Complex Organismal Functions

Complex Organismal Functions: Integration and Evolution in Vertebrates D. B. Wake G. Roth Editors The complexity of forms and functions of organisms studied in an evolutionary context prompts a fundamental question of modern biology: how did complex functional systems, apparently stabilized by high degrees of integration, evolve to their present diversity? This and related questions were discussed by 48 distinguished scientists from many fields of vertebrate biology, including functional and comparative morphologists, neurobiologists, reproductive biologists and endocrinologists, developmental biologists, ecologists, ethologists, population geneticists, and theorists, at a Dahlem Workshop. This volume is a report of that meeting. The major areas of discussion were: evolutionary diversification of feeding mechanisms; evolution of locomotor systems; trends in reproductive biology, especially the repeated evolution of vertebrate viviparity; and alternative and complementary concepts of the production of evolutionary novelties and patterns. These topics reflect the excitement and dynamism of current debate in evolutionary biology and constitute a cohesive point of departure for further research.

Comprises the proceedings of a Dahlem Conference held in Berlin in August 1988. This workshop report addresses the common evolutionary roots and subsequent diversification of various organismal functions in vertebrates, bridging reptilian and mammalian evolution. Contributors discuss the evolution of complex traits, including feeding mechanisms, locomotor systems, respiratory systems, the pentadactyl limb, and viviparity.