Download or read book Natural Selection in the Wild MPB 21 Volume 21 written by John A. Endler and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural selection is an immense and important subject, yet there have been few attempts to summarize its effects on natural populations, and fewer still which discuss the problems of working with natural selection in the wild. These are the purposes of John Endler's book. In it, he discusses the methods and problems involved in the demonstration and measurement of natural selection, presents the critical evidence for its existence, and places it in an evolutionary perspective. Professor Endler finds that there are a remarkable number of direct demonstrations of selection in a wide variety of animals and plants. The distribution of observed magnitudes of selection in natural populations is surprisingly broad, and it overlaps extensively the range of values found in artificial selection. He argues that the common assumption that selection is usually weak in natural populations is no longer tenable, but that natural selection is only one component of the process of evolution; natural selection can explain the change of frequencies of variants, but not their origins.
Download or read book In the Light of Evolution written by National Academy of Sciences and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.
Download or read book Quantitative Genetics in the Wild written by Anne Charmantier and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gathers the expertise of 30 evolutionary biologists from around the globe to highlight how applying the field of quantitative genetics - the analysis of the genetic basis of complex traits - aids in the study of wild populations.
Download or read book Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology written by Laurence Mueller and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although biologists recognize evolutionary ecology by name, many only have a limited understanding of its conceptual roots and historical development. Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology fills that knowledge gap in a thought-provoking and readable format. Written by a world-renowned evolutionary ecologist, this book embodies a unique blend of expertise in combining theory and experiment, population genetics and ecology. Following an easily-accessible structure, this book encapsulates and chronologizes the history behind evolutionary ecology. It also focuses on the integration of age-structure and density-dependent selection into an understanding of life-history evolution. - Covers over 60 seminal breakthroughs and paradigm shifts in the field of evolutionary biology and ecology - Modular format permits ready access to each described subject - Historical overview of a field whose concepts are central to all of biology and relevant to a broad audience of biologists, science historians, and philosophers of science
Download or read book Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection written by Peter Godfrey-Smith and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-03-26 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1859 Darwin described a deceptively simple mechanism that he called "natural selection," a combination of variation, inheritance, and reproductive success. He argued that this mechanism was the key to explaining the most puzzling features of the natural world, and science and philosophy were changed forever as a result. The exact nature of the Darwinian process has been controversial ever since, however. Godfrey-Smith draws on new developments in biology, philosophy of science, and other fields to give a new analysis and extension of Darwin's idea. The central concept used is that of a "Darwinian population," a collection of things with the capacity to undergo change by natural selection. From this starting point, new analyses of the role of genes in evolution, the application of Darwinian ideas to cultural change, and "evolutionary transitions" that produce complex organisms and societies are developed. Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection will be essential reading for anyone interested in evolutionary theory
Download or read book Evolution and Selection of Quantitative Traits written by Bruce Walsh and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-21 with total page 1504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantitative traits-be they morphological or physiological characters, aspects of behavior, or genome-level features such as the amount of RNA or protein expression for a specific gene-usually show considerable variation within and among populations. Quantitative genetics, also referred to as the genetics of complex traits, is the study of such characters and is based on mathematical models of evolution in which many genes influence the trait and in which non-genetic factors may also be important. Evolution and Selection of Quantitative Traits presents a holistic treatment of the subject, showing the interplay between theory and data with extensive discussions on statistical issues relating to the estimation of the biologically relevant parameters for these models. Quantitative genetics is viewed as the bridge between complex mathematical models of trait evolution and real-world data, and the authors have clearly framed their treatment as such. This is the second volume in a planned trilogy that summarizes the modern field of quantitative genetics, informed by empirical observations from wide-ranging fields (agriculture, evolution, ecology, and human biology) as well as population genetics, statistical theory, mathematical modeling, genetics, and genomics. Whilst volume 1 (1998) dealt with the genetics of such traits, the main focus of volume 2 is on their evolution, with a special emphasis on detecting selection (ranging from the use of genomic and historical data through to ecological field data) and examining its consequences.
Download or read book Immunology and Evolution of Infectious Disease written by Steven A. Frank and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2002-07-21 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book Adaptation and Natural Selection written by George Christopher Williams and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-30 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biological evolution is a fact—but the many conflicting theories of evolution remain controversial even today. When Adaptation and Natural Selection was first published in 1966, it struck a powerful blow against those who argued for the concept of group selection—the idea that evolution acts to select entire species rather than individuals. Williams’s famous work in favor of simple Darwinism over group selection has become a classic of science literature, valued for its thorough and convincing argument and its relevance to many fields outside of biology. Now with a new foreword by Richard Dawkins, Adaptation and Natural Selection is an essential text for understanding the nature of scientific debate.
