Harnessing evolution for more sustainable agriculture
As human populations grow and resources are depleted, agriculture will need to use land, water, and other resources more efficiently and without sacrificing long-term sustainability. Darwinian Agriculture presents an entirely new approach to these challenges, one that draws on the principles of evolution and natural selection. R. Ford Denison shows how both biotechnology and traditional plant breeding can use Darwinian insights to identify promising routes for crop genetic improvement and avoid costly dead ends. Denison explains why plant traits that have been genetically optimized by individual selection--such as photosynthesis and drought tolerance--are bad candidates for genetic improvement. Traits like plant height and leaf angle, which determine the collective performance of plant communities, offer more room for improvement. Agriculturalists can also benefit from more sophisticated comparisons among natural communities and from the study of wild species in the landscapes where they evolved. Darwinian Agriculture reveals why it is sometimes better to slow or even reverse evolutionary trends when they are inconsistent with our present goals, and how we can glean new ideas from natural selection's marvelous innovations in wild species.
Автор: Gianquitto Tina, Fisher Lydia Название: America`s Darwin: Darwinian Theory and U.S. Culture ISBN: 0820346756 ISBN-13(EAN): 9780820346755 Издательство: Mare Nostrum (Eurospan) Рейтинг: Цена: 4019.00 р. Наличие на складе: Есть у поставщика Поставка под заказ.
Описание: While much has been written about the impact of Darwin`s theories on US culture, and scholarly collections have been devoted to the science of evolution, few have addressed Darwin`s theories as a cultural force affecting US writers. This book fills this gap, featuring critical approaches that examine US textual responses to Darwin`s works.
Автор: Charles R. Ault, Jr. Название: Do Elephants Have Knees?: And Other Stories of Darwinian Origins ISBN: 1501704672 ISBN-13(EAN): 9781501704673 Издательство: Mare Nostrum (Eurospan) Рейтинг: Цена: 3505.00 р. Наличие на складе: Есть у поставщика Поставка под заказ.
Описание:
Thinking whimsically makes serious science accessible. That’s a message that should be taken to heart by all readers who want to learn about evolution. Do Elephants Have Knees? invites readers into serious appreciation of Darwinian histories by deploying the playful thinking found in children’s books. Charles R. Ault Jr. weds children’s literature to recent research in paleontology and evolutionary biology. Inquiring into the origin of origins stories, Ault presents three portraits of Charles Darwin—curious child, twentysomething adventurer, and elderly worm scientist. Essays focusing on the origins of tetrapods, elephants, whales, and birds explain fundamental Darwinian concepts (natural selection, for example) with examples of fossil history and comparative anatomy.
The imagery of the children’s story offers a way to remember and recreate scientific discoveries. By juxtaposing Darwin’s science with tales for children, Do Elephants Have Knees? underscores the importance of whimsical storytelling to the accomplishment of serious thinking. Charles Darwin mused about duck beaks and swimming bears as he imagined a pathway for the origin of baleen. A "bearduck" chimera may be a stretch, but the science linking not just cows but also whales to moose through shared ancestry has great merit. Teaching about shared ancestry may begin with attention to Bernard Wiseman’s Morris the Moose. Morris believes that cows and deer are fine examples of moose because they all have four legs and things on their heads. No whale antlers are known, but fossils of four-legged whales are. By calling attention to surprising and serendipitous echoes between children’s stories and challenging science, Ault demonstrates how playful thinking opens the doors to an understanding of evolutionary thought.
Название: Darwinian heritage ISBN: 0691604592 ISBN-13(EAN): 9780691604596 Издательство: Wiley Рейтинг: Цена: 26453.00 р. Наличие на складе: Есть у поставщика Поставка под заказ.
Описание: Representing the present rich state of historical work on Darwin and Darwinism, this volume of essays places the great theorist in the context of Victorian science. The book includes contributions by some of the most distinguished senior figures of Darwin scholarship and by leading younger scholars who have been transforming Darwinian studies. The
Автор: Richard G. Delisle Название: The Darwinian Tradition in Context ISBN: 3319887181 ISBN-13(EAN): 9783319887180 Издательство: Springer Рейтинг: Цена: 20962.00 р. Наличие на складе: Есть у поставщика Поставка под заказ.
Описание: 1. Introduction.- Darwinism or a Kaleidoscope of Research Programs and Ideas?.- Part I. From a Pluralistic Darwinism to an Ever More Inclusive Darwinism.- 2. Selfish Genes and Lucky Breaks: Richard Dawkins' and Stephen Jay Gould's Divergent Darwinian Agendas.- 3.The Behavioral Sciences and Sociobiology: A Darwinian Approach.- 4. Darwinism in the 20th Century: Productive Encounters with Saltation, Acquired Characteristics, and Development.- 5. Darwinism after the Modern Synthesis.- Human Evolution as a Theoretical Model for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.- Part II. Crossing the Boundaries: Between non-Darwinian and Darwinian.- 6. From Charles Darwin to the Evolutionary Synthesis: Weak and Diffused Connections Only.- 7. Major Research Traditions in 20th Century Evolutionary Biology: The Relations of Germany's Darwinism with Them.- 8. Alternatives to Darwinism in the Early Twentieth Century.- 9. The Organismal Synthesis: Holistic Science and Developmental Evolution in the English-Speaking World, 1915-1954.- 10. Lamarckian Research Programs in French Biology (1900-1970).- 11. Molecularizing Evolutionary Biology.- 12. Cells, Development, and Evolution: Teeth Studies at the Intersection of Fields.- 13. Symbiogenesis and Cell Evolution: an Anti-Darwinian Research Agenda?.- 14. Paleobiology's Uneasy Relationship with the Darwinian Tradition: Stasis as Data.
Автор: Hiromoto Nakazawa Название: Darwinian Evolution of Molecules ISBN: 9811342245 ISBN-13(EAN): 9789811342240 Издательство: Springer Рейтинг: Цена: 11878.00 р. Наличие на складе: Поставка под заказ.
Описание: On the basis of thermodynamic considerations and the Earth’s historical processes, this book argues the physical inevitability of life’s generation and evolution, i.e., Why did life generate? Why does life evolve? Following an introduction to the problem, the hypothesis “Darwinian Evolution of Molecules” is proposed, which explains how, when, and where life was instigated through successive chemical reactions and the survival of selected molecules. The individual processes described are all scientifically reasonable, being verifiable by experiment. The hypothesis is supported by extensive reference to the scientific literature published in academic journals, including some experimental reports from the author’s own research group. The readers of this book will learn that the decreasing temperature of the early Earth led to a reduction in its entropy, inducing the Earth’s materials to order, which entailed ordering of the light elements as organic molecules with subsequent further ordering (i.e., evolution) to systems that can be considered alive (i.e., life). Researchers and students, as well as the non-academic audience, interested in the interdisciplinary problem of the origin of life will find suggestions and possible approaches to the scientific and conceptual problems they may be facing.
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