
	Where results make sense

Topic: The Major Transitions in Evolution

Related Topics

John Maynard Smith

Multicellular organism

RNA world hypothesis

Evolutionary biology

Ribozyme

Evolutionary game theory

Ribosome

Evolutionarily stable strategy

Evolution of Homo sapiens

Nash equilibrium

Oxford University Press

PlaneShift

Game theory

Kingdom (biology)

Animal

In the News (Sat 14 Nov 09)

Northern Trust

Marvin Harrison

Peter Chernin

Gary Locke

Match Play

Penelope Cruz

Mickey Rourke

AR Rahman

Danny Boyle

Hugh Jackman

	Evolution of sex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The evolution of sex is a major puzzle in modern evolutionary biology, due to the so-called two-fold cost of sex.
		Evidence for this explanation for the evolution of sex is provided by comparison of the rate of molecular evolution of genes for kinases and immunoglobulins in the immune system with genes coding other proteins.
		It assumes that the majority of deleterious genes are only slightly deleterious, and affect the individual such that the introduction of each additional mutation has a disproportionally large effect on the fitness of the organism.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Evolution_of_sex (1635 words)

	Taking Evolutionary Transitions Seriously
		They characterized evolution as stochastically generated yet having irreversible increases in informational complexity, including the emergence of new levels of organization, each of which is accompanied by the emergence of a novel form of ‘cohesion’, a class of material properties linking parts into wholes.
		Major transitions are characterized by contingently irreversible emergence of new levels of organization and increased complexity.
		One major generalization arising from these studies is that relationships among populations within a species are complex and reticulated, often showing only moderate to very little differentiation, as indicated by the occurrence of numerous, equally parsimonious or statistically indistinguishable phylogenetic trees.
	www.library.utoronto.ca /see/SEED/Vol2-1/Brooks/Brooks.htm (5200 words)

	IngentaConnect Major transitions in evolution by genome fusions: from prokaryote... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		IngentaConnect Major transitions in evolution by genome fusions: from prokaryote...
		Major transitions in evolution by genome fusions: from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, metazoans, bilaterians and vertebrates
		The major transitions in human evolution from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, from protozoans to metazoans, from the first animals to bilaterians and finally from a primitive chordate to vertebrates were all accompanied by increases in genome complexity.
	www.ingentaconnect.com /content/klu/jsfg/2003/00000003/F0040001/05103050 (353 words)

	The Language Mosaic and its Evolution
		With each major transition in evolution comes an increase in complexity, so that a hierarchy of levels of analysis emerges, and research methods necessarily become increasingly convoluted, and extend beyond the familiarly biological methods.
		A basic dichotomy in language evolution is between the biological evolution of the language capacity and the historical evolution of individual languages, mediated by cultural transmission (learning).
		The circumstances of wild chimpanzee life have not led to the evolution of a species of animal with a high readiness or willingness (as with humans) to use symbols, even though the rudiments of symbolic ability are present.
	www.ling.ed.ac.uk /~jim/nustates.htm (8006 words)

	MAJOR TRANSITIONS IN EVOLUTION by Smith, John Maynard, Szathmary, Eors, SZATHMARY, EORS (INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		During evolution, there have been several major changes in the way that genetic information is organized and transmitted from one generation to the next.
		These transitions include the origin of life itself, the first eukaryotic cells, reproduction by sexual means, the appearance of multicellular plants and animals, the emergence of cooperation and of animal societies, and the unique language ability of humans.
		In discussing such a wide range of topics in one volume, the authors are able to highlight the similarities between different transitions - for example, between the union of replicating molecules to form chromosomes and of cells to form multicellular organisms.
	www.studentbookworld.com /BookDetail/019850294X.html (355 words)

