Massimo Pigliucci

Gerd B. Müller

Outgrowth of a meeting of the "Altenberg 16" at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Altenberg, Austria, in July 2008. Cf. pref.

Evolution, the Extended Synthesis

Friedrich Stadler

Thomas Olechowski

Karl Anton Fröschl

Brigitta Schmidt-Lauber

English summary: The 650th anniversary of the founding of the University of Vienna provides an opportunity to sharpen our views on evolving university structures and to analyze the dynamics of knowledge transformation. This volume examines the recent history of the scientific disciplines and institutional structures at the University of Vienna. The focus is on the historical conditions and effects of scientific practices as perceived from within individual disciplines. German description: Die 650ste Wiederkehr des Grundungstages der Universitat wird zum Anlass genommen, uber den historischen Blick auf Wissenschaft und ihre Einrichtungen die Prozessualitat universitarer Strukturen und die Dynamiken des Wissenserwerbs kritisch zu untersuchen. Der vorliegende Band behandelt die Disziplin- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte unterschiedlicher Facher und Einrichtungen an der Universitat Wien und macht sich zur Aufgabe, die historischen Bedingtheiten und Wirkungen wissenschaftlichen Handelns aus der Sicht individueller Fachgebiete darzustellen.

Aufbruch ins neue Jahrhundert

650 Jahre Universität Wien

George R. McGhee

Katrin Schäfer

An analysis of convergent evolution from molecules to ecosystems, demonstrating the limited number of evolutionary pathways available to life. Charles Darwin famously concluded On the Origin of Species with a vision of "endless forms most beautiful" continually evolving. More than 150 years later many evolutionary biologists see not endless forms but the same, or very similar, forms evolving repeatedly in many independent species lineages. A porpoise's fishlike fins, for example, are not inherited from fish ancestors but are independently derived convergent traits. In this book, George McGhee describes the ubiquity of the phenomenon of convergent evolution and connects it directly to the concept of evolutionary constraint--the idea that the number of evolutionary pathways available to life are not endless, but quite limited. Convergent evolution occurs on all levels, from tiny organic molecules to entire ecosystems of species. McGhee demonstrates its ubiquity in animals, both herbivore and carnivore; in plants; in ecosystems; in molecules, including DNA, proteins, and enzymes; and even in minds, describing problem-solving behavior and group behavior as the products of convergence. For each species example, he provides an abbreviated list of the major nodes in its phylogenetic classification, allowing the reader to see the evolutionary relationship of a group of species that have independently evolved a similar trait by convergent evolution. McGhee analyzes the role of functional and developmental constraints in producing convergent evolution, and considers the scientific and philosophical implications of convergent evolution for the predictability of the evolutionary process.

Limited Forms Most Beautiful

Convergent Evolution

Gerd B. Müller

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