Evolutionary perspectives on pregnancy / John C. Avise ; animal drawings by Trudy Nicholson.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

Covering both the internal and external incubation of offspring, this book provides a biology-rich survey of the natural history, ecology, genetics, and evolution of pregnancy-like phenomena. From mammals and other live-bearing organisms to viviparous reptiles, male-pregnant fishes, larval-brooding worms, crabs, sea cucumbers, and corals, the world's various species display pregnancy and other forms of parental devotion in surprisingly multifaceted ways. An adult female (or male) can incubate its offspring in a womb, stomach, mouth, vocal sac, gill chamber, epithelial pouch, backpack, leg.

PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; PART I. Distribution and Diversity of Pregnancy; CHAPTER ONE: One Generation Inside Another; The Sexual Life Cycle; Gametogenesis; Gamete Deployment; Syngamy; Ontogeny and Pregnancy; Ontogenetic and Evolutionary Gradations of Pregnancy; Location of Fertilization; Nature of Parturition; Embryonic Provisioning and Parental Care; Viviparous Pregnancy in the Reproductive Timeline; Heterochrony; Some Unorthodox Routes to Internal Pregnancy; Internal Gestation Following External Fertilization; Virgin Births: Internal Gestation Without Sex.

Sexual Inequalities and Female Authority Over Reproduction; Provision Ova with Substantive Yolk?; Accept Sperm for Internal Fertilization?; Encase Embryo in Egg?; Give Birth to Live Young?; Entrust Offspring Care to Males?; Other Sexual Asymmetries Related to Biological Parenthood; Assurance of Maternity; Assessment of Paternity; Evolutionary Reconstructions; CHAPTER TWO: Vertebrate Live- Bearers: The Borneand the Born; Viviparity; Evolutionary Origins; Developmental Sequences; Trophic Relationships Between Mother and Fetus; The Cast of Viviparous Vertebrates; Bony Fishes; Cartilaginous Fishes.

Fossil Fishes; Amphibians; Reptiles; Mammals; CHAPTER THREE: Vertebrate Alternatives to Standard Pregnancy; Oviparity: The Borne and the Hatched; What Kinds of Eggs Are Shed?; What Is the State of the Offspring at Parturition?; What Type of Casing Surrounds the Egg?; The Cast of Oviparous Vertebrates; Birds; Bony Fishes; Cartilaginous Fishes; Amphibians; Reptiles; Mammals; Intermediate Conditions and Evolutionary Transitions; Ovoviviparity; Evolutionary Conversions; CHAPTER FOUR: Nonvertebrate Brooders; The Cast of Players; Annelida; Platyhelminthes; Cnidaria; Bryozoa; Echinodermata; Mollusca.

Arthropoda; Urochordata; Plants; Evolutionary Transitions; Planktotrophy to Lecithotrophy; Onward to Female Brooding; Onward to Paternal Care of Offspring; Conflicts Promoted by Brooding; Sibling Conflict; Parent- Offspring Conflict; Parent- Parent Conflict; Genetic Parentage Assessments; CHAPTER FIVE: Human Pregnancy in Mythology and in Real Life; Conception and Contraception; Extracorporeal Fertilization; Superfetation; Twinning or Multibirth Pregnancy; Ectopic Pregnancy; From Preterm Labor to Prolonged Pregnancy; Spontaneous Abortion; Induced Abortion and Infanticide; Cesarean Section.

Precocious Puberty; Standard Vaginal Delivery; The Placenta; Menopause; Male Pregnancy; PART II. Evolutionary Ramifications of Pregnancy; CHAPTER SIX: Natural Selection During Mammalian Pregnancy; Delayed Implantation; Polyembryony; Sporadic; Constitutive; Dizygotic Twinning; Cooperation and Conflict Within the Nuclear Family; Evolutionary Conflict in Mother- Offspring Relations; Common Medical Problems During Pregnancy; Immunological Challenges; Infanticide; Menstruation; Other Categories of Conflict; Sibling Competition; Parental Conflicts and Genetic Imprinting.

English.

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