	Convergent Evolution (Convergent Development)
		Convergent evolution is the evolution of species from different taxonomic groups toward a similar phenotypic or functional form.
		Evolution and development appear to be two fundamental classes of change occurring in all physical systems.
		Specifically, studies in convergent evolution (e.g., convergent universal development), are proposing an ever-growing number of physical structures and processes that appear to be inevitable emergent forms, global developmental attractors for increasingly MEST-efficient general purpose computation.
	www.singularitywatch.com /convergentevolution.html (2181 words)

	General Rebuttal to the Theory of Evolution
		"Major transitions in evolution - such as the origin of life, the emergence of eukaryotic cells, and the origin of the human capacity for language, to name but a few - could not be farther from an equilibrium.
		The major problems with gradualism is that it is not reflected in the fossil record.
		The idea that the lack of transitional forms is due to gaps in the fossil record is not reasonable given the tremendous number of fossils that have been discovered in recent studies.
	www.godandscience.org /evolution/evolution.html (3941 words)

	Department of Zoology: Part IA Evolution and Behaviour Course (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		Evolution and Behaviour is a first-year Natural Sciences course on evolutionary biology and behaviour.
		To provide a course on evolutionary biology that introduces you to the major principles of evolutionary theory, and ranges from the origins of life, through the evolution of plants and animals to the evolution of behaviour.
		To outline the major transitions in evolution, from the origin of life and of sex, to hominid evolution.
	www.zoo.cam.ac.uk /degree/1aevol/index.html (242 words)

	John Maynard Smith - Encyclopedia, History, Geography and Biography
		Maynard Smith was instrumental in the application of game theory to evolution and theorised on other problems such as the evolution of sex and signalling theory.
		In 1962 he was one of the founding members of the University of Sussex and was a Dean between 1965-85, when he became a professor emeritus.
		During the late 1980s he also became interested in the other major evolutionary transitions with the biochemist Eörs Szathmáry.
	www.arikah.com /encyclopedia/John_Maynard_Smith (869 words)

	The Major Transitions in Evolution (John Maynard Smith, Eors Szathmary)
		A survey of the "key events" in evolution by two leading theorists, The Major Transitions in Evolution ranges all the way from prebiotic chemistry through to the origins of society.
		There is some fascinating material in Major Transitions and serious students of evolution won't want to miss it, but I would recommend more focused alternatives first, perhaps (from recent reading) Gerhart and Kirschner's Cells, Embryos, and Evolution, Carroll's Patterns and Processes in Vertebrate Evolution, or Dyson's Origins of Life.
		A brief discussion of general concepts such as progress, complexity, and transition leads naturally into the question of what life is and a glance at non-living systems that approach it in some ways (the Oklo reactor and the chemoton).
	dannyreviews.com /h/Major_Transitions.html (462 words)

	Literature Review: Organismal complexity and gene duplication
		The origin of organismal complexity is generally thought to be tightly coupled to the evolution of new gene functions arising subsequent to gene duplication.
		Gene duplication is purported to be a major pathway for the Darwinian evolution of biochemical novelty.
		Understanding the genetic basis of morphological evolution: the role of homeotic genes in the diversification of the arthropod bauplan.
	www.iscid.org /boards/ubb-get_topic-f-18-t-000040.html (1764 words)

	What is Astrobiology? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		Experimental analysis of the evolution of the mechanisms by which gravity is sensed, and of the developmental mechanisms by which the body plans and structures of multicellular organisms are oriented with respect to gravity; exploration of the basic question whether gravity has played any role in the evolution of multicellular organisms.
		Major transitions took place in evolution in chordate body plan organization and it would be of significant importance to discover how this occurred.
		Currently, there is a major disparity between the publication level of support for this type of work and the level of funding available, thus the field is not reaching its potential due to the relative paucity of funding.
	astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov /workshops/1998/evodevo (2068 words)

