Evolution, Third Edition July 2013 Evolution, Third Edition – a Comprehensive Exploration of Contemporary Evolutionary Biology

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Evolution, Third Edition July 2013 Evolution, Third Edition – a Comprehensive Exploration of Contemporary Evolutionary Biology Evolution, Third Edition July 2013 Evolution, Third Edition – a comprehensive exploration of contemporary evolutionary biology Thoroughly updated, Evolution, Third Edition, addresses major themes — including the history of evolution, evolutionary processes, adaptation, and evolution as an explanatory framework — at levels of biological organization ranging from genomes to ecological communities. Throughout, the text emphasizes the interplay between theory and empirical tests of hypotheses, to help students become more familiar with the process of science. With a helpful list of important concepts and terms in each chapter, dynamic figures and lively photographs the new edition of Evolution will inspire and inform the next generation. About the Author DOUGLAS J. FUTUYMA is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of two previous editions of Evolution, as well as three editions of its predecessor, Evolutionary Biology, and has authored or edited several 9781605351155 other books. Dr. Futuyma has received the 1997 Sewall Wright Award of the American Society of July 2013 | Hardback Naturalists and the 2012 Joseph Leidy Award of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 656pp | £46.99 (Philadelphia). He has served as Editor of Evolution and is currently Editor of the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. His major research interests include evolution of host specificity Request an inspection copy today at in herbivorous insects and of interactions among insects and plants, speciation, and evolution of www.palgrave.com/Futuyma3e community structure. WHAT’s NEW? • Greatly revised treatment of methods of phylogenetic analysis Chapter 4 includes updated material of feathered • Up-to-date coverage of human evolution, based on the fossil record and genomic dinosaurs and the origin of birds, including Figure variation 4.9 which references papers from 2010 and 2012 • Reorganized treatment of the history of changes in biological diversity, integrating information from palaeontology and phylogenetics • Coverage of important new developments in sexual selection and the evolutionary advantage of sex • Updated and expanded coverage of reinforcement in speciation, and of speciation with gene flow – View Chapter 18: Speciation today. • Extensive updating of very recent advances in evolutionary genomics • Approximately 25% new figures • 460 new citations (of approximately 1,700) FOR MORE INFORMATION, EXPLORE THE Chapter 9 includes new and updated material CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER GUIDE TO NEW CONTENT… on nongenetic inherited variation, linkage disequilibrium and patterns of human genetic variation, in relation to notions of “race” A CHAPTER-bY-ChapTER GUIDE TO NEW CONTENT 1. EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY 6. THE GEOGRAPHY OF EVOLUTION 10. GENETIC DRIFT: EVOLUTION AT RANDOM • Added example of hypothetico-deductive method • A description of new methods of historical • Expanded introduction to random processes in evolution (prediction and verification) in evolutionary biology biogeographic analysis • Updated material on reduced variation caused by • New material on the spread of Homo sapiens beyond population bottlenecks Africa (including admixture of Neanderthal and • New, updated section on molecular clocks 2. THE TREE OF LIFE: CLASSIFICATION AND PHYLOGENY Denisovan genes) • Rewritten and updated material on the origin of modern • Revised, updated discussion of statistical methods of Homo sapiens, human effective population size, and phylogenetic analysis genetic correlates of explosive population growth • New box describing additional phylogenetic methods 7. THE EVOLUTION OF BIODIVERSITY • Updated discussion of incomplete lineage sorting • Improved integration of paleontological and • New section on applications and extensions of phylogenetic approaches to estimating clade 11. NATURAL SELECTION AND ADAPTATION phylogenetics diversity through time • Added discussion of selection sorting in both time • Updated material on patterns of temporal change and space in clade diversity • New material on effective environment depending 3. PATTERNS OF EVOLUTION • Updated discussion of diversity-dependent on species • New material on molecular convergence diversification • Expanded treatment of testing hypotheses of • Updated discussion of comparative genome sizes • New section on why some kinds of organisms adaptation by experiments and numbers of genes in genome are more diverse • Material on adaptive evolution moved to this • Updated and expanded section on adaptive radiation chapter and expanded • New section on adaptation to global warming 4. EVOLUTION IN THE FOSSIL RECORD • Updated material on feathered dinosaurs and the 8. THE ORIGIN OF GENETIC VARIATION origin of birds • Updated discussion of effects of regulatory mutations 12. THE GENETIC THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION • Updated information about the Hominin fossil record, • New material on molecular causes of pleiotropy • Updated examples of gene flow vs. selection, the