Evolution And Effort

Parental care includes a wide variety of traits that enhance offspring development and survival. It is taxonomically widespread and is central to the maintenance of biodiversity through its close association with other phenomena such as sexual selection, life-history evolution, sex allocation, sociality, cooperation and conflict, growth and development, genetic architecture, and phenotypic plasticity. This novel book provides a fresh perspective on the study of the evolution of parental care based on contributions from some of the top researchers in the field. It provides evidence that the dynamic nature of family interactions, and particularly the potential for co-evolution among family members, has contributed to the great diversity of forms of parental care and life-histories across as well as within taxa. The Evolution of Parental Care aims to stimulate students and researchers alike to pursue exciting new directions in this fascinating and important area of behavioural and evolutionary biology. It will be of relevance and use to those working in the fields of animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, and genetics, as well as related disciplines such as psychology and sociology.

Since the 1980s there has been a renewed interest in attempts to introduce a sense of history into economic literature. In this text, the authors argue that it is not possible to explain a state of the world without first analyzing the processes that lead to that state.

Thirty years ago, biologists could get by with a rudimentary grasp of mathematics and modeling. Not so today. In seeking to answer fundamental questions about how biological systems function and change over time, the modern biologist is as likely to rely on sophisticated mathematical and computer-based models as traditional fieldwork. In this book, Sarah Otto and Troy Day provide biology students with the tools necessary to both interpret models and to build their own. The book starts at an elementary level of mathematical modeling, assuming that the reader has had high school mathematics and first-year calculus. Otto and Day then gradually build in depth and complexity, from classic models in ecology and evolution to more intricate class-structured and probabilistic models. The authors provide primers with instructive exercises to introduce readers to the more advanced subjects of linear algebra and probability theory. Through examples, they describe how models have been used to understand such topics as the spread of HIV, chaos, the age structure of a country, speciation, and extinction. Ecologists and evolutionary biologists today need enough mathematical training to be able to assess the power and limits of biological models and to develop theories and models themselves. This innovative book will be an indispensable guide to the world of mathematical models for the next generation of biologists. A how-to guide for developing new mathematical models in biology Provides step-by-step recipes for constructing and analyzing models Interesting biological applications Explores classical models in ecology and evolution Questions at the end of every chapter Primers cover important mathematical topics Exercises with answers Appendixes summarize useful rules Labs and advanced material available

Excerpt from Evolution and Effort: And Their Relation to Religion and Politics The denial of this faculty of choice by a large part of the scientific as well as the religious world is believed to constitute a serious danger, for it tends to paralyse the effort through which alone man can successfully resist the forces in Nature which con tinually tend to drag him down. If we attempt to contrast the process of evolution in the world before the advent of man with the process since the advent of man, we shall be struck by the fact that in its first phase it encounters no conscious or intelligent opposition anywhere, whereas man is today oppos ing it strenuously at every step. Moreover, we shall also be struck with the fact that the more intelligent and strenuous the effort of opposition, the higher is the type of man produced. And so the role of human effort in evolution becomes the determining factor in human destiny. If this be the case, it becomes a matter of im portance to distinguish which forces of Nature are on our side and which on the side of the enemy, so that we may favour the one and resist the other. Among the great forces in the world is religion. We tend to regard religion too little as a force, too much as an institution. And yet regarded as a force religion is probably the greatest ally man has; re garded as an institution she has been sometimes in the past, and doubtless is still to a less extent to-day, his greatest enemy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Spatial dynamics, landscape, population.

Take a dive into the wet, wacky, and biodiverse world of Sherman's Lagoon, one of the most enjoyable ensemble casts of marine life ever to be seen in the funny papers Things move fast underwater. It's hard to stay up to date with the latest social media trends. There's Facecrab, Flipster, Instashark, Turtlegram--and those are only the maritime platforms. Sherman can't keep up. But when an exchange student comes to town, Sherman can finally impress him with all of the advanced technology. . . until he finds out that the Lagoon might be a bit behind the times. Sherman's other troubles include an alien invasion, dolphin attacks, and pesky fish neighbors. Take a deep dive into this new collection of Sherman's Lagoon comic strips, because what's at the bottom of the ocean may surprise you!