Paperback reprint of a 2010 book.
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.
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