	Major Evolutionary Transitions
		Buss claims that ``the major features of evolution were shaped during periods of transition between units of selection'' [Buss 87] (p.188).
		In the period after a transition, an adaptive radiation of forms is possible to fill the novel evolutionary niches afforded by the new kind of organisation.
		This view of evolution is also consonant with Schwemmler's notion of a constant oscillation between divergent and convergent phases [Schwemmler 89], and, to some extent, with Gould's picture of diversification and decimation [Gould 89].
	www.dai.ed.ac.uk /homes/timt/papers/thesis/html/node24.html (807 words)

	American Zoologist: Major transitions in animal evolution: A developmental genetic perspective
		The six most important transitions in the lineage leading to humans are proposed to be: the origin of multicellularity, the origin of two-germ layers and radial symmetry, the origin of three-germ layers and bilateral symmetry, dorsoventral axis inversion, the origin of vertebrates, the origin of gnathostomes.
		The last two transitions were accompanied by, and possibly facilitated by, large increases in gene number.
		This does not mean that transitions from one body plan to another are impossible in evolution, but they are certainly infrequent.
	www.24hourscholar.com /p/articles/mi_qa3746/is_199812/ai_n8819584 (1223 words)

	Brooks-Journal1
		And yet, precisely how evolution occurs, and what, if any, are the general principles of the major transitions in evolution, still remains a focus of intense interest and scrutiny.
		All the major transitions of Maynard Smith and Szathmary (1995, 1999) are associated with the emergence of a novel form of cohesion.
		Brooks, D.R. Biological evolution as a microcosm of cosmological evolution.
	www.library.utoronto.ca /see/SEED/Vol1-1/Brooks-Journal1.html (10035 words)

	Research Manifesto: The algorithmic principles of adaptation
		Developing a broader model of biological evolution has the potential to change the way we think about some fundamental issues in biology: for example, the kinds of systems that are evolvable or unevolvable, and the spontaneous formation of new levels of organization in natural systems.
		However, this excuse is not wholly convincing – we are not really asking artificial evolution to produce the kind of complexity that biology has produced, starting from individual molecules to a multi-celled organism – only to produce the kind of complexity that is plausible given the scope of the system and the primitives we provide.
		The intuition that natural evolution utilizes algorithmic principles as yet not fully understood, and that such principles might provide new computational methods for design automation and optimization, is very appealing.
	www.ecs.soton.ac.uk /~raw/algorithmic%20principles.htm (2300 words)

	It takes two to talk: the relevance of the social aspect of language for modeling its evolution
		We argue that accounts of the evolutionary emergence of syntax are not very informative, unless they specify details of the evolutionary dynamics and acknowledge that (i) language is, at least in part, transmitted culturally, and that (ii) language is a group phenomenon that only occurs between agents.
		Thus, the fitness in language evolution is frequency dependent, which means that we need to add the frequency distribution of different language systems as an argument of the fitness function.
		Evolution on a ``meso-scale'' level (the level of the patches or other spatial patterns) might favor altruism.
	arti.vub.ac.be /~jelle/models.html (3614 words)

	Jürg Spring - Biozentrum / Pharmazentrum Uni Basel ( Jurg or Juerg Spring )
		We are interested in the evolution of structures such as mesoderm and the appearence of novel members of gene families.
		Like other major transitions in evolution, such as the invertebrate-vertebrate transition, the transition from diploblasts to triploblasts was accompanied by an increase in the size of gene families, probably by genome duplication.
		Spring J. Major transitions in evolution by genome fusions: from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, metazoans, bilaterians and vertebrates.
	www.unibas.ch /dib/zoologie/research/spring.html (481 words)

	Quantum Evolution
		If elementary particles really emerged and appeared in the course of evolution, which is a generally accepted fact, there is no need to assume that immutable laws which described their behavior have been valid earlier.
		If all the physical, chemical and biological particles with their corresponding scientific laws emerged bit by bit during thecourse of evolution, the theory of evolution is the onlyimportant and fundamental theory left, because the only thing that has not changed in the last 14.6 billion years since theuniverse exists is evolution itself.
		In evolution bifurcation of species and lineages are possible because a species has an internal structure of a certain complexity or diversity.
	quantumevolution.blogspot.com (2084 words)

