Darwinizing Gaia
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Darwinizing Gaia
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Author : W. Ford Doolittle
language : en
Publisher: MIT Press
Release Date : 2024-12-03
Darwinizing Gaia written by W. Ford Doolittle and has been published by MIT Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-12-03 with Science categories.
A reinterpretation of James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis through the lens of Darwinian natural selection and multispecies community evolution. First conceived in the 1970s, James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis proposed that living organisms developed in tandem with their inorganic surroundings, forming a complex, self-regulating system. Today, most evolutionary biologists consider the theory problematic. In Darwinizing Gaia, W. Ford Doolittle, one of evolutionary and molecular biology’s most prestigious thinkers, reformulates what evolution by natural selection is while legitimizing the controversial Gaia Hypothesis. As the first book attempting to reconcile Gaia with Darwinian thinking, and the first on persistence-based evolution, Doolittle’s clear, innovative position broadens evolutionary theory by offering potential remedies for Gaia’s theoretical challenges. Unquestionably, the current “polycrisis” is the most complex that Homo sapiens has ever faced, and this book can help overcome the widespread belief that evolutionary biologists don’t believe Lovelock. Written in the tradition of Richard Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene, Darwinizing Gaia will appeal to students, evolutionary scientists, philosophers, and microbiologists, as well as environmentalists seeking to understand the Earth as a system, at a time when climate change has drawn our planet’s structure and function into sharp relief.
Writing Gaia The Scientific Correspondence Of James Lovelock And Lynn Margulis
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Author : Bruce Clarke
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2022-08-18
Writing Gaia The Scientific Correspondence Of James Lovelock And Lynn Margulis written by Bruce Clarke and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2022-08-18 with Nature categories.
In 1972, James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis began collaborating on the Gaia hypothesis. They suggested that over geological time, life on Earth has had a major role in both producing and regulating its own environment. Gaia is now an ecological and environmental worldview underpinning vital scientific and cultural debates over environmental issues. Their ideas have transformed the Earth and life sciences, as well as contemporary conceptions of nature. Their correspondence describes these crucial developments from the inside, showing how their partnership proved decisive for the development of the Gaia hypothesis. Clarke and Dutreuil provide historical background and explain the concepts and references introduced throughout the Lovelock-Margulis correspondence, while highlighting the major landmarks of their collaboration within the sequence of almost 300 letters written between 1970 and 2007. This book will be of interest to researchers in ecology, history of science, environmental history and climate change, and cultural science studies.
Biocivilisations
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Author : Predrag B. Slijepcevic
language : en
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Release Date : 2023-05-18
Biocivilisations written by Predrag B. Slijepcevic and has been published by Chelsea Green Publishing this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-05-18 with Science categories.
2024 Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal Winner: Restorative Earth Practices "A brilliant book [that] shows a way out of the destructive trap of Anthropocentric arrogance."—Vandana Shiva, author of Terra Viva "An unusually thought-provoking and ambitious book."—Dr. James A. Shapiro, author of Evolution: A View from the 21st Century Biocivilisations is an important, original rethinking of the mystery of life and its deep uncertainty, exploring the complex civilisations that existed on Earth long before humans. What is life? Many scientists believe life can be reduced to ‘mechanistic’ factors, such as genes and information codes. Yet there is a growing army of scientists, philosophers and artists who reject this view. The gene metaphor is not only too simplistic but deeply misleading. If there is a way to reduce life to a single principle, that principle must acknowledge the creativity of life, turning genetic determinism on its head. The term biocivilisations is the acknowledgement of this uncertainty of life, as opposed to a quasi-certainty of the human position governed by a narrow time window of the scientific revolution. Life existed without humans for more than 99.99 percent of the Earth’s existence. Life will also continue without humans long after our inevitable extinction. In Biocivilisations, Dr Predrag Slijepčević shows how bacteria, amoebas, plants, insects, birds, whales, elephants and countless other species not only preceded human beings but demonstrate elements of how we celebrate human civilisation – complex communication, agriculture, science, art, medicine and more. Humans must try to adopt this wisdom from other biocivilisations that have long preceded our own. By rethinking the current scientific paradigm, Dr Slijepčević makes clear that a transformation – from a naïve young species into a more mature species in tune with its surroundings – will save us from our own violence and the violence we inflict on the rest of our living planet. "Read this book if you would like to understand the intelligence of living systems."—Dr Denis Noble, University of Oxford
Systems Thinkers
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Author : Magnus Ramage
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2020-02-19
Systems Thinkers written by Magnus Ramage and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-02-19 with Business & Economics categories.
This book presents a biographical history of the field of systems thinking, by examining the life and work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses each thinker’s key contributions, the way this contribution was expressed in practice and the relationship between their life and ideas. This discussion is supported by an extract from the thinker’s own writing, to give a flavour of their work and to give readers a sense of which thinkers are most relevant to their own interests.
Gaian Systems
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Author : Bruce Clarke
language : en
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Release Date : 2020-09-29
Gaian Systems written by Bruce Clarke and has been published by U of Minnesota Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-09-29 with Science categories.
