Written in an engaging style, suitable for an interdisciplinary audience

Discusses the emergence of a collective unit from a group of individual competitive components

Proposes a new and controversial mechanism for evolutionary processes

Offers an overview of the recent developments in the study of collective behaviour

Autorentext

Sonya Bahar is Professor of Biophysics and Director of the Center for Neurodynamics at the University of Missouri at St Louis. She is an expert in evolutionary dynamics and neural synchronization. She is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Klappentext

Written in an engaging style, suitable for an interdisciplinary audience Discusses the emergence of a collective unit from a group of individual competitive components Proposes a new and controversial mechanism for evolutionary processes Offers an overview of the recent developments in the study of collective behaviour

Inhalt

Introduction.- Part I: The History of an Idea.- Crowds.- Classification.- 'Time, just Time': Integrating up the Great Chain of Being.- The Battle of the Parts.- Synthesis?.- Selfish Creatures, Huddled together for Warmth.- The Vanishing Point Appears.- Part II: At the Frontier.- Flocking, Swarming and Communicating.- Quorum Sensing and Biofilms.- Multicellularity: Dicty.- Multicellularity: Volvox.- Experimental Evolution.- Part III: Beyond the Barricade.- Cooperation and Competition: One Level Sitting on Another.- Evol = f(Evol).- Spandrels, Exaptations and Raw Material.- The Essential Tension.- Index.