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Evolutionary Theory

A Hierarchical Perspective

Edited by Niles Eldredge, Telmo Pievani, Emanuele Serrelli, and Ilya Temkin

Evolutionary Theory

Edited by Niles Eldredge, Telmo Pievani, Emanuele Serrelli, and Ilya Temkin

384 pages | 12 halftones, 15 line drawings, 4 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2016
Paper $35.00 ISBN: 9780226426228 Published September 2016
E-book $10.00 to $34.99 About E-books ISBN: 9780226426198 Published September 2016
The natural world is infinitely complex and hierarchically structured, with smaller units forming the components of progressively larger systems: molecules make up cells, cells comprise tissues and organs that are, in turn, parts of individual organisms, which are united into populations and integrated into yet more encompassing ecosystems. In the face of such awe-inspiring complexity, there is a need for a comprehensive, non-reductionist evolutionary theory. Having emerged at the crossroads of paleobiology, genetics, and developmental biology, the hierarchical approach to evolution provides a unifying perspective on the natural world and offers an operational framework for scientists seeking to understand the way complex biological systems work and evolve.

Coedited by one of the founders of hierarchy theory and featuring a diverse and renowned group of contributors, this volume provides an integrated, comprehensive, cutting-edge introduction to the hierarchy theory of evolution. From sweeping historical reviews to philosophical pieces, theoretical essays, and strictly empirical chapters, it reveals hierarchy theory as a vibrant field of scientific enterprise that holds promise for unification across the life sciences and offers new venues of empirical and theoretical research. Stretching from molecules to the biosphere, hierarchy theory aims to provide an all-encompassing understanding of evolution and—with this first collection devoted entirely to the concept—will help make transparent the fundamental patterns that propel living systems.
Contents
Introduction The Checkered Career of Hierarchical Thinking in Evolutionary Biology
Niles Eldredge
Part 1 Hierarchy Theory of Evolution
Linking Section General Principles of Biological Hierarchical Systems
Ilya Tëmkin and Emanuele Serrelli
Chapter 1 Pattern versus Process and Hierarchies: Revisiting Eternal Metaphors in Macroevolutionary Theory
Bruce S. Lieberman
Chapter 2 Lineages and Systems: A Conceptual Discontinuity in Biological Hierarchies
Gustavo Caponi
Chapter 3 Biological Organization from a Hierarchical Perspective: Articulation of Concepts and Interlevel Relation
Jon Umerez
Chapter 4 Hierarchy: The Source of Teleology in Evolution
Daniel W. McShea
Chapter 5 Three Approaches to the Teleological and Normative Aspects of Ecological Functions
Gregory J. Cooper, Charbel N. El-Hani, and Nei F. Nunes-Neto
Part 2 Hierarchical Dynamics: Process Integration across Levels
Linking Section Information and Energy in Biological Hierarchical Systems
Ilya Tëmkin and Emanuele Serrelli
Chapter 6 Why Genomics Needs Multilevel Evolutionary Theory
T. Ryan Gregory, Tyler A. Elliott, and Stefan Linquist
Chapter 7 Revisiting the Phenotypic Hierarchy in Hierarchy Theory
Silvia Caianiello
Chapter 8 Multilevel Selection in a Broader Hierarchical Perspective
Telmo Pievani and Andrea Parravicini
Chapter 9 Systems Emergence: The Origin of Individuals in Biological and Biocultural Evolution
Mihaela Pavličev, Richard O. Prum, Gary Tomlinson, and Günter P. Wagner
Part 3 Biological Hierarchies and Macroevolutionary Patterns
Linking Section Ecology and Evolution: Neither Separate nor Merged
Emanuele Serrelli and Ilya Tëmkin
Chapter 10 Unification of Macroevolutionary Theory: Biologic Hierarchies, Consonance, and the Possibility of Connecting the Dots
William Miller III
Chapter 11 Coming to Terms with Tempo and Mode: Speciation, Anagenesis, and Assessing Relative Frequencies in Macroevolution
Warren D. Allmon
Chapter 12 Niche Conservatism, Tracking, and Ecological Stasis: A Hierarchical Perspective
Carlton E. Brett, Andrew Zaffos, and Arnold I. Miller
Chapter 13 The Stability of Ecological Communities as an Agent of Evolutionary Selection: Evidence from the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction
Peter D. Roopnarine and Kenneth D. Angielczyk
Chapter 14 Hierarchy Theory in the Anthropocene: Biocultural Homogenization, Urban Ecosystems, and Other Emerging Dynamics
Michael L. McKinney
Conclusion Hierarchy Theory and the Extended Synthesis Debate
Telmo Pievani
List of Contributors
Index
 
Review Quotes
Bengt Autzen, University of Bristol | Science
“Evolutionary Theory provides a contemporary selection of historical, conceptual, and empirical essays on the hierarchy theory of evolution that Eldredge and his collaborators hope will bring about renewed enthusiasm for the theory in evolutionary biology circles. . . . Both the range of topics covered in this volume and the diversity of contributors are impressive. As such, it serves an important need at a time when highly specialized journals rarely provide the opportunity for biologists and philosophers to jointly engage with conceptual issues in biology.”
Choice

"This excellently "integrated" and edited volume of 14 chapters (plus introductory and concluding chapters) is the essential resource for any individual seeking to understand the central role that hierarchical thinking has played over the past several centuries in efforts to understand relationships between and change within and among organisms. With a strong emphasis on speciation and unifying theoretical and philosophical perspectives, these chapters combine the ecological (spatial, system, "niche construction," and dynamic relationships) and genealogical (temporal, lineage, "niche evolution," and emergent properties) aspects of evolution so often studied in isolation. Nested hierarchies of individuals, species, niches, populations, and communities interacting causally with genetic and epigenetic developmental and ecological processes are used to understand dichotomies such as macro and microevolution, tempo and mode, and pattern and process in evolution. Many chapters, including the introduction, highlight these themes in a historical context, an approach that integrates the chapters to reveal just how deeply rooted hierarchical perspectives are in the quest to understand organismal relationships and evolution. Dual categories, such as evolution and development, pattern and process, and nature and nurture begin to fall away in the light of the approach expounded in this illuminating volume. Essential."

Ian Tattersall, American Museum of Natural History | author of "The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack and Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution"
“All of the topics examined here ultimately emanate from the longstanding desire of distinguished evolutionary theoretician Eldredge to integrate what he sees as two independent hierarchies that impinge on evolution process: the genealogical hierarchy of genes, demes, species, and higher taxa, and the ecological hierarchy of individuals, populations, and communities. It is this integrative focus, viewed from a variety of perspectives, that gives the book its distinctive form. Diverse as the chapters are, linking commentaries help to make this perhaps the best-integrated edited volume I have seen. It is a conceptually homogeneous, truly unusual work that represents the state of the art in the realm of hierarchy-driven evolutionary theory and will move this field ahead in a significant way.”
Alicia Juarrero, Prince George’s Community College, emerita | author of "Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System"
“The editors of Evolutionary Theory are all respected scholars with important track records as advocates of an understanding of evolution that does not conform to the standard, received version—the so-called Evolutionary or Modern Synthesis. The central point of disagreement between the two camps turns on the role of natural selection: while neither denies its role, the editors of and contributors to this volume consider that it is not the only factor that plays a role in speciation—especially the origin of species. Clear and readable, chapters explore themes of information, integration, organization, mereology, context, time—and the constraints responsible for bringing hierarchies into being and keeping them in existence while allowing them to change. The crucial significance of these conceptual issues, and how they are made manifest in biology, development, and evolution, can no longer be ignored.”

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