ABSTRACT
The present chapter presents a first application of the theory proposed in the foregoing chapters. Using a device called the coupling graph, we show that the ‘pleiotropic suite’ being the range of processes affected by a given hormones and the signs (i.e. stimulation or inhibition) can be rationalised on the basis of the underlying physiological dynamics and homeostatic drives. The good agreement of this rationalisation with observed pleiotropic suites provides corroborating evidence for the central idea that hormones are tokens of evolutionary pressures.