new genomic data, and human origins • Updated material on fitness effects of mutation in effect of gene flow on local adaptation, and noncoding regions of the genome, and on the frequency-dependent selection frequency of neutral and nonneutral mutations • Updated treatment of a classic example: industrial 5. A HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH • New description of epistatic mutations melanism in the peppered moth Updated references and information on: the origin of • New material on detecting selection from geographic life/earliest life; laboratory evolution of RNA mixtures; variation the evolution of multicellularity; comparative genetics 9. VARIATION: THE FOUNDATION OF EVOLUTION • Updated treatment of selection in the human genome of choanoflagellates and animals; age of animal • New section on nongenetic inherited variation • New section dealing with adaptation based on new vs. phyla; the evolution of angiosperms; phylogeny of • Recast material on linkage disequilibrium standing variation vertebrate groups; early mammalian diversity; causes • Updated references on patterns of human genetic • McDonald-Kreitman test for selection moved from of Pleistocene megafaunal extinction variation, in relation to notions of “race” Chapter 10 13. PHENOTYPIC EVOLUTION 17. SPECIES 21. EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT • Substantial rewriting and shortening of some sections • Expanded treatment of phylogenetic species concepts Contributed by John R. True • Updated material on QTL for human traits • Updated discussion of ecological isolation, hybrid • Updated coverage of the evolutionary developmental • New treatment of directional selection in inviability, and the genetics of behavioural isolation biology of flower development contemporary human populations • Expanded treatment of genetic incompatibility based • New material on the evolutionary developmental • New treatment of evolution of phenotypic plasticity on duplicate genes biology of flower symmetry • Updates on genetic constraints, modularity, and • Revised section on genetic divergence and exchange • Updated section on genome-level and pathway evolution of pleiotropy perspectives of developmental evolution • New section on whether adaptation can rescue species • Updated discussions of protein sequence changes in from extinction 18. SPECIATION regulatory and morphological evolution • Expanded section on evidence for allopatric speciation • New perspectives on macroevolution and the role of • Updated discussion of ecological speciation developmental arrest in morphological evolution 14. THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE HISTORIES • Expanded treatments of sexual selection and • New material on the integration of ecological • Rewritten section on age schedules of reproduction speciation and of peripatric speciation developmental biology • Section on “Life Histories and Mating Strategies” • Revised section on sympatric speciation; new material moved to this chapter from Chapter 15 on genomic studies of speciation with gene flow 22. MACROEVOLUTION: EVOLUTION ABOVE THE SPECIES LEVEL 15. SEX AND REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS 19. COEVOLUTION: EVOLVING INTERACTIONS • Updated treatment of stasis, gradualism and saltation, • Updated material on the costs of sex, clonal AMONG SPECIES and the evolution of complex characteristics interference, sex and parasites • Revised section on aposematism and mimicry • New material on developmental biology and • Treatment of the newest models of the advantage of • Expanded and reorganized section on parasite–host complexity sex and recombination (separating advantageous interactions and infectious disease • Revised section on evolvability alleles from disadvantageous alleles elsewhere in • Revised material on evolution of competitive • New section on predictability and contingency in the genome) interactions evolution • Reorganized material on the evolution of mate choice • New section on evolution and community structure • New sections on reversed and mutual sexual selection, and on the effects of sexual selection on adaptation 23. EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE AND CREATIONISM • Updated treatment of sexual conflict 20. EVOLUTION OF GENES AND GENOMES • Updated discussion of evolution in relation to health Contributed by Scott V. Edwards and medicine • New section on diverse players and processes in • New material on evolutionary approaches to pest 16. CONFLICT AND COOPERATION genomes management • Reorganized discussion of social interactions and • New information on the fraction of the genome cooperation
Recommended publications
  • Plant Evolution an Introduction to the History of Life
