Symbiotic stars were identified spectroscopically as M giants with a very strong He II 4686 emission line. After five decades of study by many astronomers, the first internatioinal meetings devoted to symbiotics were held at the University of Colorado (Boulder) and at the Haute Provence Observatory during the Summer of 1981. These conferences emphasized exciting new results obtained by modern satellite (EINSTEIN, IUE) and ground-based observatories. Although the vast majority of the participants were already fairly sure that symbiotics are almost certainly interacting binary systems, and not extremely peculiar single stars, it was not clear exactly which types of physical processes were needed to be invoked to explain their observed behaviour. Many were even worried that it might not be possible to clearly define a class of "symbiotic stars" , and thus establish a unique model applicable to any system. Since the publication of the Haute-Provence proceedings, our understanding of the physical processes occuring in symbiotic stars (and in related objects such as cataclysmic variables and compact planetary nebulae) has greatly improved. We now speak confidently of a "symbiotic phenomenon" , in which an evolved red giant and a hot companion object (usually thought to be an accreting main sequence star or a luminous white dwarf star) happily coexist.

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, Four Volume Set is the definitive go-to reference in the field of evolutionary biology. It provides a fully comprehensive review of the field in an easy to search structure. Under the collective leadership of fifteen distinguished section editors, it is comprised of articles written by leading experts in the field, providing a full review of the current status of each topic. The articles are up-to-date and fully illustrated with in-text references that allow readers to easily access primary literature. While all entries are authoritative and valuable to those with advanced understanding of evolutionary biology, they are also intended to be accessible to both advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Broad topics include the history of evolutionary biology, population genetics, quantitative genetics; speciation, life history evolution, evolution of sex and mating systems, evolutionary biogeography, evolutionary developmental biology, molecular and genome evolution, coevolution, phylogenetic methods, microbial evolution, diversification of plants and fungi, diversification of animals, and applied evolution. Presents fully comprehensive content, allowing easy access to fundamental information and links to primary research Contains concise articles by leading experts in the field that ensures current coverage of each topic Provides ancillary learning tools like tables, illustrations, and multimedia features to assist with the comprehension process

Plants and animals have evolved ever since their appearance in a largely microbial world. Their own cells are less numerous than the microorganisms that they host and with whom they interact closely. The study of these interactions, termed microbial symbioses, has benefited from the development of new conceptual and technical tools. We are gaining an increasing understanding of the functioning, evolution and central importance of symbiosis in the biosphere. Since the origin of eukaryotic cells, microscopic organisms of our planet have integrated our very existence into their ways of life. The interaction between host and symbiont brings into question the notion of the individual and the traditional representation of the evolution of species, and the manipulation of symbioses facilitates fascinating new perspectives in biotechnology and health. Recent discoveries show that association is one of the main properties of organisms, making a more integrated view of biology necessary. Microbial Symbioses provides a deliberately "symbiocentric outlook, to exhibit how the exploration of microbial symbioses enriches our understanding of life, and the potential future for this discipline. - Offers a concise summary of the most recent discoveries in the field - Shows how symbiosis is acquiring a central role in the biology of the 21st century by transforming our understanding of living things - Presents scientific issues, but also societal and economic related issues (biodiversity, biotechnology) through examples from all branches of the tree of life

Individuals are things that everybody knows—or thinks they do. Yet even scholars who practice or analyze the biological sciences often cannot agree on what an individual is and why. One reason for this disagreement is that the many important biological individuality concepts serve very different purposes—defining, classifying, or explaining living structure, function, interaction, persistence, or evolution. Indeed, as the contributors to Biological Individuality reveal, nature is too messy for simple definitions of this concept, organisms too quirky in the diverse ways they reproduce, function, and interact, and human ideas about individuality too fraught with philosophical and historical meaning. Bringing together biologists, historians, and philosophers, this book provides a multifaceted exploration of biological individuality that identifies leading and less familiar perceptions of individuality both past and present, what they are good for, and in what contexts. Biological practice and theory recognize individuals at myriad levels of organization, from genes to organisms to symbiotic systems. We depend on these notions of individuality to address theoretical questions about multilevel natural selection and Darwinian fitness; to illuminate empirical questions about development, function, and ecology; to ground philosophical questions about the nature of organisms and causation; and to probe historical and cultural circumstances that resonate with parallel questions about the nature of society. Charting an interdisciplinary research agenda that broadens the frameworks in which biological individuality is discussed, this book makes clear that in the realm of the individual, there is not and should not be a direct path from biological paradigms based on model organisms through to philosophical generalization and historical reification.

The associations between insects and microorganisms, while pervasive and of paramount ecological importance, have been relatively poorly understood. The third book in this set, Insect Symbiosis, Volume 3, complements the previous volumes in exploring this somewhat uncharted territory. Like its predecessors, Volume 3 illustrates how symbiosis resear

This new volume of Methods in Enzymology continues the legacy of this premier serial with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field. This volume covers microbial metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics, and includes chapters on such topics as in-solution FISH for single cell genome preparation, preparation of BAC libraries from marine microbial community DNA, and preparation of microbial community cDNA for metatranscriptomic analysis in marine plankton.

The Theory of Endobiogeny Volume 1: Global Systems Thinking and Biological Modeling for Clinical Medicine offers researchers and clinicians a detailed introduction to the theory of Endobiogeny. The book presents a new approach to medicine that is at once scientific and humanistic, quantitative, and qualitative. The philosophical and experimental basis of a global complex systems approach to physiology is presented along with a mathematical approach to modeling the dynamism of the terrain. The importance of the history and physical examination are renewed as a source of "big data readily available to clinicians for greater insight into the patient's state. Expansion of the therapeutic compendium is proposed based on a rational, clinical approach correlated to mathematical indicators of the physiologic state. What is proposed in this work is a fundamental shift in scientific thinking with a resulting expansion of the boundaries of clinical medicine for the 21st century and beyond. - Extends systems biology from the cellular to the integrative physiologic level - Moves the functional medicine approach to a higher level of integration and true global systems thinking - Presents mathematical tools and proofs of formulas related to the biology of functions: a biological modeling system based on the theory of endobiogeny. The biology of functions has assisted clinicians in conceptualizing, treating, and objectively monitoring the longitudinal effects of treatment through the evolution of the patient's unique phenotypic expression of terrain