Evolutionary Ecology - Punctuated Equilibrium (Paperback)


Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Punctuated equilibrium is a theory in evolutionary biology which proposes that some sexually reproducing species will experience little evolutionary change for most of their geological history, remaining in an extended state called stasis. When evolution occurs, it is localized in rare, rapid events of branching speciation, called cladogenesis. Cladogenesis is the process by which species split into two distinct species, rather than one species gradually transforming into another. Thus, "punctuated equilibria is a model for discontinuous tempos of change (in) the process of speciation and the deployment of species in geological time." Punctuated equilibrium is commonly contrasted against the theory of phyletic gradualism, which states that evolution generally occurs uniformly and by the steady and gradual transformation of whole lineages (anagenesis). In this view, evolution is seen as generally smooth and continuous. In 1972, paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould published a landmark paper developing this theory and called it punctuated equilibria. Their paper built upon Ernst Mayr's theory of geographic speciation, I. Michael Lerner's theories of developmental and genetic homeostasis, as well as their own empirical research. Eldredge and Gould proposed that the degree of gradualism commonly attributed to Charles Darwin is virtually nonexistent in the fossil record, and that stasis dominates the history of most fossil species. Punctuated equilibrium originated as an extension of Ernst Mayr's concept of genetic revolutions by allopatric and especially peripatric speciation. Although much of the basic workings of the theory were proposed and identified by Mayr in 1954, historians of science generally recognize the 1972 paper by N... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=24980

R247

Or split into 4x interest-free payments of 25% on orders over R50
Learn more

Discovery Miles2470
Delivery AdviceOut of stock

Toggle WishListAdd to wish list
Review this Item

Product Description

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Punctuated equilibrium is a theory in evolutionary biology which proposes that some sexually reproducing species will experience little evolutionary change for most of their geological history, remaining in an extended state called stasis. When evolution occurs, it is localized in rare, rapid events of branching speciation, called cladogenesis. Cladogenesis is the process by which species split into two distinct species, rather than one species gradually transforming into another. Thus, "punctuated equilibria is a model for discontinuous tempos of change (in) the process of speciation and the deployment of species in geological time." Punctuated equilibrium is commonly contrasted against the theory of phyletic gradualism, which states that evolution generally occurs uniformly and by the steady and gradual transformation of whole lineages (anagenesis). In this view, evolution is seen as generally smooth and continuous. In 1972, paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould published a landmark paper developing this theory and called it punctuated equilibria. Their paper built upon Ernst Mayr's theory of geographic speciation, I. Michael Lerner's theories of developmental and genetic homeostasis, as well as their own empirical research. Eldredge and Gould proposed that the degree of gradualism commonly attributed to Charles Darwin is virtually nonexistent in the fossil record, and that stasis dominates the history of most fossil species. Punctuated equilibrium originated as an extension of Ernst Mayr's concept of genetic revolutions by allopatric and especially peripatric speciation. Although much of the basic workings of the theory were proposed and identified by Mayr in 1954, historians of science generally recognize the 1972 paper by N... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=24980

Customer Reviews

No reviews or ratings yet - be the first to create one!

Product Details

General

Imprint

Books + Company

Country of origin

United States

Release date

May 2010

Availability

Supplier out of stock. If you add this item to your wish list we will let you know when it becomes available.

First published

May 2010

Creators

Dimensions

152 x 229 x 2mm (L x W x T)

Format

Paperback - Trade

Pages

30

ISBN-13

978-1-156-27946-5

Barcode

9781156279465

Categories

LSN

1-156-27946-1



Trending On Loot