary Patterns
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Ecology and Evolution: Neither Separate nor Merged
Emanuele Serrelli andIlya Tëmkin
- Summaries for Part 3
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10
Unification of Macroevolutionary Theory: Biologic Hierarchies, Consonance, and the Possibility of Connecting the Dots
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11
Coming to Terms with Tempo and Mode: Speciation, Anagenesis, and Assessing Relative Frequencies in Macroevolution
Warren D. Allmon
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12
Niche Conservatism, Tracking, and Ecological Stasis: A Hierarchical Perspective
Carlton E. Brett and others
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13
The Stability of Ecological Communities as an Agent of Evolutionary Selection: Evidence from the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction
Peter D. Roopnarine andKenneth D. Angielczyk
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14
Hierarchy Theory in the Anthropocene: Biocultural Homogenization, Urban Ecosystems, and Other Emerging Dynamics
Michael L. McKinney
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Conclusion
Hierarchy Theory and the Extended Synthesis Debate
Telmo Pievani
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Ecology and Evolution: Neither Separate nor Merged
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End Matter
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