Evolutionary Biology -

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Résumé :
After volume 33, this book series was replaced by the journal Evolutionary Biology. Please visit www.springer.com/11692 for further information. This volume continues bringing to readers the findings of eminent evolutionary biologists and paleobiologists. Among the topics discussed in this book are the origin of the dermal skeleton in conodont chordates, patterns of nucleotide substitution and codon usage in plasmid DNA evolution, a model to explain phenotype stability in functional systems, and inter-island speciation of Hawaiian biota.

Sommaire:
1. Speciation Processes in the Adaptive Radiation of Hawaiian Plants and Animals.- The Geology of Hawaii and Biological Consequences.- Speciation in Hawaiian Plants.- Speciation in Hawaiian Animals.- Speciation Processes in Hawaii.- Summary.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 2. Codon Bias and the Context Dependency of Nucleotide Substitutions in the Evolution of Plastid DNA.- The Plastid Genome.- Codon Bias.- Mutation Dynamics.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 3. The Origin of the Mineral Skeleton in Chordates.- Architecture of Conodont Apparatuses.- Function of Conodont Apparatuses.- Growth and Function of Conodont Elements.- Conodont Element Morphogenesis.- Relationships of Yunnanozoon.- Paraconodonts and the Evolutionary Origin of the Conodont Apparatus.- Dickinsonia and the Ancestry of Chordates.- The Problem of Protoconodonts.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 4. Evolutionarily Stable Configurations: Functional Integration and the Evolution of Phenotypic Stability.- The Evolutionarily Stable Configuration: Overview.- Case-Study: Lingual Feeding in Iguanian Lizards.- The ESC: Characterization and Postulates.- Origin of an ESC.- Escaping from an ESC.- Character Analysis, Phylogenetic Patterns, and Comparative Methods.- A Brief Review of Relevant Concepts: Functional Integration and Internal Selection.- Developmental and Functional Constraint.- Problems.- Some General Implications of the ESC Concept.- Acknowledgments.- Appendix 1: Millikan's (1984) Proper Function.- Appendix 2: Character Evolution within an ESC.- References.