Biology

Population Homeostasis

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

This book will synthesize the concepts of selection against individuals in response to environmental change to illustrate how selection against individuals results in homeostasis at the population level. For instance, selection against the light phenotype of the peppered moth during the early part of the industrial revolution led to an increase of the dark phenotype, which was better camouflaged against the soot that accumulated on tree bark as a result of burning coal. Populations are shown to be regulated by feedback mechanisms, several of which are discussed here.

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Organismal Homeostasis

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

Organisms maintain homeostasis in a variety of ways. In the first part of this book, mammals are shown to regulate their body temperatures through homeostatic mechanisms. The data from thermoregulation experiments that demonstrated the role of neurons in body temperature homeostasis are examined. The second part of this book discusses how organisms allocate the limited energy that is available to them for survival, growth, or reproduction. Excess energy in individuals can translate to growth of populations: if enough remains after survival and growth, it can be allocated to reproduction.

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Emergent Properties of Individual Organisms

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

This book begins by describing what an individual organism is, comparing preconceptions of the individual to non-standard ways of thinking about individuals. Variation in what individuals are is described, using giant fungi, clonal trees and honey bee hives as examples. Individuals are thus shown to be emergent properties. Other emergent properties of individuals are also described. Classic experiments that elucidated the source of emotions in humans and other mammals are described.

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Ecological Interactions

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

Food webs, energy flow, indirect effects, and nutrient cycling are described as properties that emerge in ecological systems. Several of these properties are shown in this book to result from indirect effects and interactions between species and abiotic components of ecological systems. For instance, top predators affect organisms with which they do not directly interact, including plants and non-prey animals. In some other interactions, including competition, the nonliving components of ecological systems (the abiota) can alter the outcome of a biotic interaction.

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Ecological Homeostasis

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

Individual organisms contribute to nutrient cycling in ecological systems, which is shown to be a mechanism of homeostasis at that level. The phosphorus and nitrogen cycles are used to illustrate effects of changes in populations or communities on the cycling of these nutrients. Major disturbances such as deforestation and global climate change disrupt nutrient cycles and ecological system homeostasis. Data are examined to determine effects of deforestation on nutrient cycling.

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Variation and Population Genetics

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

This book describes and analyzes genetic and environmental factors that cause variation in individuals and populations. Data will be used to evaluate the processes by which variation is generated in organisms and how variation affects natural selection. Genetic factors include mutation, independent assortment, crossing over, and recombination. Environmental factors include gradients and differences in abiotic conditions. Genotype frequencies can be used to determine allele frequencies and this information can be used to determine whether a population is evolving at a genetic locus.

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Properties in and of Populations

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

Properties of populations include age and spatial distribution, both of which emerge from actions and properties of individuals and can affect population dynamics, the changes in populations and metapopulations over time and space. The age structure of a population is described and analyzed to determine how it affects the growth of a population. The various aspects of spatial structure of populations, which also arise from characteristics and behaviors of individuals, are examined and used to develop the concept of a metapopulation.

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Mechanisms of Evolution

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

Three of the four major mechanisms of evolution, natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow are examined. There are 5 tenets of natural selection that influence individual organisms: Individuals within populations are variable, that variation is heritable, organisms differ in their ability to survive and reproduce, more individuals are produced in a generation than can survive, and survival & reproduction of those variable individuals are non-random. Organisms respond evolutionarily to changes in their environment and other selection pressures, including global climate change.

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Information in the Environment

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

This book identifies the commonalities between communication within a species and communication between species. Behavior and exchange of non-heritable information occurs between individuals of different species, in animals and plants, in order to exploit other species and compete for resources. Several examples of adaptations of one species to exploit the information passed between individuals of another species are given. This book describes how animals make decisions while gathering information and resources, selecting habitat, and interacting with potential competitors.

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Effects of Genetic and Pathogenic Diseases on Cells

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03/04/2016

Christopher J. Paradise and A. Malcolm Campbell

Several genetic and pathogenic diseases are described to illustrate how diseases can and do disrupt normal molecular and cellular functions, and how those disruptions affect entire organisms. In the case of genetic diseases, how they arise and are maintained in populations is discussed. In the case of pathogenic and parasitic organisms, understanding their complex life cycles and their modes of transmission is critical to understanding their effects on individuals and how disease outbreaks occur in ecological systems.

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