    Plant Evolution An Introduction to the History of Life KARL J. NIKLAS The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London CONTENTS Preface vii Introduction 1 1 Origins and Early Events 29 2 The Invasion of Land and Air 93 3 Population Genetics, Adaptation, and Evolution 153 4 Development and Evolution 217 5 Speciation and Microevolution 271 6 Macroevolution 325 7 The Evolution of Multicellularity 377 8 Biophysics and Evolution 431 9 Ecology and Evolution 483 Glossary 537 Index 547 v Introduction The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything the way it is. It’s how nature creates itself, on every scale, the snowflake and the snowstorm. — TOM STOPPARD, Arcadia, Act 1, Scene 4 (1993) Much has been written about evolution from the perspective of the history and biology of animals, but significantly less has been writ- ten about the evolutionary biology of plants. Zoocentricism in the biological literature is understandable to some extent because we are after all animals and not plants and because our self- interest is not entirely egotistical, since no biologist can deny the fact that animals have played significant and important roles as the actors on the stage of evolution come and go. The nearly romantic fascination with di- nosaurs and what caused their extinction is understandable, even though we should be equally fascinated with the monarchs of the Carboniferous, the tree lycopods and calamites, and with what caused their extinction (fig. 0.1). Yet, it must be understood that plants are as fascinating as animals, and that they are just as important to the study of biology in general and to understanding evolutionary theory in particular.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution, Third Edition
    evolution THIRD EDITION DOUGLAS J. FUTUYMA Stony Brook University Chapter 20, "Evolution of Genes and Genomes" by Scott V. Edwards, Harvard University Chapter 21, "Evolution and Development" by John R. True, Stony Brook University SINAUER ASSOCIATES, INC. •Publishers Sunderland, Massachusetts U.S.A. © 2013 Sinauer Associates, Inc. This material cannot be copied, reproduced, manufactured or disseminated in any form without express written permission from the publisher. 00_EVOL3E_Frontmatter_U&lc.indd iii 2/14/13 8:05 AM Brief Contents 1 Evolutionary Biology 1 2 The Tree of Life: Classifi cation and Phylogeny 19 3 Patterns of Evolution 51 4 Evolution in the Fossil Record 77 5 A History of Life on Earth 103 6 The Geography of Evolution 135 7 The Evolution of Biodiversity 161 8 The Origin of Genetic Variation 189 9 Variation: The Foundation of Evolution 217 10 Genetic Drift: Evolution at Random 257 11 Natural Selection and Adaptation 281 12 The Genetic Theory of Natural Selection 309 13 Phenotypic Evolution 347 14 The Evolution of Life Histories 379 15 Sex and Reproductive Success 399 16 Confl ict and Cooperation 427 17 Species 459 18 Speciation 483 19 The Evolution of Interactions among Species 513 20 Evolution of Genes and Genomes 537 21 Evolution and Development 565 22 Macroevolution: Evolution above the Species Level 605 23 Evolutionary Science, Creationism, and Society 631 © 2013 Sinauer Associates, Inc. This material cannot be copied, reproduced, manufactured or disseminated in any form without express written permission from the publisher.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Evolution the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
    Introduction to Evolution eg. same species of plant or insect may have 1 generation in northern part of its range or 2, even 3, generations in the Evolution is the process by which nature selects, southern part of its range from the genetic diversity of a population, those traits eg. virtually every bacterial pathogen has become at least that would make an individual more likely to survive and somewhat resistant to antibiotics over the past 60 years reproduce in!a continuously changing environment. ! over time, these populations may change in their appearance and other visible characteristics and Over many years and many generations the full will surely change in their genetic structure diversity of life on earth is expressed. eg. many unrelated species often adapt in similar was when Evolution is one of the most fundamental organizing subjected to the same environmental conditions principles of the biological sciences and as such is the single most dominant theme in biology today over long periods of time these changes could be significantly different from what you started with evolution stresses the relatedness of all life rather than its differences yet, no one has ever witnessed the origin of a major new animal or plant group ! it provides a framework (=unifying principle) ! takes 10,000’s or millions of years for the way that we study and understand the living world we do however have an increasing amount of fossil data that shows the evolution of one species from another, step by step ! it’s a way of bringing together many diverse aspects of life’s tremendous complexity and today with molecular techniques we can actually observe and measure the rate of evolution in many species today Adaptation vs Evolution there is no controversy surrounding evolution within the scientific community itself; One of the “characteristics of life” is that organisms adapt to their environment as it changes from year the “controversy” is fabricated by those who seek to inject to year nonscientific beliefs into a very powerful scientific concept eg.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Using Evolution As the Framework for Teaching Biology David L. Alles