	The Major Transitions in Evolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Major Transitions in Evolution is a book written by John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry (Oxford University Press, 1995).
		multicellular organisms — animals, plants fungi evolution of multicellularity
		Maynard Smith and Szathmary identified several properties common to the transitions:
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/The_Major_Transitions_in_Evolution (135 words)

	J. Maynard-Smith E. Szathmary - 1997 - The Major Transitions in Evolution (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		Maynard-Smith, J. and Szathmary, E. The Major Transitions in Evolution.
		These transitions include the origin of life itself, the first eukaryotic cells, reproduction by sexual means, the appearance of multicellular plants and animals, the emergence of cooperation and of animal societies.
		This is the first book to discuss all these major transitions and their implications for our understanding of evolution.
	www.isrl.uiuc.edu /~amag/langev/paper/maynardsmith1997majorTransitions.html (194 words)

	FORE: Disciplines - Ecology
		A reunion of evolution and embryology known as evolutionary developmental biology (EDB) integrates individual ontogeny with the paleological radiation of organisms (Brian Hall, Scott Gilbert, Wallace Arthur).
		The recognition of symbiosis as a major contributor to the emergence of cellular, organismic, and social assemblies (Lynn Margulis).
		Major transitions in evolution from gene and cell to human society are facilitated by a novel code from molecules to language (John Maynard Smith, Eors Szathmary).
	environment.harvard.edu /religion/disciplines/science/fablebib/fablebib3b.html (803 words)

	Emergence [Definition] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		In the context of life science, evolution is a change in the genetic makeup of a population of interbreeding individuals within a species.
		In this view, evolution is the main reason for the growth of complexity in the natural world.
		For instance, small clusters do not exhibit sharp first order phase transitions such as melting, and at the boundary it is not possible to completely categorize the cluster as a liquid or solid, since these concepts are (without extra definitions) only applicable to macroscopic systems.
	www.wikimirror.com /Emergence (4351 words)

	Evolution of sociality in a primitively eusocial lineage of bees -- Danforth 99 (1): 286 -- Proceedings of the National ...
		Evolution of sociality in a primitively eusocial lineage of bees -- Danforth 99 (1): 286 -- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
		Evolution of sociality in a primitively eusocial lineage of bees
		Eusociality is a major evolutionary innovation involving alterations in life history, morphology, and behavior.
	www.pnas.org /cgi/content/full/99/1/286 (2570 words)

	Evolution Library: Topic Page
		The author, a professor of geophysics, argues that massive volcanic eruptions can be linked to the major mass extinction events in the history of life.
		This excerpt from Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer describes how gene duplication may have been the key to the rapid evolution of the early stages of life on Earth.
		The authors strip away the egotistical view that humans are independent from nature and propose that all creatures on the planet -- large and small, alive and dead -- are inextricably connected by a living system that is itself an organism.
	www.pbs.org /wgbh/evolution/library/03/index.html (2526 words)

	8A. Structural Hierarchy
		Such a change, as in figure 8.5, that coincides with elementary changes in information and interaction, could be described as a "transition" or "discontinuity" in the otherwise gradual evolution of the structural properties of a structure or organism.
		That evolving structures or organisms can show a transition or discontinuity in structure, without violating the requirement for elementary variation has been illustrated by the simple examples above and may be further illuminated by a number of examples taken from our natural world and discussed below (8.2.1 to 8.2.5).
		The processes described in the previous paragraphs, where constructions may join to form a new super-structure at a higher structural level (as in figure 8.5), may be repeated (by repeatedly running through the kinds of changes illustrated by figures 8.3a, 8.3b, and 8.3c) where these super-structures act as elements in newer and bigger structures.
	users.skynet.be /huw/c8a.htm (2062 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)