Research Catalog
Principles of animal design : the optimization and symmorphosis debate / edited by Ewald R. Weibel, C. Richard Taylor, Liana Bolis.
- Title
- Principles of animal design : the optimization and symmorphosis debate / edited by Ewald R. Weibel, C. Richard Taylor, Liana Bolis.
- Publication
- Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | QL799 .P6635 1998 | Off-site |
Details
- Additional Authors
- Description
- xx, 314 p. : ill.; 23 cm.
- Summary
- Animal species show great diversity in design as a result of their adaptation to different life conditions. Is their design optimized? Are animals built economically, with no more structure than that needed to perform their function, as the principle of symmorphosis predicts? There is considerable scientific controversy surrounding these questions because, although there is much evidence suggesting that animals are indeed well designed, evolutionary biology tells us that animals are not "engineered" but result from evolution by natural selection.
- In this book these highly controversial questions are debated by eminent experts on the basis of a wealth of evidence ranging from the molecular biology and biochemistry of enzyme systems through the study of bone and muscle to the design and function of integrated systems of energy supply and the nervous system. They are discussed from the point of view of physiology and morphology, as well as from that of evolutionary biology. A broad range of biologists interested in functional morphology, whether they are biochemists, physiologists, zoologists, or evolutionary biologists, will find this book a fascinating addition to the literature.
- Subject
- Genre/Form
- Congress
- Conference papers and proceedings
- Note
- Papers from the Twelfth International Conference on Comparative Physiology, held July 1, 1995, on Monte Verità above Ascona, Switzerland.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Processing Action (note)
- committed to retain
- Contents
- In memory of Charles Richard Taylor (1939-1995) / Ewald R. Weibel and Liana Bolis -- A life with animals: from cat to fish / Liana Bolis -- 1. Symmorphosis and optimization of biological design: introduction and questions / Ewald R. Weibel -- 2. How much structure is enough? 2.1. Overview / Knut Schmidt-Nielsen. 2.2. Convergence as an analytical tool in evaluating design / Steven Vogel. 2.3. Evolution of biological safety factors: a cost/benefit analysis / Jared M. Diamond. 2.4. Symmorphosis and safety factors / R. McNeill Alexander -- 3. Evolution of optimal systems. 3.1. Overview / Malcolm S. Gordon. 3.2. Conceptual and methodological issues in testing the predictions of symmorphosis / Theodore Garland, Jr.
- ISBN
- 0521583705 (hardcover)
- 0521586674 (pbk.)
- LCCN
- ^^^97013547^
- OCLC
- 36817074
- SCSB-10294889
- Owning Institutions
- Harvard Library