Download or read book The Princeton Guide to Evolution written by David A. Baum and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 886 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential one-volume reference to evolution The Princeton Guide to Evolution is a comprehensive, concise, and authoritative reference to the major subjects and key concepts in evolutionary biology, from genes to mass extinctions. Edited by a distinguished team of evolutionary biologists, with contributions from leading researchers, the guide contains some 100 clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics in seven major areas: phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society. Complete with more than 100 illustrations (including eight pages in color), glossaries of key terms, suggestions for further reading on each topic, and an index, this is an essential volume for undergraduate and graduate students, scientists in related fields, and anyone else with a serious interest in evolution. Explains key topics in some 100 concise and authoritative articles written by a team of leading evolutionary biologists Contains more than 100 illustrations, including eight pages in color Each article includes an outline, glossary, bibliography, and cross-references Covers phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society
Download or read book Selection written by Graham Bell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book adopts a direct experimental approach to evolutionary questions, drawing predominantly from research on microbial systems. The focus is on processes and mechanisms, and incorporates insights from recent advances in whole-genome sequencing, bioinformatics, environmental genomics and developmental genetics.
Download or read book Introduction to Theoretical Population Genetics written by Thomas Nagylaki and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers those areas of theoretical population genetics that can be investigated rigorously by elementary mathematical methods. I have tried to formulate the various models fairly generally and to state the biological as sumptions quite explicitly. I hope the choice and treatment of topics will en able the reader to understand and evaluate detailed analyses of many specific models and applications in the literature. Models in population genetics are highly idealized, often even over idealized, and their connection with observation is frequently remote. Further more, it is not practicable to measure the parameters and variables in these models with high accuracy. These regrettable circumstances amply justify the use of appropriate, lucid, and rigorous approximations in the analysis of our models, and such approximations are often illuminating even when exact solu tions are available. However, our empirical and theoretical limitations justify neither opaque, incomplete formulations nor unconvincing, inadequate analy ses, for these may produce uninterpretable, misleading, or erroneous results. Intuition is a principal source of ideas for the construction and investigation of models, but it can replace neither clear formulation nor careful analysis. Fisher (1930; 1958, pp. x, 23-24, 38) not only espoused similar ideas, but he recognized also that our concepts of intuition and rigor must evolve in time. The book is neither a review of the literature nor a compendium of results. The material is almost entirely self-contained. The first eight chapters are a thoroughly revised and greatly extended version of my published lecture notes (Nagylaki, 1977a).
Download or read book The Adaptive Landscape in Evolutionary Biology written by Erik Svensson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-17 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'Adaptive Landscape' has been a central concept in population genetics and evolutionary biology since this powerful metaphor was first formulated in 1932. This volume brings together historians of science, philosophers, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists, to discuss the state of the art from several different perspectives.
Download or read book Measuring Selection in Natural Populations written by Freddy Christiansen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Role of Natural Selection in Human Evolution written by Francisco M. Salzano and published by North-Holland. This book was released on 1975 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Non-Aboriginal material.
Download or read book Concepts of Biology written by Samantha Fowler and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black & white print. Concepts of Biology is designed for the typical introductory biology course for nonmajors, covering standard scope and sequence requirements. The text includes interesting applications and conveys the major themes of biology, with content that is meaningful and easy to understand. The book is designed to demonstrate biology concepts and to promote scientific literacy.
Download or read book Evolutionary Theory written by Sean H. Rice and published by Sinauer Associates Incorporated. This book was released on 2004 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolutionary Theory is for graduate students, researchers, and advanced undergraduates who want an understanding of the mathematical and biological reasoning that underlies evolutionary theory. The book covers all of the major theoretical approaches used to study the mechanics of evolution, including classical one- and two-locus models, diffusion theory, coalescent theory, quantitative genetics, and game theory. There are also chapters on theoretical approaches to the evolution of development and on multilevel selection theory. Each subject is illustrated by focusing on those results that have the greatest power to influence the way that we think about how evolution works. These major results are developed in detail, with many accompanying illustrations, showing exactly how they are derived and how the mathematics relates to the biological insights that they yield. In this way, the reader learns something of the actual machinery of different branches of theory while gaining a deeper understanding of the evolutionary process. Roughly half of the book focuses on gene-based models, the other half being concerned with general phenotype-based theory. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the fundamental relationships between the different branches of theory, illustrating how all of these branches are united by a few basic, universal, principles. The only mathematical background assumed is basic calculus. More advanced mathematical methods are explained, with the help of an extensive appendix, when they are needed.
Download or read book Biosocial Surveys written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-01-06 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biosocial Surveys analyzes the latest research on the increasing number of multipurpose household surveys that collect biological data along with the more familiar interviewerâ€"respondent information. This book serves as a follow-up to the 2003 volume, Cells and Surveys: Should Biological Measures Be Included in Social Science Research? and asks these questions: What have the social sciences, especially demography, learned from those efforts and the greater interdisciplinary communication that has resulted from them? Which biological or genetic information has proven most useful to researchers? How can better models be developed to help integrate biological and social science information in ways that can broaden scientific understanding? This volume contains a collection of 17 papers by distinguished experts in demography, biology, economics, epidemiology, and survey methodology. It is an invaluable sourcebook for social and behavioral science researchers who are working with biosocial data.