    Using Evolution as the Framework for Teaching Biology David L. Alles Western Washington University e-mail: [email protected] Alles, D. L. (2001). Using Evolution as the Framework for Teaching Biology. The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 63, No. 1(January), 20-23. Introduction In April of 1998, the National Academy of Sciences published the booklet Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science (NAS, 1998). The booklet challenges teachers to use evolution as the organizing theme in teaching biology, rather than treating evolution as a separate topic. The NAS also emphasizes the importance of teaching biology students the nature of science. These recommendations are admirable, but their acceptance so far has been limited. In this article I report on my efforts to teach the nature of science and to use evolution as the framework for teaching biology. Since the Fall of 1997, I have been teaching a non-major’s general biology course, Biology 101, at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. I have now taught the course eight times to a combined total of over seven hundred students. The course is experimental in that it does not follow the traditional scope and sequence for teaching biology, as exemplified by the majority of current textbooks for a non-major’s general biology course. The major changes that I have made are 1) evolution and the history of life are used as the curriculum framework and 2) an extensive unit has been added on the history and philosophy of science. Although the design of the course predates the publication of the NAS booklet, the curriculum changes I have made follow the NAS’s central recommendations.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution, Science, and Society: Evolutionary Biology and the National Research Agenda
    . Evolution, Science, and Society: Evolutionary Biology and the National Research Agenda [working draft as of 28 September 1998] Prepared by: Editorial Chair: Douglas J. Futuyma (State University of New York -Stony Brook) Organizational Chair: Thomas R. Meagher (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) Steering Committee: Michael J. Donoghue (Harvard University) Charles H. Langley (University of California-Davis) Linda Maxson (University of Iowa) Working Group: Albert F. Bennett (University of California-Irvine) H. Jane Brockmann (University of Florida) Marcus W. Feldman (Stanford University) Walter M. Fitch (University of California-Irvine) Laurie R. Godfrey (University of Massachusetts) James Hanken (University of Colorado) David Jablonski (University of Chicago) Carol B. Lynch (University of Colorado) Leslie Real (Indiana University) Margaret A. Riley (Yale University) J. John Sepkoski, Jr. (University of Chicago) Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis (University of Florida) Under the sponsorship of: The A. P. Sloan Foundation The National Science Foundation Endorsed by the following scientific societies: American Society of Naturalists Animal Behavior Society [PENDING] Ecological Society of America Genetics Society of America Paleontological Society [PENDING] Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution [PENDING] Society of Systematic Biologists Society for the Study of Evolution [PENDING] 1 . CONTENTS PREAMBLE I. INTRODUCTION II. WHAT IS EVOLUTION? III. WHAT IS EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY? A. Subdisciplines of Evolutionary Biology B. Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology IV. HOW IS EVOLUTION STUDIED? V. SOME ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY VI. CONTRIBUTIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY TO THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES A. Molecular Biology B. Developmental Biology C. Physiology and Morphology D. Neurobiology and Behavior VII. EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY: MEETING SOCIETAL NEEDS A. Human Health and Medicine B.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution and Speciation - Insects As Model Organisms
    EVOLUTION AND SPECIATION - INSECTS AS MODEL ORGANISMS Tina Boddum Introductory Paper at the Faculty of Landscape Planning, Horticulture and Agricultural Science 2008:3 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Alnarp, November 2008 “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” Theodosius Dobzhansky ISSN 1654-3580 2 EVOLUTION AND SPECIATION - INSECTS AS MODEL ORGANISMS Tina Boddum Introductory Paper at the Faculty of Landscape Planning, Horticulture and Agricultural Science 2008:3 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Alnarp, November 2008 “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” Theodosius Dobzhansky 3 4 1. Preface This introductory paper is part of my PhD project: “Host shift induced speciation in gall midges”. The project is conducted at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Alnarp), department of Plant Protection Biology, division of Chemical Ecology. The project is part of IC-E3, supported by a Linnaeus Grant (Formas, Sweden). My supervisors are Ylva Hillbur, Bill S. Hansson and Göran Birgersson. The first part of this paper is a general overview of evolution and speciation. This is followed by a more detailed part about insects and their speciation. At the end of the paper the gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) are introduced. 2. Summary Charles Darwin is the father of evolution as we know it today. In his book “The origin of species” he states that new species originate from ancestral species that change over time, and that the mechanism of the change is natural selection. How the variation natural selection need is generated and passed from generation to generation was solved by Gregor Mendel and Thomas Hunt Morgans (and his group).
