Evolutionary Biology

1. Speciation Processes in the Adaptive Radiation of Hawaiian Plants and Animals.- The Geology of Hawaii and Biological Consequences.- Speciation in Hawaiian Plants.- Speciation in Hawaiian Animals.- Speciation Processes in Hawaii.- Summary.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 2. Codon Bias and the Context Dependency of Nucleotide Substitutions in the Evolution of Plastid DNA.- The Plastid Genome.- Codon Bias.- Mutation Dynamics.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 3. The Origin of the Mineral Skeleton in Chordates.- Architecture of Conodont Apparatuses.- Function of Conodont Apparatuses.- Growth and Function of Conodont Elements.- Conodont Element Morphogenesis.- Relationships of Yunnanozoon.- Paraconodonts and the Evolutionary Origin of the Conodont Apparatus.- Dickinsonia and the Ancestry of Chordates.- The Problem of Protoconodonts.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 4. Evolutionarily Stable Configurations: Functional Integration and the Evolution of Phenotypic Stability.- The Evolutionarily Stable Configuration: Overview.- Case-Study: Lingual Feeding in Iguanian Lizards.- The ESC: Characterization and Postulates.- Origin of an ESC.- Escaping from an ESC.- Character Analysis, Phylogenetic Patterns, and Comparative Methods.- A Brief Review of Relevant Concepts: Functional Integration and Internal Selection.- Developmental and Functional Constraint.- Problems.- Some General Implications of the ESC Concept.- Acknowledgments.- Appendix 1: Millikan’s (1984) “Proper Function”.- Appendix 2: Character Evolution within an ESC.- References.