Phenotypic Plasticity: Beyond Nature and Nurture (Syntheses in Ecology and Evolution)

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 344 pages
• Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press July 17, 2001
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0801867886
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0801867880
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Weighs: 1.4 pounds

Product Review


"Phenotypic Plasticity is the most comprehensive book on this topic. It provides both a solid basis for understanding the subject and an inspiring synthesis of the current state of the discipline, and so can be equally recommended for students starting their research, for experts in the field and for all scientists generally interested in phenotypic plasticity. Hardly anyone will read this book without gaining new insights or new inspirations. The book is a 'must read' in the fields of evolution and ecology, and as such is an ideal topic for seminars. I highly recommend it and look forward to the next volumes in Scheiner's series." -- Ralph Tollrian, Nature



"It is difficult to see how any student of phenotypic plasticity will be able to get by without a copy of this on their shelf [it] appeals to students at all levels of development and sophistication It is a fascinating read and will not fail to stimulate new insight into this most important topic." -- G.J. Holloway, Heredity



"I appreciate the style of the book -- theory, discussion, and plentiful examples from both zoology and botany are well balanced making the text understandable for a wide audience." -- Folia Geobotanica



"This book strongly shakes and stimulates our minds. After reading this book, I feel that I can understand a little more about the diversification and evolution of the fascinating living worlds surrounding us." -- Leonardo Galetto, Plants, Systematics and Evolution

Product Review


"Refreshing and enlightening It is difficult to identify an ecologist or evolutionary biologist who would not be interested in this book." -- Jeffrey Hutchings, Ecoscience, reviewing a previous edition or volume



"Every biologist interested in evolutionary biology should read this book The book has one central purpose, to propose and defend the proposition that to understand phenotypic evolution we must take into account phenotypic plasticity, not simply as an interesting peripheral phenomenon but as an integral part of the evolutionary process I think that the authors produce and extremely strong case which should encourage more research in this fast-developing area." -- Derek Roff, Heredity, reviewing a previous edition or volume



"The authors write well on timely subjects, control a broad wealth of knowledge, and raise examples ranging from the molecular to the morphological, animal to plant. The introduction alone will put many things in modern biology into clearer perspective, while the detailed middle chapters provide specific examples The authors are persuasive proponents of their viewpoint." -- Kenneth M. Weiss, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, reviewing a previous edition or volume

Reader Reviews
Phenotypic Plasticity examines the way elements outside the organism influence the effects of the collection of genes that constitute an organism (genotype) to form it (phenotype). The author, Massimo Pigliucci, a professor of evolutionary biology and philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook has achieved a widely acclaimed synthesis of research in ecological genetics, developmental biology and evolutionary theory that is "must reading" for specialists in these fields as attested by the reviews above. It will also be a richly rewarding (and challenging) read for non-specialists in the social sciences and medicine as well as the life-long learner interested in the hoary nature-nurture polemic. The familiar story of Gregor Mendel's magnificent and painstaking genetic studies with peas often leaves out the care the good monk took to isolate pisum sativum from environmental influences. His research procedures mostly eliminated what in the early era of the gene was called the "noise" of environmental influences on the development of the pea characteristics he studied. Mendel's 1866 publication, largely ignored until it caught the attention of a new generation of biologists in 1900, ushered in the classical period of genetics. The active discussion of Mendel's thought provoking paper led Wilhelm Johannsen, a Danish botanist, to emphasize the distinction Mendel had made between the "factors" and the "characters" they produced by introducing in 1909 the terms "gene," "genotype" (the complete set of genes or more properly alleles) and "phenotype" (the appearance or expression of characters in living things). It was this distinction, with an assist from Francis Galton, which mainly accounts for the enthusiastic 20th century debate about whether we are what we are as a result of genetic inheritance (nature) or environmental influences (nurture). The reader who desires a more detailed history of genetics will find it in Sturtevant's A History of Genetics (Cold Spring Harbor, 1965/2001) and Stubbe's History of Genetics (MIT Press, 1972) among many sources. The plot surrounding nature v. nurture thickened with renewed emphasis on the early 20th century work of the German botanist Richard Woltereck demonstrating that the genotype could produce a range of characteristics depending on the particular environments in which it developed. The implication: There was plasticity to the genotype. Pigliucci uses Woltereck's concept of the Reaction Norm as a point of departure to explore plasticity. First, he carefully explicates the concept of phenotypic plasticity, the often misunderstood idea of "heritability," and the way plasticity is studied by biologists. Also recommended in this context is the work of Sarkar, for example, Genetics And Reductionism (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998). In Chapter Three Pigliucci provides a brief but much needed conceptual history of phenotypic plasticity. The fact that Woltereck or reaction norm, norm of reaction, or the German "reactionsnorm" cannot be found in either Sturtevant or Stubbe's histories provides silent but eloquent testimony about the emphasis on the one gene-one character notion that dominated early 20th century genetics and perserveres today in press releases that usually begin: A gene has been found for... Chapter Four (The Genetics of Phenotypic Plasticity), Five (The Molecular Biology of Phenotypic Plasticity) and Eight (Behavior and Phenotypic Plasticity) dig into the evidence for plasticity and, of particular relevance to humans, the ways in which hormones can effect adaptation to a specific ecological (outside the organism) environment by carrying information from that environment to the genotypic-specific reactions triggered by that environment. These adaptations and the responsible mechanisms are also discussed in some detail by Cellura in Chapters Two through Five of The Genomic Environment And Niche-Experience (Cedar Springs Press, 2005). Pigliucci also has chapters on developmental, theoretical and evolutionary biology and the ecology of phenotypic plasticity. In an epilogue he discusses philosophical and policy issues often encountered in the nature-nurture debate. Phenotypic Plasticity is a sweeping review of the literature that is forging a new paradigm in biology, closing the loop in the misleading dichotomy between nature and nurture. Reading it and re-reading it will provide insight upon insight about real world biological adaptation.