Evolution For Dummies

Книга Evolution For Dummies Evolution For DummiesКниги Биология Автор: Greg, PhD Krukonis, Tracy Barr Год издания: 2008 Формат: pdf Издат.:For Dummies Страниц: 362 Размер: 3 ISBN: 0470117737 Язык: Английский0 (голосов: 0) Оценка:Today, most colleges and universities offer evolutionary study as part of their biology curriculums. Evolution For Dummies will track a class in which evolution is taught and give an objective scientific view of the subject. This balanced guide explores the history and future of evolution, explaining the concepts and science behind it, offering case studies that support it, and comparing evolution with rival theories of creation, such as intelligent design. It also will identify the signs of evolution in the world around us and explain how this theory affects our everyday lives and the future to come. Evolution For Dummies® 3 Table of Contents 11 Introduction 21 About This Book 21 Conventions Used in This Book 22 What You’re Not to Read 22 Foolish Assumptions 23 How This Book Is Organized 23 Icons Used in This Book 26 Where to Go from Here 26 Part I What Evolution Is 27 Chapter 1 What Evolution Is and Why You Need to Know 29 Biological Evolution at a Glance 30 Darwin and His Big Ideas 33 The Study of Evolution, Post-Darwin 38 Applying Evolution Today 39 One Final Point: Just How Evolved Are You? 42 Chapter 2 The Science — Past and Present — of Evolution 43 Evolution: A Fact and a Theory 44 The Evidence of Evolution 47 The Scientific Foundation of Evolution by Natural Selection 49 Chapter 3 Getting into Your Genes: (Very) Basic Genetics 59 What Is Genetics? 59 DNA: A Molecule for Storing Genetic Information 60 Reading the Instructions: From DNA to RNA to Proteins 63 Getting Specific about Genes 67 Summing It All Up: Genomes 69 Passing It On: Sexual Reproduction and the Genome 73 Part II How Evolution Works 77 Chapter 4 Variation: A Key Requirement for Evolution 79 Understanding Variation 79 Where Variation Comes From: Mutations 83 Gene Frequency and the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium 88 Chapter 5 Natural Selection and Adaptations in Action 93 Natural versus Artificial Selection 94 Adaptation: Changes Resulting from Natural Selection 95 Run, Mouse, Run 100 Darwin’s and Grants’ Finches 102 Chapter 6 Random Evolution and Genetic Drift: Sometimes It’s All about Chance 105 Genetic Drift Defined 105 Wrapping Your Head Around Randomness 106 Situations in Which Drift Is Important 109 Genetic Drift in Action: When Big Populations Get Little 112 The Shifting-Balance Hypothesis: It’s What’s Wright 115 Chapter 7 Quantitative Genetics: When Many Genes Act at Once 119 Why Quantitative Genetics Is Important 120 Understanding Quantitative Traits 122 QTL mapping: Identifying what genes matter 123 Analyzing the Heritability of Quantitative Traits 124 Measuring the Strength of Selection 127 Chapter 8 Species and Speciation 131 Species and Speciation at a Glance 131 Going in Circles: Ring Species 133 The Components of Speciation 135 Types of Speciation 138 Islands: Good Places to Vacation and Speciate 143 A Species Concept for Bacteria 143 Chapter 9 Phylogenetics: Reconstructing the Tree of Life 145 Understanding the Importance of Phylogenetic Classification 145 Drawing the Tree of Life: Branching Patterns and Speciation 148 Reading Trees 149 Reconstructing Trees: A How To Guide 154 Reconstructing Trees: An Example 159 Seeing Phylogenetic Trees in Action 162 Part III What Evolution Does 165 Chapter 10 The Evolution of Life History 167 Evolution and the Diversity of Life Histories 168 ’Til Death Do Us Part: The Evolution of Life Span 169 The Trade-Off between Survival and Reproduction 173 Why Age? 185 Chapter 11 Units of Selection and the Evolution of Social Behavior 187 Inclusive Fitness and Kin Selection 187 Levels of Selection 190 The Evolution of Altruistic Social Systems 195 Chapter 12 Evolution and Sex 203 Sex Terms You Probably Thought You Knew 203 Sexual Selection: The Art of Picking a Mate 204 The Peacock’s Tail: Sexual Selection and Female Choice 205 Sexual Selection and Male-Male Competition 209 The Battle of the Sexes: Male-Female Conflict 212 Sex: It’s Expensive, So Why Bother? 