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Energy and Evolutionary Conflict

The Metabolic Roots of Cooperation

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Neil W. Blackstone

    1. Dept of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, USA

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  • This work connects two distinct scientific disciplines of energy conversion and evolution of cooperation
  • Presents energy conversion as a central mechanism that links evolution of cooperation and history of life
  • Two major transitions in the history of life, eukaryogenesis and multicellularity, are explored in this context

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
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  2. Introduction

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 1-4

  3. Energy Conversion: How Life Makes a Living

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 5-17

  4. The Puzzle of Cooperation

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 19-27

  5. A Thumbnail Sketch of the History of Life

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 29-38

  6. Early Insights: A Fascination with Metabolic Gradients

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 39-45

  7. How Can Metabolism Lead to Groups?

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 47-52

  8. Chemiosmosis and the Origin of Eukaryotes

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 53-62

  9. Chemiosmosis and Modern Symbioses

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 63-77

  10. The Evolution of Multicellularity

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 79-84

  11. Metabolism and Multicellularity Revisited

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 85-96

  12. Metabolic Vestiges of Conflict Mediation in Modern Biology

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 97-117

  13. Conclusions

    • Neil W. Blackstone
    Pages 119-120

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 121-124
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Keywords

About this book

In the mid- to late-twentieth century, large scientific conflicts flared in two seemingly distinct fields of scientific inquiry.  In bioenergetics, which examines how organisms obtain and utilize energy, the chemiosmotic hypothesis of Mitchell suggested a novel mechanism for energy conversion. In evolutionary biology, meanwhile, Wynne Edwards strongly articulated the view that organisms may act for the “good of the group.”  This work crystalized a long history of imprecise thinking about the evolution of cooperation. While both controversies have received ample attention, no one has ever suggested that one might inform the other, i.e., that energy metabolism in general and chemiosmosis in particular might be relevant to the evolution of cooperation. The central idea is nevertheless remarkably simple. Chemiosmosis rapidly converts energy, and once storage capacity is exceeded, an overabundance of product has various negative consequences.  While to some extent chemiosmotic processes can be modulated, under certain circumstances it is also possible to simply disperse the products into the environment.

This book argues that these two heretofore distinct scientific disciplines are connected, thereby suggesting that a ubiquitous process of energy conversion may underlie the evolution of cooperation and link major transitions in the history of life that have been regarded as mechanistically unrelated.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dept of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, USA

    Neil W. Blackstone

About the author

Neil W. Blackstone is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Illinois University.​ His research seeks to employ evolutionary principles to provide a predictive framework for both current ecological interactions and interactions that occurred earlier in the history of life. He has published over 90 articles and 2 books.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Energy and Evolutionary Conflict

  • Book Subtitle: The Metabolic Roots of Cooperation

  • Authors: Neil W. Blackstone

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06059-5

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-06058-8Published: 07 July 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-06061-8Published: 08 July 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-06059-5Published: 06 July 2022

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VII, 124

  • Number of Illustrations: 17 b/w illustrations, 8 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Evolutionary Biology, Chemistry/Food Science, general, Physiology, Organic Chemistry

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