A groundbreaking look at Gaia theory’s intersections with neocybernetic systems theory Often seen as an outlier in science, Gaia has run a long and varied course since its formulation in the 1970s by atmospheric chemist James Lovelock and microbiologist Lynn Margulis. Gaian Systems is a pioneering exploration of the dynamic and complex evolution of Gaia’s many variants, with special attention to Margulis’s foundational role in these developments. Bruce Clarke assesses the different dialects of systems theory brought to bear on Gaia discourse. Focusing in particular on Margulis’s work—including multiple pieces of her unpublished Gaia correspondence—he shows how her research and that of Lovelock was concurrent and conceptually parallel with the new discourse of self-referential systems that emerged within neocybernetic systems theory. The recent Gaia writings of Donna Haraway, Isabelle Stengers, and Bruno Latour contest its cybernetic status. Clarke engages Latour on the issue of Gaia’s systems description and extends his own systems-theoretical synthesis under what he terms “metabiotic Gaia.” This study illuminates current issues in neighboring theoretical conversations—from biopolitics and the immunitary paradigm to NASA astrobiology and the Anthropocene. Along the way, he points to science fiction as a vehicle of Gaian thought. Delving into many issues not previously treated in accounts of Gaia, Gaian Systems describes the history of a theory that has the potential to help us survive an environmental crisis of our own making.
Mysterious Ways
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Author : JONATHAN. PHILLIPS
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2025-03-12
Mysterious Ways written by JONATHAN. PHILLIPS and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2025-03-12 with Science categories.
Landscape Evolution
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Author : Jonathan D. Phillips
language : en
Publisher: Elsevier
Release Date : 2021-04-30
Landscape Evolution written by Jonathan D. Phillips and has been published by Elsevier this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-04-30 with Science categories.
Landscape Evolution: Landforms, Ecosystems and Soils asks us to think holistically, to look for the interactions between the Earth's component surface systems, to consider how universal laws and historical and geographical contingency work together, and to ponder the implications of nonlinear dynamics in landscapes, ecosystems, and soils. Development, evolution, landforms, topography, soils, ecosystems, and hydrological systems are inextricably intertwined. While empirical studies increasingly incorporate these interactions, theories and conceptual frameworks addressing landforms, soils, and ecosystems are pursued largely independently. This is partly due to different academic disciplines, traditions, and lexicons involved, and partly due to the disparate time scales sometimes encountered. Landscape Evolution explicitly synthesizes and integrates these theories and threads of inquiry, arguing that all are guided by a general principle of efficiency selection. A key theme is that evolutionary trends are probabilistic, emergent outcomes of efficiency selection rather than purported goal functions. This interdisciplinary reference will be useful for academic and research scientists across the Earth sciences. - Serves as a primary theoretical resource on landscape evolution, Earth surface system development, and environmental responses to climate and land use change - Incorporates key ideas on geomorphic, soil, hydrologic, and ecosystem evolution and responses in a single book - Includes case studies to provide real-world examples of evolving landscapes
Being Algae
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Author :
language : en
Publisher: BRILL
Release Date : 2024-03-11
Being Algae written by and has been published by BRILL this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-03-11 with Philosophy categories.
Water plants of all sizes, from the 60-meter long Pacific Ocean giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) to the micro ur-plant blue-green algae, deserve attention from critical plant studies. This is the first book in environmental humanities to approach algae, swimming across the sciences, humanities, and arts, to embody the mixed nature and collaborative identity of algae. Ranging from Medieval Islamic texts describing algae and their use, Japanese and Nordic cultural practices based in seaweed and algae, and confronting the instrumentalization of seaweed to mitigate cow methane release and the hype of algal photobioreactors, amongst many other standpoints, this volume comprehensively addresses the ancestors of terrestrial plants through appreciating their unique aquatic medium.
Abiotic Selection In Earth Surface Systems
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Author : Jonathan D. Phillips
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2025-07-22
Abiotic Selection In Earth Surface Systems written by Jonathan D. Phillips and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2025-07-22 with Science categories.
This book is about abiotic selection in Earth surface systems. It demonstrates that seemingly purposeful or goal-oriented phenomena in Earth's processes actually emerge from selection dynamics. While many think of selection in the context of biological evolution, it extends to abiotic processes crucial in understanding Earth's function and evolution. The author delineates four forms of geophysical selection: gradient, resistance, network, and thermodynamic. These selections manifest in various natural systems, from fluid flows shaping landscapes to the efficient transport of mass and energy. The book acknowledges the interplay of geophysical and ecological processes, employing them as pedagogical tools. Structured with an introduction to abiotic selection and its context, the book delves into the application of key principles—such as thermodynamics and flow dynamics—to Earth surface systems. Each subsequent chapter examines one of the four types of selection, featuring diverse real-world examples from climate dynamics to oceanography. Geared toward researchers, graduate students, and practitioners in fields such as geophysics, geology, geography, hydrology, and ecosystem sciences, it also appeals to those interested in evolutionary thinking beyond traditional life sciences.
Progress In Botany Vol 83
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Author : Ulrich Lüttge
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2022-10-31
Progress In Botany Vol 83 written by Ulrich Lüttge and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2022-10-31 with Science categories.
With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. This latest volume includes reviews on plant physiology, biochemistry, genetics and genomics, forests, and ecosystems.