The Evolution of Complexity by Means of Natural Selection

by John Tyler Bonner

Book Overview

John Tyler Bonner makes a new attack on an old problem: the question of how progressive increase in the size and complexity of animals and plants has occurred. "How is it," he inquires, "that an egg turns into an elaborate adult? How is it that a bacterium, given many millions of years, could have evolved into an elephant?" The author argues that we can understand this progression in terms of natural selection, but that in order to do so we must...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691084947
• ISBN13: 9780691084947
• Release Date: August 1988
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Though 12 years old, it still has a wealth of ideas!

Bonner is a master developmental/evolutionary biologist who is best known for his work on the development and morphogenesis of a little known group of organisms called slime molds. A wonderful group of organisms, by the way. In this book, however, Bonner takes on the task of explaining how natural selection can produce increasingly complex systems of living things. A formidable challenge. The book contains 8 chapters, as follows:1. A brief summary of Darwinian evolution, along with an indication of the purpose of the book.In this section Bonner addresses issues such as time, what natural selection is, and the roles that factors such as development, ecology, behavior, and genetics play in the processes of evolution. This chapter is a great primer on ideas regarding natural selection. 2. Evidence for the evolution of size increase (and decrease) from the fossil record.In this chapter Bonner presents data from the fossil record (which is unavoidably biased) that indicates how the size of things have changed over time. He makes a case that, generally speaking, things have tended to get larger over time.3. The size of organisms in ecological communities.Here is a good thought to consider while reading this chapter...organisms of increased size are necessarily more structurally complex than smaller organisms, but, complexity that allowed increases in size to occur existed BEFORE those size increases took place (e.g., mammals). In this chapter Bonner considers topics such as relations between the size and abundance of organisms, size and life histories, size changes wtihin a species, and size in sexual selection. A great chapter full of thought provoking ideas!4. A problem in developmental biology: Why and how larger plants and animals are built.In this chapter Bonner addresses these topics: ways to become multicellular; selective forces for multicellularity; development of support structures (thus allowing increased size); proportions and size; developmental steps and size; and the legacy (opportunities and constraints) of past developments.5. The relation between the complexity of communities and the size, diversity, and abundance of the organisms within them.This is the chapter that will catch ecologists' eyes. In this chapter Bonner discusses what complexity is, relationships between diversity, abundance, and size, connections between diversity and habitat, and the evolution of diversity. Great stuff!6. How size affects the internal complexities of organisms in their evolution and in their development.This was my favorite chapter in the book. Since I have done a good chunk of research on clonal animals, I was interested in reading Bonner's thoughts on clonal versus aclonal animals (the first topic in this chapter). He also addresses topcis such as size and internal complexity, cell size and internal complexity, how large complex organisms are built, plasticity in development, the evolution of interna