Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Evolutionary Ecology and the Transition to Multicellularity

Evolutionary Ecology and the Transition to Multicellularity

Solari, Cristian Alejandro

Paperback

BiologyChemistry

ISBN10: 3836492474
ISBN13: 9783836492478
Publisher: Vdm Verlag
Published: Feb 15 2008
Pages: 88
Weight: 0.28
Height: 0.18 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The fitness of any evolutionary unit can be understood in terms of its two basic components: fecundity and viability. The trade-offs between these fitness components drive the evolution of many life-history traits in extant multicellular lineages. Here, I show that the emergence of individuality at a higher level during the uni-multicellular transition can also be a consequence of these trade-offs. I argue that germ-soma separation evolved as a means to counteract the increasing costs of larger multicellular colonies. Volvocalean green algae are uniquely suited for studying this transition since they range from unicells to undifferentiated colonies, to multicellular individuals with germ-soma separation. In these flagellated organisms, the increase in cell specialization observed as colony size increases can be explained in terms of increased motility requirements. Standard hydrodynamics is used to analyze motility in the Volvocales as colony size increases. The results of my work show that the evolution of multicellularity and germ-soma separation are the expected outcome of reducing the cost of reproduction in order to realize the benefits associated with increasing size.

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