Key Transitions in Animal Evolution
Features
- Presents recent findings in the origin of multicellular animals and how multicellularity evolved
- Includes coverage of the evolution of life histories, ecological associations and the evolution of biogeochmical aspects of metazoan
- Contains over 40 illustrations and an up-to-date bibliography of overt 500 references
- Concludes each chapter with study questions and discussion topics
Summary
Tackling one of the most difficult and delicate of the evolutionary questions, this challenging book summarizes the more recent results in phylogenetics and developmental biology that address the evolution of key innovations in metazoans. Divided into three sections, the first considers the phylogenetic issues involving this area of the tree of life and the elucidation of those relationships that continue to trouble taxonomists. The second section considers the developmental biology of metazoan evolution including the development of the nervous system, sensory organs, and physiological maturation. Part three focuses on the evolution of pattern and process in the Metazoa.
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Phylogenomic Journey Through the Animal Tree of Life: Key Innovations in the Evolution of Metazoa; B. Schierwater and R. DeSalle
Tangled Roots in the Animal Tree of Life
Putting Animals in their Place Within a Context of Eukaryotic Innovations; D. Vazquez, L. Wegener Parfrey and L.A. Katz
Elucidating Animal Phylogeny: Advances in Knowledge and Forthcoming Challenges; K.M. Kocot, J.T. Cannon and K.M. Halanych
Key Transitions in Animal Evolution: a Mitochondrial DNA Perspective; D.V. Lavrov
Pending Issues in Development and Phylogeny of Arthropods; J.S. Deutsch
The Earliest Animals: From Genes to Transitions
The Pre-nervous System and Beyond—Poriferan Milestones in the Early Evolution of the Metazoan Nervous System; M. Nickel
A Key Innovation in Evolution, the Emergence of Neurogenesis: Cellular and Molecular Cues from Cnidarian Nervous Systems; B. Galliot, M. Quiquand, M. Miljkovic-Licina and S. Chera
From Cnidaria to "Higher Metazoa" in One Step; F. Boero and S. Piraino
Basal Metazoan Sensory Evolution; D.K. Jacobs, D.A. Gold, N. Nakanishi, D. Yuan, A. Camara, S.A. Nichols and V. Hartenstein
Cnidarian Gene Expression Patterns and the Origins of Bilaterality—Are Cnidarians Reading the Same Game Plan as "Higher" Animals?; E.E. Ball, D.M. de Jong, B. Schierwater, C. Shinzato, D.C. Hayward and D.J. Miller
Key Transitions During Animal Phototransduction Evolution: Co-duplication as a Null Hypothesis for the Evolutionary Origins of Novel Traits; T.H. Oakley and D.C. Plachetzki
Vertebrate Hox Genes and Specializations in Mammals; C. Kappen
Pattern and Process at the Base of the Metazoan Tree of Life
Field Biology of Placozoans (Trichoplax): Distribution, Diversity, Biotic Interactions; V. Buchsbaum Pearse and O. Voigt
Trichoplax and Placozoa: One of the Crucial Keys to Understanding Metazoan Evolution; B. Schierwater et al.
A Food’s-Eye View of Animal Transitions; N.W. Blackstone
Lost in Transition: The Biogeochemical Context of Animal Origins; E. Gaidos
Redefining Stem Cells and Assembling Germ Plasm: Key Transitions in the Evolution of the Germ Line; J. Srouji and C. Extavour
Questions and Discussion
Author Bio(s)
Rob Desalle: American Museum of Natural History, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, New York, USA
Bernd Schierwater: ITZ, Ecology and Evolution, TiHo Hannover, Germany
