Shapes of time : the evolution of growth and development
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Shapes of time : the evolution of growth and development
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997
Available at 12 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This text explores evolution down an avenue that links natural selection and genetics - the effect of changes to the rates and timing of growth and development. It delves into the living and fossil worlds to show how animals and plants have evolved when the carefully orchestrated pattern of embryological development is gently nudged off course - producing species that may have developed "beyond" their ancestors, or others that have developed less, looking more like over-grown juveniles. McNamara shows how this phenomenon - known as heterochrony - has affected many aspects of evolution, including the mechanism behind the selection of different breeds of animals, differences between sexes, and animal behaviour. Heterochrony accounts for the "Peter Pan syndrome," in which some species look like their ancestors' children. It explains what was really behind the evolution of flightless birds, how the dinosaurs got so big, how pterosaurs managed to produce a wing supported only by their fourth fingers, and what has driven the evolution of the animal closest to our hearts - the largest primate species with the biggest brain and longest childhood - Homo sapiens.
by "Nielsen BookData"