    [Show full text]
  • MECHANISMS of EVOLUTION Students Will Be Introduced to Evolutionary Theory and the Mechanisms by Which Evolution Occurs
    Science Research Mentoring Program MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION Students will be introduced to evolutionary theory and the mechanisms by which evolution occurs. Topics such as genetic mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, recombination, and natural selection will be taught in the context of micro- and macroevolution. Students will understand shared common ancestry or decent with modification, a hallmark of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection, and will build evolutionary trees to demonstrate these processes. 2 Session 1: Introduction to Evolution and Variation 5 Session 2: The Species Concept 6 Session 3: Natural Selection 11 Session 4: Darwin Day 12 Session 5: Mechanisms by which Evolution Occurs 18 Session 6: Homology and Cladistics 20 Session 7: Primate Origins 21 Session 8: Tree-Building 23 Session 9: Human Origins 24 Session 10: Neanderthals: Who were they and what caused their extinction? 25 Session 11: Extinction: Mammoths and other Mammals 26 Session 12: Final Project The Science Research Mentoring Program is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-0833537. 1 Science Research Mentoring Program MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION Session One: Introduction to Evolution and Variation LEARNING OBJECTIVES To understand that evolution means change in allele frequency—either small-scale observable change or large-scale gradual change—and that variation is necessary for such change to take place. KEY TOPICS • What is evolution? • Microevolution vs. macroevolution • Variation within and between species CLASS OUTLINE TIME TOPIC DESCRIPTION 15 minutes Assessment and Icebreaker Have students introduce themselves, and state something they know about evolution. 30 minutes Tour of Hall of Human Origins Introduce students to the traits that primates share and traits that are unique to different primate species (monkeys, apes, and hominids).
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of Dinosaurs Paul C
    E VOLUTION 93. S. D. Weatherbee and S. B. Carroll, Cell 97, 283 106. L. A. Derry, A. J. Kaufman, S. B. Jacobsen, Geochim. 114. J. A. Baud, M. Magaritz, W. T. Holser, Geol. Rundsch. (1999). Cosmochim. Acta 56, 1317 (1992). 78, 649 (1989). 94. W. G. M. Damen, M. Hausdorf, E.-A. Seyfarth, D. 107. In oxygenic photosynthesis, CO ϩ H O 3 115. S. Bengtson, in Early Life on Earth, S. Bengston, Ed. ϩ 2 2 Tautz, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95, 10665 CH2O O2. Although photosynthesis provides the (Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 1994), pp. 412Ð (1998). ultimate source of atmospheric oxygen, respiration 425. 95. M. J. Telford and R. H. Thomas, ibid., p. 10671. essentially runs the photosynthetic equation back- 116. N. J. Butterfield, Paleobiology 23, 247 (1997). 96. M. Averof and N. Patel, Nature 388, 682 (1997). ward, consuming oxygen. The potential for oxygen 117. K. J. Peterson, R. A. Cameron, K. Tagawa, N. Satoh, to accumulate in the atmosphere will arise only 97. M. Averof and M. Akam, ibid. 376, 420 (1995). E. H. Davidson, Development 126, 85 (1998). when photosynthetically derived organic matter is 98. E. Mouchel-Vielh, C. Rigolot, J.-M. Gilbert, J. S. Deut- 118. G. G. Miklos, Mem. Assoc. Australas. Palaeontol. 15, buried, limiting consumption by respirers. Oxygen sch, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 9, 382 (1998). not used in respiration may react with old organic 7 (1993). 99. J. K. Grenier, T. L. Garber, R. Warren, P. M. Whiting- matter released during erosion or with reduced 119. J.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Evolution? Jonathan Losos
    © Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. I.1 What Is Evolution? Jonathan Losos OUTLINE Natural Selection. The process in which individuals with a particular trait tend to leave more offspring in the 1. What is evolution? next generation than do individuals with a different 2. Evolution: Pattern versus process trait. 3. Evolution: More than changes in the gene pool Approximately 375 million years ago, a large and vague- 4. In the light of evolution ly salamander-like creature plodded from its aquatic 5. Critiques and the evidence for evolution home and began the vertebrate invasion of land, setting 6. The pace of evolution forth the chain of evolutionary events that led to the birds 7. Evolution, humans, and society that fill our skies, the beasts that walk our soil, me writing this chapter, and you reading it. This was, of course, just Evolution refers to change through time as species be- one episode in life’s saga: millions of years earlier, plants come modified and diverge to produce multiple descen- had come ashore, followed soon thereafter—or perhaps dant species. Evolution and natural selection are often simultaneously—by arthropods. We could go back much conflated, but evolution is the historical occurrence of earlier, 4 billion years or so, to that fateful day when the change, and natural selection is one mechanism—in most first molecule replicated itself, an important milestone in cases the most important—that can cause it.