215 Evolution of Separate Sexes and the 50-50 Sex Ratio 220 ‘Sex’ in Bacteria 223 Chapter 13 Co-evolution: The Evolution of Interacting Species 225 Co-evolution Defined 225 Interactions between Plants and Animals 230 Disease Systems: Parasitic Co-evolution 235 Chapter 14 Evo-Devo: The Evolution of Development 239 Defining Development: From Embryo to Adult 240 Key Ideas about Evo-Devo 244 Genes Responsible for Development: Hox Genes 249 Chapter 15 Molecular Evolution 253 My Genome’s Bigger than Your Genome! 254 The Whys and Wherefores of Non-coding DNA 258 Coding DNA: Changing the Number of Genes an Organism Has 260 The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution 263 Telling Time with Genes: The Molecular Clock 264 Part IV Evolution and Your World 269 Chapter 16 Human Evolution 271 The Origin of Homo Sapiens: Where We Came From 271 Evolution within Homo Sapiens 285 Chapter 17 The Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance 289 Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance in a Nutshell 290 Becoming Resistant to Antibiotics: A How-to Guide 292 The Battle against Antibiotic Resistance 297 Chapter 18 HIV: The Origin and Evolution of a Virus 303 What Viruses Are 304 What Is HIV? 306 The History of the HIV Epidemic 308 The Path and Evolution of HIV in the Patient 311 Other Interesting Facts about HIV 314 Using Evolution to Fight HIV 315 Chapter 19 Influenza: One Flu, Two Flu, Your Flu, Bird Flu 317 The Flu and Your Immune System 318 The Three Types of Influenza: A, B, C 319 The Evolution of Influenza A 320 Learning from the Past: Flu Pandemics 325 Fighting Back: The Art and Science of Making Flu Vaccines 328 Part V The Part of Tens 335 Chapter 20 Ten Fascinating Fossil Finds 337 Dinosaurs 337 Archaeopteryx 339 Wrangle Island Mammoths 340 Pterosaurs (Pterodactyls) 340 Trilobites 341 Tiktaalik Rosea 342 Hallucigenia and the Burgess Shale 343 Stromatolites 344 Microfossils 345 Amber 346 Chapter 21 Ten Amazing Adaptations 347 Different Kinds of Teeth 347 Sight: The Evolution of the Eye 348 Cave Blindness 349 Back to the Sea 350 And Back to the Land Again 351 Photosynthesis 352 Deep-Sea Thermal-Vent Organisms 352 Endosymbiosis 353 Vertebrate Flight 353 Trap-jaw Ants 354 Chapter 22 Ten Arguments against Evolution and Why They’re Wrong 355 It’s Only a Theory 355 It Violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics 356 It’s Been Proved Wrong ( by Scientists!) 356 It’s Completely Random 357 It Can’t Result in Big Changes 358 No Missing Link Means No Proof 358 It Can’t Account for Everything: Enter the Intelligent Designer 359 It Can’t Create Complex Structures 360 It Should Be Taught with ID in Science Class 361 It’s a Fringe Topic 362 It’s at Odds with Biblical Creation 363 Index 365 Today, most colleges and universities offer evolutionary study as part of their biology curriculums. Evolution For Dummies will track a class in which evolution is taught and give an objective scientific view of the subject. This balanced guide explores the history and future of evolution, explaining the concepts and science behind it, offering case studies that support it, and comparing evolution with rival theories of creation, such as intelligent design. It also will identify the signs of evolution in the world around us and explain how this theory affects our everyday lives and the future to come.