Research Catalog
Randomness in evolution
- Title
- Randomness in evolution / John Tyler Bonner.
- Author
- Bonner, John Tyler.
- Publication
- Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2013]
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFC 13-352 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xi, 133 pages : illustrations; 20 cm
- Summary
- "John Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and insightful biologists, here challenges a central tenet of evolutionary biology. In this concise, elegantly written book, he makes the bold and provocative claim that some biological diversity may be explained by something other than natural selection. With his customary wit and accessible style, Bonner makes an argument for the underappreciated role that randomness--or chance--plays in evolution. Due to the tremendous and enduring influence of Darwin's natural selection, the importance of randomness has been to some extent overshadowed. Bonner shows how the effects of randomness differ for organisms of different sizes, and how the smaller an organism is, the more likely it is that morphological differences will be random and selection may not be involved to any degree. He traces the increase in size and complexity of organisms over geological time, and looks at the varying significance of randomness at different size levels, from microorganisms to large mammals. Bonner also discusses how sexual cycles vary depending on size and complexity, and how the trend away from randomness in higher forms has even been reversed in some social organisms. Certain to provoke lively discussion, Randomness in Evolution is a book that may fundamentally change our understanding of evolution and the history of life"--
- Subjects
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [125]-129) and index.
- Contents
- Life and the riddle of randomness -- Time, size and complexity -- Small organisms and neutral morphologies -- The evolution of the decrease of randomness -- An exception : where small organisms suppress randomness -- the division of labor : two cases of the return of randomness in higher forms -- Envoi.
- Call Number
- JFC 13-352
- ISBN
- 9780691157016 (hardback : acid-free paper)
- 0691157014 (hardback : acid-free paper)
- LCCN
- 2012032006
- OCLC
- 820123484
- Author
- Bonner, John Tyler.
- Title
- Randomness in evolution / John Tyler Bonner.
- Publisher
- Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2013]
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [125]-129) and index.
- Research Call Number
- JFC 13-352