Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky was a prominent Ukrainian-American geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the modern synthesis. Dobzhansky was born in Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire, and became an immigrant to the United States in 1927, aged 27.
Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecology, geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, zoology, epidemiology, public health, and home economics, among others.
Membrane proteins are proteins that are part of, or interact with, biological membranes. They include: 1) integral membrane proteins, which are part of or permanently anchored to the membrane, and 2) peripheral membrane proteins, which are attached temporarily to the membrane via integral proteins or the lipid bilayer. The integral membrane proteins are further classified as transmembrane proteins that span across the membrane, or integral monotopic proteins, which are to attached to only one side of the membrane.
Instinct or innate behavior is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behavior. The simplest example of an instinctive behavior is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a very short to medium length sequence of actions, without variation, are carried out in response to a corresponding clearly defined stimulus.
The Batrachia are a clade of amphibians that includes frogs and salamanders, as well as the extinct allocaudates, but not caecilians. The name Batrachia was first used by French zoologist Pierre André Latreille in 1800 to refer to frogs, but has more recently been defined in a phylogenetic sense as a node-based taxon that includes the last common ancestor of frogs and salamanders and all of its descendants. The idea that frogs and salamanders are more closely related to each other than either is to caecilians is strongly supported by morphological and molecular evidence, they are for instance the only vertebrates able to raise and lower their eyes, but an alternative hypothesis exists in which salamanders and caecilians are each other's closest relatives as part of a clade called the Procera, with frogs positioned as the sister taxon of this group.
Sociobiology: The New Synthesis is a book by the biologist E. O. Wilson. It helped start the sociobiology debate, one of the great scientific controversies in biology of the 20th century and part of the wider debate about evolutionary psychology and the modern synthesis of evolutionary biology. Wilson popularized the term "sociobiology" as an attempt to explain the evolutionary mechanics behind social behaviour such as altruism, aggression, and the nurturing of the young. It formed a position within the long-running nature versus nurture debate. The fundamental principle guiding sociobiology is that an organism's evolutionary success is measured by the extent to which its genes are represented in the next generation.
Armen Albert Alchian was an Armenian-American economist and professor of economics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Ontogeny and Phylogeny is a 1977 book on evolution by Stephen Jay Gould, in which the author explores the relationship between embryonic development (ontogeny) and biological evolution (phylogeny). Unlike his many popular books of essays, it was a technical book, and over the following decades it was influential in stimulating research into heterochrony, changes in the timing of embryonic development, which had been neglected since Ernst Haeckel's theory that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny had been largely discredited.
Gravitation is a physics book on Einstein's theory of gravity, written by Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne, and John Archibald Wheeler and originally published by W. H. Freeman and Company in 1973. It is frequently abbreviated MTW after its authors' last names. The cover illustration, drawn by Kenneth Gwin, is a line drawing of an apple with cuts in the skin to show geodesics. It contains 10 parts and 44 chapters, each beginning with a quotation. The bibliography has a long list of original sources and other notable books in the field. While this may not be considered the best introductory text because its coverage may overwhelm a newcomer, and despite the fact that parts of it are now out-of-date, it remains a highly-valued reference for advanced graduate students and researchers.
Animal coloration is the general appearance of an animal resulting from the reflection or emission of light from its surfaces. Some animals are brightly colored, while others are hard to see. In some species, such as the peafowl, the male has strong patterns, conspicuous colors and is iridescent, while the female is far less visible.
Biology Today: An Issues Approach is a college-oriented Biology textbook by Eli C. Minkoff and Pamela J. Baker designed to integrate the teaching of biological concepts within the context of current societal issues relating to these topics. It is the original issues-oriented introductory-level general biology textbook. The latest edition is currently published by the textbooks division of Garland Science. It is 768 pages long.
Gardner Murphy was an American psychologist specialising in social and personality psychology and parapsychology. His career highlights included serving as president of the American Psychological Association, and of the British Society for Psychical Research.
Peter A. Daempfle is an American educator and author in the field of science education. He currently teaches biology at SUNY Delhi.
Pediculosis pubis is a disease caused by the pubic louse, Pthirus pubis, a parasitic insect notorious for infesting human pubic hair. The species may also live on other areas with hair, including the eyelashes, causing pediculosis ciliaris. Infestation usually leads to intense itching in the pubic area. Treatment with topic agents such as permethrin or pyrethrin with piperonyl butoxide is effective. Worldwide, pediculosis pubis affects about 2% of the population.
Biology and political orientation is a concept based on a number of studies that have found that biology can be linked with political orientation. This means that biology is a possible factor in political orientation, but may also mean that the ideology a person identifies with changes a person's ability to perform certain tasks. Many of the studies linking biology to politics remain controversial and unreplicated, although the overall body of evidence is growing.
Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature is a book published by MIT Press written by philosopher of science David Buller, piecing together his criticism of evolutionary psychology. A large portion of the book is dedicated to a critique of empirical findings from three research groups in the field: that of David Buss, that of Cosmides and Tooby, and that of Daly and Wilson. Buller argues that the evolutionary psychology paradigms are "mistaken in almost every detail." The book got a strongly negative review from anthropologist Clark Barrett in the American Journal of Human Biology who wrote: "Buller’s book has many useful elements, but it is based on simplistic assumptions and fallacious arguments that lead to faulty conclusions. If taken seriously, Buller’s denial of human nature would invalidate not only evolutionary psychology but also any field that attempts to produce generalizable knowledge about humans, including behavioral ecology, biological anthropology, and most branches of psychology, not to mention medicine."
Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry is an anthology of around 1,000 Chinese poems translated into English, edited by Wu-chi Liu and Irving Yucheng Lo and published in 1975 by Anchor Press/Doubleday. Wu-chi Liu served as the anthology's senior editor. As of 2002 the book had been widely used in Asian literature studies. In 2002 Stacy Finz of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the book "was a best-seller".
The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the ultimate forensic record of evolution is a book by Sean B. Carroll, published in 2006. It is a general interest book on evolution, following on his two previous works "Endless forms most beautiful" and "From DNA to diversity". Carroll discusses specific examples of how evolutionary processes have playedout in the development of selected species, and focuses on the pivotal function of changes in DNA sequences for understanding the history of natural selection. The book won the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science.
Microbes and Man is a popularising book by the English microbiologist John Postgate FRS on the role of microorganisms in human society, first published in 1969, and still in print in 2017. Critics called it a "classic" and "a pleasure to read".
The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change is a book by Richard Lewontin about evolutionary genetics. Originally published by Columbia University Press in 1974, the book originated in a series of lectures, known as the "Jesup lectures", that Lewontin gave at Columbia University in 1969. In a blurb promoting the book, Columbia University Press claimed that it "will surely become one of the landmarks in twentieth-century science", for which they were criticized by some of the book's reviewers. James F. Crow, for example, argued that the Columbia employees who chose to describe the book in this way "should have their wrists slapped", adding, "...this is not the Origin of Species. It is just a thoughtful, readable, and very stimulating book."
