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Contests are an important aspect of the lives of diverse animals, from sea anemones competing for space on a rocky shore to fallow deer stags contending for access to females. Why do animals fight? What determines when fights stop and which contestant wins? Addressing fundamental questions on contest behaviour, this volume presents theoretical and empirical perspectives across a range of species. The historical development of contest research, the evolutionary theory of both dyadic and multiparty contests, and approaches to experimental design and data analysis are discussed in the first chapters. This is followed by reviews of research in key animal taxa, from the use of aerial displays and assessment rules in butterflies and the developmental biology of weapons in beetles, through to interstate warfare in humans. The final chapter considers future directions and applications of contest research, making this a comprehensive resource for both graduate students and researchers in the field

How do plant and animal populations change genetically to evolve and adapt to their local environments? How do populations grow and interact with one another through competition and predation? How does behaviour influence ecology and evolution? Introduction to Population Biology covers all these areas and more. Taking a quantitative and Darwinian perspective, the basic theory of population processes is developed using mathematical models. To allow students of biology, ecology and evolution to gain a real understanding of the subject, key features include: • step-by-step instructions for spreadsheet simulations of many basic equations to explore the outcomes or predictions of models • worked examples showing how the equations are applied to biological questions • problem sets together with detailed solutions to help the reader test their understanding • real-life examples to help the reader relate the theory to the natural world

How do plant and animal populations change genetically to evolve and adapt to their local environments? How do populations grow and interact with one another through competition and predation? How does behaviour influence ecology and evolution? This second edition of Dick Neal's unique textbook on population biology addresses these questions and offers a comprehensive analysis of evolutionary theory in the areas of ecology, population genetics, and behaviour. Taking a quantitative and Darwinian perspective, Neal uses mathematical models to develop the basic theory of population processes. Key features in this edition include new chapters on inbreeding and species interactions and community structure, a modified structure in Part II, more recent empirical examples to illustrate the application of theoretical models to the world around us, and end-of-chapter problems to help students with self-assessment. A series of spreadsheet simulations have also been conveniently located online, for students to further improve their understanding of such models.

Considers biological gay identity in terms of it as a "preideological spontaneous consciousness," as a component of social ideology, & in relation to scientific research. It also examines competing alternative identities for homosexual "allegiance" & their broader implications for gay identity generally. The issues of a "gay science," fascism & homosexuality, post-gay identity, psychology's ambiguous treatment of homosexuality, & the "new" eugenics are examined. Challenges & argues for critical harnessing of the new eugenics that problematically opens up the potential for controlling & changing homosexuality biologically & genetically. R. Rodriguez

Abstract
For the past 500 years, to varying degrees, the processes of religious secularization have been occurring in what today are the wealthy, highly educated, industrialized nations of the world. They are causing organized religion, as a social institution, to go from being a very important influence on the lives of people and the nations in which they live to being a smaller influence, or almost no influence at all. Various disciplines from theology to psychology to sociology have tried to explain secularization, each discipline contributing something unique. One discipline that has not contributed has been biology. From a biological perspective, based on observation and reasoning, at least one of the ultimate functions of the physical forms associated with religion appear to be that of in-group marker for a breeding population, which, as will be shown, is how all religions start. Religions structure larger human populations into smaller "clusters" that are separate in-group breeding populations. The clustering into smaller in-group breeding populations prevents the spread of contagious diseases and creates inter-group competition and intra-group cooperation, both of which have contributed to human eusociality, a very rare type of social organization that will be explained. As the physical forms of religion are losing this in-group-marker function of clustering populations with modernity, a general biological principle comes into play, which is "form follows function, and as function wanes, so does form." When applied to religion, "form" means the physical components by which all religions are built. The specific meaning of "physical," as used here, will be explained in the article. This biological perspective, which is counter-intuitive and can generate testable hypotheses, should complement, not compete, with perspectives from other disciplines. Physical forms in biology can and often do have more than one function, so the same form with a biological function can also have psychological and theological functions. The physical forms of religion are its objects of natural (genetic and cultural) selection. As socio-economic modernity spreads through the world, the evolutionary biological trajectory suggests that religion, as a social institution, will eventually become extinct.

Full-text available at SSRN. See link in this record. ; In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech more than half a century ago, Edward L. Tatum suggested an ambitious new goal for biology: "not only to avoid structural and metabolic errors in the developing organism, but also to produce better organisms." Synthetic biology aims to effect such a paradigm shift in the biological sciences by marrying approaches from engineering and computer science to an expanding array of standardized biological parts and sophisticated biological methods. By importing engineering principles, such as standardization, decoupling, and abstraction, into the biological sciences, synthetic biology may transform biology into a field in which it is routine to design and construct genes, gene combinations, genomes, proteins, metabolic pathways, cells, viruses, and whole organisms rapidly, inexpensively, and easily. Already, a number of institutions have helped synthetic biology achieve considerable success, both in terms of science and public awareness. The BioBricks Foundation (BBF) and the Registry of Standard Biological Parts have successfully built a collection of thousands of standard DNA parts (BioBricks), which can be combined in a manner analogous to Lego® bricks, or even modified into new BioBricks, and the International Genetically Modified Machine (iGEM) competition has attracted participation from thousands of contestants and hundreds of teams from dozens of countries. While the ethos of openness that pervades synthetic biology promises a democratization of biology, significant challenges to its openness still exist. The proprietary restrictions imposed by "closed" intellectual property - chiefly patents - create legal risk and uncertainty. Ironically, synthetic DNA sequences are likely more easily patentable and copyrightable than are DNA sequences derived from natural sources, thus creating the possibility that synthetic biology may increase, rather than decrease, the potential for intellectual property restrictions. Furthermore, ...

Part I. Anthropological Demography and Human Ecological Behavioural Ecology: -- 1. Two solitudes -- 2. Why bother? -- 3. Anthropological demography: culture, not biology -- 4. Human evolutionary ecology: biology, not culture -- 5. Discussion: cultural and biological reductionism -- Part II. Reconciling Anthropological Demography and Human Evolutionary Ecology: -- 6. Common ground -- 7. Demographic strategies -- 8. Reproductive interests: social interactions, life effort and demographic strategies: a Rendille example -- 9. Sepaade as male mating effort -- 10. Rendille primogeniture as a parenting strategy -- 11. Summary: demographic strategies as links between culture and biology -- Part III. Mating Effort and Demographic Strategies: -- 12. Mating effort as demographic strategies -- 13. Cross-cultural mating strategies: polygyny and bridewealth, monogamy and dowry -- 14. Bridewealth and the matter of choice -- 15. Demographic and cultural change: values and morals -- 16. The end of the sepaade tradition: behavioral tracking and moral change -- Part IV. Demographic Strategies as Parenting Effort: -- 17. Parenting effort and the theory of allocation -- 18. The Trivers-Willard model and parenting strategies -- 19. Parity-specific parental strategies: the case of primogeniture -- 20. Local resource competition model -- 21. Infanticide and child abandonment: accentuating the negative -- 22. Adoption in modern China: stressing the positive -- 23. Summary: culture and biology in parental effort -- Part V. Future Research Directions: -- 24. The central place of sex in anthropology and evolution -- 25. Male sexuality, education and high risk behavior -- 26. Final ground: demographic transitions -- Part VI. References Cited.