    [Show full text]
  • Dinosaur Renaissance
    DINOSAUR RENAISSANCE The dinosaurs were not obsolescent reptiles but were a novel group of "warm-blooded" animals. And the birds are their descendants by Robert T. Bakker he dinosaur is for most people the 10 kilograms or more are endothermic epitome of extinctness, the proto­ birds and mammals. Why? Ttype of an animal so maladapted The term "cold-bloodedness" is a bit to a changing environment that it dies misleading: on a sunny day.a lizard's out, leaving fossils but no descendants. body temperature may be higher than a Dinosaurs have a bad public image as man's. The key distinction between ec­ symbols of obsolescence and hulking in­ tothermy and endothermy is the rate efficiency; in political cartoons they are of body-heat production and long-term know-nothing conservatives that plod temperature stability. The resting meta­ HAIRY THERAPSIDS, mammal-like rep­ through miasmic swamps to inevitable bolic heat production of living reptiles is tiles of the late Permian period some 250 extinction. Most contemporary paleon­ too low to affect body temperature sig­ million years ago, confront one another in tologists have had little interest in dino­ nificantly in most situations, and reptiles the snows of southern Gondwanaland, at a saurs; the creatures were an evolutionary of today must use external heat sources site that is now in South Africa. Anteosau- novelty, to be sure, and some were very to raise their body temperature above big, but they did not appear to merit the air temperature-which is why they much serious study because they did not bask in the sun or on warm rocks.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Evolutionary Biology
    Introduction to Evolutionary Biology Introduction to Evolutionary Biology Version 2 Copyright © 1996-1997 by Chris Colby [Last Update: January 7, 1996] volution is the cornerstone of modern biology. It unites all the fields of biology under one theoretical umbrella. It is not a difficult concept, but very few people -- the majority of biologists included -- have a satisfactory grasp of it. One common mistake is believing that species can be arranged on an evolutionary ladder from bacteria through "lower" animals, to "higher" animals and, finally, up to man. Mistakes permeate popular science expositions of evolutionary biology. Mistakes even filter into biology journals and texts. For example, Lodish, et. al., in their cell biology text, proclaim, "It was Charles Darwin's great insight that organisms are all related in a great chain of being..." In fact, the idea of a great chain of being, which traces to Linnaeus, was overturned by Darwin's idea of common descent. Misunderstandings about evolution are damaging to the study of evolution and biology as a whole. People who have a general interest in science are likely to dismiss evolution as a soft science after absorbing the pop science nonsense that abounds. The impression of it being a soft science is reinforced when biologists in unrelated fields speculate publicly about evolution. This is a brief introduction to evolutionary biology. I attempt to explain basics of the theory of evolution and correct many of the misconceptions. What is Evolution? Evolution is a change in the gene pool of a population over time. A gene is a hereditary unit that can be passed on unaltered for many generations.
    [Show full text]
  • Sexual Selection, Physical Attractiveness, and Facial Neoteny: Cross-Cultural Evidence and Implications [And Comments and Reply] Author(S): Doug Jones, C
    Sexual Selection, Physical Attractiveness, and Facial Neoteny: Cross-cultural Evidence and Implications [and Comments and Reply] Author(s): Doug Jones, C. Loring Brace, William Jankowiak, Kevin N. Laland, Lisa E. Musselman, Judith H. Langlois, Lori A. Roggman, Daniel Pérusse, Barbara Schweder, Donald Symons Reviewed work(s): Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 36, No. 5 (Dec., 1995), pp. 723-748 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2744016 . Accessed: 09/12/2011 18:16 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Current Anthropology. http://www.jstor.org CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number 5, December I995 ? I995 byThe Wenner-GrenFoundation for Anthropological Research. All rightsreserved ooII-3204/95/36o5-0004$3.oo 1JZVO Wl VX V.LIs X11 \s1sX L.... %J1%S XS 11%11a W1l a%.1lAl At4 1Vb13 1 Five Populations"(Human Nature 4:27i-96) and authorof the forthcomingPhysical Attractiveness and the Theoryof Sexual Se- Sexual Selection, lection:Results from Five Populations(Ann Arbor: University of MichiganMuseum ofAnthropology, in press).The presentpaper was submittedI4 XI 94 and accepted2o I 95; the finalversion Physical reachedthe Editor'soffice 24 II 95.
    [Show full text]