The Convergent Evolution Of Agriculture In Humans And Insects

Contributors explore common elements in the evolutionary histories of both human and insect agriculture resulting from convergent evolution. During the past 12,000 years, agriculture originated in humans as many as twenty-three times, and during the past 65 million years, agriculture also originated in nonhuman animals at least twenty times and in insects at least fifteen times. It is much more likely that these independent origins represent similar solutions to the challenge of growing food than that they are due purely to chance. This volume seeks to identify common elements in the evolutionary histories of both human and insect agriculture that are the results of convergent evolution. The goal is to create a new, synthetic field that characterizes, quantifies, and empirically documents the evolutionary and ecological mechanisms that drive both human and nonhuman agriculture. The contributors report on the results of quantitative analyses comparing human and nonhuman agriculture; discuss evolutionary conflicts of interest between and among farmers and cultivars and how they interfere with efficiencies of agricultural symbiosis; describe in detail agriculture in termites, ambrosia beetles, and ants; and consider patterns of evolutionary convergence in different aspects of agriculture, comparing fungal parasites of ant agriculture with fungal parasites of human agriculture, analyzing the effects of agriculture on human anatomy, and tracing the similarities and differences between the evolution of agriculture in humans and in a single, relatively well-studied insect group, fungus-farming ants.

Evolutionary change is usually incremental and continuous, but some increases in organizational complexity have been radical and divisive. Evolutionary biologists, who refer to such events as “major transitions”, have not always appreciated that these advances were novel forms of pairwise commitment that subjugated previously independent agents. Inclusive fitness theory convincingly explains cooperation and conflict in societies of animals and free-living cells, but to deserve its eminent status it should also capture how major transitions originated: from prokaryote cells to eukaryote cells, via differentiated multicellularity, to colonies with specialized queen and worker castes. As yet, no attempt has been made to apply inclusive fitness principles to the origins of these events. Domains and Major Transitions of Social Evolution develops the idea that major evolutionary transitions involved new levels of informational closure that moved beyond looser partnerships. Early neo-Darwinians understood this principle, but later social gradient thinking obscured the discontinuity of life's fundamental organizational transitions. The author argues that the major transitions required maximal kinship in simple ancestors - not conflict reduction in already elaborate societies. Reviewing more than a century of literature, he makes testable predictions, proposing that open societies and closed organisms require very different inclusive fitness explanations. It appears that only human ancestors lived in societies that were already complex before our major cultural transition occurred. We should therefore not impose the trajectory of our own social history on the rest of nature. This thought-provoking text is suitable for graduate-level students taking courses in evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, organismal developmental biology, and evolutionary genetics, as well as professional researchers in these fields. It will also appeal to a broader, interdisciplinary audience, including the social sciences and humanities.

Exploring behaviour through bones has always been a fascinating topic to those that study human remains. Human bodies record and store vast amounts of information about the way we move, where we live, and our experiences of health and socioeconomic circumstances. We see it every day, and experience it, but when it comes to past populations, understanding behaviour is largely mediated by our ability to read it in bones. Behaviour in Our Bones: How Human Behaviour Influences Skeletal Morphology examines how human physical and cultural actions and interactions can be read through careful analyses of skeletal human remains. This book synthesises the latest research on reconstructing behaviour in the past. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific region of the human body, guiding the reader from head to toe and highlighting how evidence found on the skull, shoulder, thorax, spine, pelvis, and the upper and lower limbs has been used to infer patterns of activity and other behaviour. Chapter authors expertly summarise and critically discuss a range of methodological, theoretical, and interpretive approaches used to read skeletal remains and interpret a wide variety of behaviours, including tool use, locomotion, reproduction, health, pathology, and beyond. Serves as a comprehensive resource for readers who are new to human skeletal behaviour investigations Offers an overview on how behaviour may impact the entire skeleton (from head to toe) Discusses activities that can leave evidence on the human skeleton and how behaviour can become incorporated in bone Introduces methods that biological anthropologists use to quantify and interpret skeletal evidence for behaviour and its range of morphological variation Critically examines the current state of skeletal behaviour research and provides recommendations for future work in this field

Termites are eusocial insects that live in colonies composed of hundreds to millions of individuals. Their colonies are mainly organized into reproductive and non-reproductive castes, which have specific tasks such as nest construction, foraging, reproduction, brood care, and colony defense. The evolution of the symbiotic association between termites and microorganisms allows them to decompose ingested lignocellulose from plant substrates (such as wood), including herbivore dung and soil humus, making them important insect decomposers that play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning by contributing to litter decomposition, soil formation, and nutrient cycling. On the other hand, termites have recently been classified as eusocial cockroaches, which have gained increasing attention in evolutionary studies to understand the transition to eusociality from subsocial wood roaches. This current growing interest in termite research calls for a collection dedicated to these fascinating insects.

Praise for the previous edition: "...make[s] high-level scientific concepts accessible to secondary students."—Library Journal "...clearly written and well organized..."—School Library Journal "Fulfilling educational benchmarks identified by the National Academy of Sciences, this encyclopedia is an excellent choice for both public and academic libraries. Recommended."—Choice "...a thorough and informative work...provide[s] accessible information...There is simply no other work that compares to this...High-school and public libraries will welcome such a well-researched title..."—Booklist "The text is suitable for high school students but advanced enough for adult readers, too...presents important biodiversity topics...a handy overview for term papers and class presentations."—Library Journal Biodiversity and ecology are founded in evolutionary science. In order to understand why species of organisms occupy different parts of the world, it is important to comprehend how they evolved. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Revised Edition examines this evolutionary framework with the help of more than 150 entries and five essays averaging at least 2,000 words each. High school teachers can use these entries—grouped by topic—to meet many of the science education goals established by the National Academy of Sciences. Written by a leading expert in the field, this comprehensive, full-color encyclopedia makes information about groups of organisms (from bacteria to mammals) and about ecological concepts and processes (such as biogeography and ecological succession) clearly and readily available to students and the general public. Tables at the end of each entry have a consistent structure, allowing readers to see how environmental conditions and biodiversity have changed through evolutionary time. Entries include: Acid rain and fog Biodiversity in the Jurassic period Darwin's finches Galápagos Islands Peter and Rosemary Grant Life in bogs Natural selection Population genetics Seedless plants Tropical rainforests and deforestation Alfred Russel Wallace.

An analysis of convergent evolution from molecules to ecosystems, demonstrating the limited number of evolutionary pathways available to life. Charles Darwin famously concluded On the Origin of Species with a vision of “endless forms most beautiful” continually evolving. More than 150 years later many evolutionary biologists see not endless forms but the same, or very similar, forms evolving repeatedly in many independent species lineages. A porpoise's fishlike fins, for example, are not inherited from fish ancestors but are independently derived convergent traits. In this book, George McGhee describes the ubiquity of the phenomenon of convergent evolution and connects it directly to the concept of evolutionary constraint—the idea that the number of evolutionary pathways available to life are not endless, but quite limited. Convergent evolution occurs on all levels, from tiny organic molecules to entire ecosystems of species. McGhee demonstrates its ubiquity in animals, both herbivore and carnivore; in plants; in ecosystems; in molecules, including DNA, proteins, and enzymes; and even in minds, describing problem-solving behavior and group behavior as the products of convergence. For each species example, he provides an abbreviated list of the major nodes in its phylogenetic classification, allowing the reader to see the evolutionary relationship of a group of species that have independently evolved a similar trait by convergent evolution. McGhee analyzes the role of functional and developmental constraints in producing convergent evolution, and considers the scientific and philosophical implications of convergent evolution for the predictability of the evolutionary process.