The Evolution Of Adaptive Systems - Brock James-P

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Résumé :
The Evolution of Adaptive Systems is the first to radically rework the theory of evolution. Rather than merely amplifying the original Darwinian evolutionary model, it encompasses it within a more dynamic concept - effectively merging the Darwinian theory with that other school of evolutionary thought, structuralism. By placing the theory of evolution within this framework, it resolves the conflict between the Neo-Darwinian school that evolution occurs through selection of random mutations, and the structuralist view that evolution occurs by unfolding of genetic patterns via a process of self organization. By doing so, it integrates classical and contemporary genetics within the context of adaptive systems theory. Key Features: * Integrates the conflicting Darwinian and "Structuralist" theories of evolution into a single unified theory. * Distinguishes clearly between the operation of selection - in the context of on going adaptive equilibrium - as against true evolutionary change. * Synthesizes the dichotomy shown to exist between fabricational and adaptive paradigms of development. * Discusses the divergent views of how speciation is linked to patterns of major evolutionary change. * Presents a fresh critical analysis of the methodology of phylogeny reconstruction.

Biographie:
Dr./James P. Brock is presently Keeper of Natural History at the Horniman Museum in London. A Fellow of both the Linnean Society of London and the Zoological Society of London, he developed his primary research interest, evolutionary theory, with a Ph.D. from Imperial College, after earlier posts working at the University Museums of Glasgow and Oxford where he explored related interests in insect taxonomy before expanding into the theory and practice of phylogenetics. Dr. Brock has published a number of seminal papers and book contributions, and continues to pursue long term interests in evolutionary theory - evolution in higher groups in Lepidoptera Ditrysia, and taxonomy of parasitic wasps, among others.

Sommaire:
["Adaptation and the adaptive system","Spatial structure of the adaptive niche","Dynamics of the adaptive niche","The selection interface","Adaptive equilibrium","The cladogenetic selection interface","Adaptive potential, biophysical paradigms, and the selectional attractor","Evolutionary mode","Structural paradigms of development","Adaptive capacity and potential in the mechanisms of development","Developmental genetics, adaptive capacity, and potential","Mutation and realization of adaptive potential","Chromosome structure and adaptive topography","Evolutionary impediments and the adaptive substrate for evolutionary change","Darwinian versus Thompsonian factors in evolution","The morphogenetic topology of evolutionary change","Architecture of the phyletic lineage","Evolutionary rate and episodic evolution","Stasis and the adaptive substrate","Extinction-lineage to clade","From lineage to taxon."]