A world of categones devmd of spirit waits for life to return. Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift The stock-in-trade of communicating hypotheses about the historical path of evolution is a graphical representation called a phylogenetic tree. In most such graphics, pairs of branches diverge from other branches, successively marching across abstract time toward the present. To each branch is tied a tag with a name, a binominal symbol that functions as does the name given to an individual human being. On phylogenetic trees the names symbolize species. What exactly do these names signify? What kind of information is communicated when we claim to have knowledge of the following types? "Tetonius mathewzi was ancestral to Pseudotetonius ambiguus. " "The sample of fossils attributed to Homo habzlis is too variable to contain only one species. " "Interbreeding populations of savanna baboons all belong to Papio anubis. " "Hylobates lar and H. pileatus interbreed in zones of geographic overlap. " While there is nearly universal agreement that the notion of the speczes is fundamental to our understanding of how evolution works, there is a very wide range of opinion on the conceptual content and meaning of such particular statements regarding species. This is because, oddly enough, evolutionary biolo­ gists are quite far from agreement on what a species is, how it attains this status, and what role it plays in evolution over the long term.

Non-contractual liability, stemming from damage accountably caused to another, has been the subject of the PETL and DCFR VI European reform initiatives. Gert Brüggemeier, however, proposes alternative reforms which, instead of trying to overcome the differences between civil law (delict) and common law (torts), are restricted to civil liability. The focus is on the grounds of accountability, and stricter forms of liability are at the fore. Quasi-strict enterprise liability is introduced to fill the lacuna between personal fault and forms of strict liability. A commentary is included on recent legislation on civil liability in China, Brazil and Russia to demonstrate how these large countries try to come to grips with the challenges of 'risk society'.

Product Description: In the face of accelerating extinctions across the globe, what ought we to do? Amid this sea of losses, what is our responsibility? How do we assess the value of nonhuman species? In this clear-spoken, passionate book, naturalist and philosopher Edward L...read more

Product Description: This 1981 collection of papers focuses on a wide range of topics in the general field of evolutionary biology. It will be of interest to scientists and advanced students concerned with cytogenetics and evolution. The authors are distinguished workers in their field who have been associated with Professor M...read more

Over the last two decades, the study of speciation has expanded from a modest backwater of evolutionary biology into a large and vigorous discipline. Thus, the literature on speciation, as well as the number of researchers and students working in this area, has grown explosively. Despite these developments, there has been no book-length treatment of speciation in many years. As a result, both the seasoned scholar and the newcomer to evolutionary biology had no ready guide to the recent literature on speciation-a body of work that is enormous, scattered, and increasingly technical. Although several excellent symposium volumes have recently appeared, these collections do not provide a unified, critical, and up-to-date overview of the field. Speciation is designed to fill this gap. Aimed at professional biologists, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates, Speciation covers both plants and animals (the first book on this subject to do so), and deals with all relevant areas of research, including biogeography, field work, systematics, theory, and genetic and molecular studies. It gives special emphasis to topics that are either controversial or the subject of active research, including sympatric speciation, reinforcement, the role of hybridization in speciation, the search for genes causing reproductive isolation, and mounting evidence for the role of natural and sexual selection in the origin of species. The authors do not hesitate to take stands on these and other controversial issues. This critical and scholarly book will be invaluable to researchers in evolutionary biology and is also ideal for a graduate-level course on speciation.

Theorizes that the acquisition of new genomes by symbiotic merger is a more important source of speciation than random mutation, citing flaws in modern synthesis while presenting arguments for the actual sources of inherited variation that give rise to new species. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

Product Description: Using a wealth of real examples from both the animal and plant kingdoms, Andrew Cockburn explores the questions at the heart of evolutionary ecology: the origin and maintenance of diversity; the pressures that determine form and behaviour; and the way in which organisms interact...read more

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Product Description: No question in theoretical biology has been more perennially controversial or perplexing than "What is a species?" Recent advances in phylogenetic theory have called into question traditional views of species and spawned many concepts that are currently competing for general acceptance...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: Speciation is one of the great themes of evolutionary biology. It is the process through which new species are born and diversity generated. Yet for many years our understanding of the process consisted of little more than a perception that if populations are isolated geographically, they will diverge genetically and may come to form new species...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: The study of patterns and processes of evolution on islands has played an important role in the development of general theories of how and why evolution occurs. Isolated from the continental process of gene flow, islands may display remarkable rapidity of diversifying evolution, as well as unique species...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: This book reviews what species are and then investigates the factors involved in their evolution. It analyzes the most recent information gathered from studies on plant and animal populations. Particular emphasis is placed on evolutionary processes involved in speciation...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Developed by Hugh E. H. Paterson in the 1970s, the Recognition Concept of Species stressed the importance of the Specific-Mate Recognition System (SMRS) and offered a view of species which was radically different from the traditional Isolation Concept...read more