Organisms Amplify Diversity : An Autocatalytic Hypothesis (Hardcover)

Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Life Regulates the Atmosphere’s Greenhouse Gas Levels and the Earth’s Temperature Chapter 3. Organisms Created High Oxygen Levels, which Allowed Complex Life to Evolve and Diversify Chapter 4. Species Profoundly Affect the Evolution of Other Species; Coevolution is Fundamentally Important and Was Involved in the Vast Majority of Major Evolutionary Transitions Chapter 5. In Ecological Succession, Earlier Communities Create Favorable Environmental Conditions for Succeeding, Usually More Complex and Diverse, Communities Chapter 6. Life Creates Soil, a Diverse Ecosystem that Benefits Life in the Soil and Above It Chapter 7. Eukaryotes are Complex Ecosystems with Diverse Microbiomes, Showing the Importance of Symbiosis and Commensalism, and Challenging the Concept of the Individual Chapter 8. Viruses Are by Far the Most Genetically Variable and Biodiverse Group of Organisms, Generate High Diversity in Cellular Organisms, and Are Key Drivers of Major Adaptive Macroevolutionary Breakthroughs in Cellular Organisms Chapter 9. Genomes and Their Behaviors Promote Genetic Variability, Evolution, Large Adaptive Evolutionary Innovations, and Diversification; the Amount and Nature of Genetic Variability is Subject to Natural Selection Chapter 10. Altruism and Cooperation within Populations Are Often Adaptive, and Maintain Populations and Diversity Chapter 11. Network Theory Models and Empirical Evidence Support the Thesis that Coevolved Diversity and Connectance Correlate with Ecosystem Stability, Productivity, Resilience, and Persistence Chapter 12. Scientific Laws Indicate the Essential Inevitability of the Chemical Evolution of Life Under Favorable Conditions; a Hypothesis that Incorporates the Autocatalytic Biodiversity Hypothesis Postulates a Tendency for Increase in Information in Systems with Favorable Conditions Chapter 13. The Solar System, Sun, Jupiter, Earth’s Moon, and Nonbiological Earth All Aid Life, Suggesting the Autocatalytic Biodiversity Hypothesis Does Not Account for All of Earth’s Biodiversity, and is a Subset of a More General Hypothesis Chapter 14. Counter Examples to and Arguments against the Autocatalytic Biodiversity Hypothesis and Answers to Them Chapter 15. Implications Glossary Index