scholarly journals Individual, Social, and Evolutionary Adaptation in Collective Systems

2013 ◽  
pp. 437-496
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Adaptation

Gossip as a Social Skill

2019 ◽  
pp. 171-192
Author(s):  
Francis T. McAndrew
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Skills ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Skill ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Evolutionary Adaptation ◽  
Important Phenomenon ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Competent Person

Gossip is a more complicated and socially important phenomenon than most people think, and campaigns to stamp out gossip in workplaces and other social settings overlook the fact that gossip is part of human nature and an essential part of what makes social groups function as well as they do. This chapter takes the position that gossip is an evolutionary adaptation and that it is the primary tool for monitoring and managing the reputation of individuals in society. An interest in the affairs of other people is a necessary component of being a socially competent person, and the chapter explores the multi-dimensional nature of gossip-related social skills. It pays special attention to “gossip as a social skill,” rather than as a character flaw, and presents insights into related phenomena such as how people use social media such as Facebook.

Language and creativity: a Construction Grammar approach to linguistic creativity

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Evolutionary Adaptation ◽  
Theory Construction ◽  
Conceptual Blending ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Explanatory Account ◽  
The Way

AbstractCreativity is an important evolutionary adaptation that allows humans to think original thoughts, to find solutions to problems that have never been encountered before and to fundamentally change the way we live. One particular domain of human cognition that has received considerable attention is linguistic creativity. The present paper discusses how the leading cognitive linguistic theory, Construction Grammar, can provide an explanatory account of creativity that goes beyond the issue of linguistic productivity. At the same time, it also outlines how Construction Grammar can benefit from insights from Conceptual Blending.

scholarly journals The circadian clock uses different environmental time cues to synchronize emergence and locomotion of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Beer ◽  
Mariela Schenk ◽  
Charlotte Helfrich-Förster ◽  
Andrea Holzschuh
Keyword(s):  
Circadian Clock ◽  
Circadian System ◽  
Evolutionary Adaptation ◽  
Solitary Bee ◽  
Daily Rhythms ◽  
Osmia Bicornis ◽  
Cavity Nesting ◽  
Impact On Survival ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractLife on earth adapted to the daily reoccurring changes in environment by evolving an endogenous circadian clock. Although the circadian clock has a crucial impact on survival and behavior of solitary bees, many aspects of solitary bee clock mechanisms remain unknown. Our study is the first to show that the circadian clock governs emergence in Osmia bicornis, a bee species which overwinters as adult inside its cocoon. Therefore, its eclosion from the pupal case is separated by an interjacent diapause from its emergence in spring. We show that this bee species synchronizes its emergence to the morning. The daily rhythms of emergence are triggered by temperature cycles but not by light cycles. In contrast to this, the bee’s daily rhythms in locomotion are synchronized by light cycles. Thus, we show that the circadian clock of O. bicornis is set by either temperature or light, depending on what activity is timed. Light is a valuable cue for setting the circadian clock when bees have left the nest. However, for pre-emerged bees, temperature is the most important cue, which may represent an evolutionary adaptation of the circadian system to the cavity-nesting life style of O. bicornis.

Evolutionary adaptation to thermosensation

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 67-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena O Gracheva ◽  
Sviatoslav N Bagriantsev
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Adaptation

scholarly journals Evolutionary adaptation after crippling cell polarization follows reproducible trajectories

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liedewij Laan ◽  
John H Koschwanez ◽  
Andrew W Murray
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Cell Polarization ◽  
Functional Modules ◽  
Evolutionary Adaptation ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Fixed Sequence ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Adaptive Mutations ◽  
Rapid Divergence ◽  
Polarity Gene

Cells are organized by functional modules, which typically contain components whose removal severely compromises the module's function. Despite their importance, these components are not absolutely conserved between parts of the tree of life, suggesting that cells can evolve to perform the same biological functions with different proteins. We evolved Saccharomyces cerevisiae for 1000 generations without the important polarity gene BEM1. Initially the bem1∆ lineages rapidly increase in fitness and then slowly reach >90% of the fitness of their BEM1 ancestors at the end of the evolution. Sequencing their genomes and monitoring polarization reveals a common evolutionary trajectory, with a fixed sequence of adaptive mutations, each improving cell polarization by inactivating proteins. Our results show that organisms can be evolutionarily robust to physiologically destructive perturbations and suggest that recovery by gene inactivation can lead to rapid divergence in the parts list for cell biologically important functions.

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