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This book describes the interlaced histories of life and oxygen. It opens with the generation of the element in ancient stars, and its distribution to newly formed planets like the Earth. But free O2 was not available on the early Earth, so the first life forms had to be anaerobic. Life introduced free O2 into the environment through the evolution of photosynthesis. This must have been a disaster for many anaerobes, but others found ways to deal with toxic reactive oxygen species. Some even developed a much more efficient oxygen-based metabolism. The authors vividly describe how the introduction of O2 into the atmosphere and oceans changed world chemistry, and allowed the burst of evolution that created today's biota. They also discuss the interplay of O2 and CO2, with consequences such as worldwide glaciations and global warming. On the physiological level, they present an overview of oxidative metabolism and O2 transport in animals and the importance of O2 in human life and medicine, emphasizing that while oxygen is essential, it is also related to aging and many disease states.

Evolution. Phylogeny --- Europees recht

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Modern natural science shows that the infancy of life on Earth experienced prebiotic evolution and included the emergence of primitive self-reproducing biologic forms and their systems. The subsequent coevolution of inorganic environment and biologic systems resulted in global propagation of life over the Earth and its enormous diversification. Diverse living organisms colonized the land, water, and atmosphere, as well as upper layers of the lithosphere, thereby forming the biosphere. The book covers notions by scientists of various branches on the evolutionary relationship between the biosphere and geosphere, evolution features at various levels of living matter organization, and problems of prebiotic evolution and life origin. The data were collected in the course of the RAS program "Biosphere origin and evolution" (subprogram II) in 2003-2006. The objectives of this subprogram were (1) generalization of data related to problems of biosphere origin and evolution accumulated by geneticists, molecular biologists, zoologists, botanists, paleontologists, microbiologists, geologists, chemists, and archaeologists; (2) search for new interdisciplinary approaches to biosphere origin and evolution; (3) development of a "lingua franca" understandable by experts in various fields, which would allow apprehension of results concerning the topic obtained in allied sciences

Evolution. Phylogeny --- Europees recht

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This volume is the result of a research project entitled Evolutionary Continuity - Human Specifics - The Possibility of Objective Knowledge  that was carried out by representatives of six academic disciplines (evolutionary biology, evolutionary anthropology, brain research, cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology and philosophy) over a period of three and a half years. The starting point for the project was the newly emerging riddle of human uniqueness: though the uniqueness of human beings is undisputable, all explanations for this fact have successively been discarded or refuted in recent decades. There is no special factor that could explain the particularities of human existence. Rather, all human skills derive from a continuous relation to pre-human skills, that is to say, to elements that were developed earlier in the phylogeny and were later inherited. But starting from abilities that are anything but special, how could the particularity of human beings have evolved? This was the guiding question of the project. In this work we try to answer it by addressing the following problems: How strong is evolutionary continuity in human beings? How can we understand that it gave way to cultural discontinuity? Which aspect of cultural existence is really unique to humans? Can the possibility of objective knowledge be seen as a (admittedly extreme) case in point? - The answers are meant to help clarify the central issue of contemporary scientific anthropology.

Evolution. Phylogeny --- Europees recht

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The biological and genetic bases of behavioral diversity have long been topics of study within many disciplines, including evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, sociobiology, and comparative psychology, but only relatively recently have attempts been made to bring these different approaches together. This volume covers a wide range of interdisciplinary research which uses some of the newest and most promising methods and technologies. Presented here is an overview of findings in the ongoing search for the ultimate causes of behavior in several different species, including primates, dogs, rodents, birds, and fish. Divided into five parts, the work describes research on sexual and kin selection, personality and temperament, molecular genetics of personality, color vision and body coloration, and the neurological underpinnings of complex behaviors. Valuable for researchers as well as graduate students in a wide range of fields from neuroscience to ecology, the book is also useful to those seeking to move beyond the boundaries of their own discipline and to expand their knowledge.

Animal genetics. Animal evolution --- genetica

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The result of a symposium hosted by the American Society of Primatologists, this volume attests to the huge strides made in recent decades by researchers studying primates and their behavior. Research into the notion of ˜personality' in nonhuman primates can be traced back to the 1930s and 40s, when primatologists began to notice large individual differences in the behavioral and emotional disposition of monkeys and apes. Jane Goodall's work at Gombe National Park pushed the field further, but its perceived anthropomorphism was frowned on for a time. Undeterred, primatologists continued to investigate aspects of personality at Gombe. Peter Buirski's ˜Emotions Profile Index' and the Madingley questionnaire used by Joan Stevenson-Hinde and her group were vital developments and even informed work in other species.   With contributions from some of the leading researchers currently exploring the topic, this collection fulfils a need for a comprehensive survey of the latest developments in the study of personality and temperament in nonhuman primates. Yet it also contextualizes the subject by covering early work in the field as well as key ongoing issues such as methodology. A series of chapters then provide analysis of empirical studies that investigate aspects of primate temperament as diverse as impulsivity and aggression and the ecological implications of animal personality. This publication, then, demonstrates the richness and diversity of the field as well as being a source of inspiration for researchers dedicated to investigating the subject.

Evolution. Phylogeny --- Zoology --- Europees recht --- zoölogie --- primaten