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SLOW REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES are used by elephants, whales and humans to slowly rear and protect just a few offspring with high survivorship. Typically, organisms using this strategy are large, live long and sexually mature slowly. https://lnkd.in/eu6sYW4 View in LinkedIn

PRINCIPLE 7. “There are no programs at any other level.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

Farmland could be turned into meadows post-Brexit, says Michael Gove https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/04/farmland-could-be-turned-into-meadows-post-brexit-says-michael-gove?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other View in LinkedIn

LAMARCKISM. “Darwin’s theory of evolution was based on natural selection but in many writings he accepts the idea of the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Darwin never quarreled with Lamarck about that question. Transmission of cellular somatic changes that are transmitted to the germline presented problems for Darwin. What passes through the germline to the next generation, for Darwin, is very close to what we have found with epigenetic mechanisms today.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

DIRECTIONAL EVOLUTION. “I challenge the extent to which things are purely random. Subtle constraints may not be seen at the molecular level. These are the constraints from the environment and the constraints from the history of the organism.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

MULTILEVEL SELECTION. Selection works through death and life. What survives is what is selected for, what is let to die, disappears. The process of dying is not actually the function of genes. It seems to me to be blindingly obvious that selection itself is also occurring at the level of the organism. But the same point can apply to populations. Populations are in competition and some survive and others do not. It is things that live and die that are the target of evolution. https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

MORE THAN JUST GENES. Selection can occur at any level, not just at the level of the gene. The gene is not the only level of selection, which can happen at multi-levels. https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

HARNESSING RANDOMNESS. We have to rethink the question of blind stochasticity. Stochasticity is completely compatible with functionality at a high level. Stochasticity can be harnessed by organisms to generate desired functionality in response to stress in the environment. https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

TARGETED MUTATION gives functionality at a high level, while gene level mutations are random. Organisms can respond in functional ways to environmental change. https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

CONSIDERABLE BACKUP SYSTEMS. Bacteria can show rapid evolution of genome changes in response to unfavorable chemotherapy drugs and antibiotics, and very rapid (4 day) restoration of flagella in bacteria after relevant regulatory gene deletion. https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn