The reproductive organs and mating biology of angiosperms exhibit greater variety than those of any other group of organisms. Flowers and inflorescences are also the most diverse structures produced by angiosperms, and floral traits provide some of the most compelling examples of evolution by natural selection. Given that flowering plants include roughly 250,000 species, their reproductive diversity will not be explained easily by continued accumulation of case studies of individual species. Instead a more strategic approach is now required, which seeks to identify general principles concerning the role of ecological function in the evolution of reproductive diversity.
Knowledge, Evolution, and Paradox: The Ontology of Language
The challenge of this work is that of trying to understand the fundamental unity and diversity of everythingincluding ourselvesthat exists and continues to emerge within an evolutionary framework. That framework is not intrinsically or exclusively biological in nature. Biology, as I will argue throughout this book, is part of a more general ontological framework that, by definition of ontology, embraces every single discipline and that is explicitly interdisciplinary in nature.
Not by Genes Alone - How Culture Transformed Human Evolution
Humans are a striking anomaly in the natural world. While we are similar to other mammals in many ways, our behavior sets us apart. Our unparalleled ability to adapt has allowed us to occupy virtually every habitat on earth using an incredible variety of tools and subsistence techniques. Our societies are larger, more complex, and more cooperative than any other mammal's. In this stunning exploration of human adaptation, Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd argue that only a Darwinian theory of cultural evolution can explain these unique characteristics.
This book addresses central questions in the evolution of language: where it came from; how and why it evolved; how it came to be culturally transmitted; and how languages diversified. It does so from the perspective of the latest work in linguistics, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science, and deploys the latest methods and theories to probe into the origins and subsequent development of the only species that has languages.
Arguing for Evolution - An Encyclopedia for Understanding Science
Arguing for Evolution: An Encyclopedia for Understanding Science provides readers with a single source for the scientific evidence supporting evolution. The book shows how scientists have tested the predictions of evolutionary theory and created an unshakeable foundation of evidence supporting its truth. As such, it demonstrates how evolution serves as a case study for understanding the scientific method and presents a logical model for scientific inquiry.
