In Search of the Causes of Evolution – From Field Observations to Mechanisms - Hardcover

Grant, Peter; Grant, Rosemary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691146810 ISBN 13: 9780691146812

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Evolutionary biology has witnessed breathtaking advances in recent years. Some of its most exciting insights have come from the crossover of disciplines as varied as paleontology, molecular biology, ecology, and genetics. This book brings together many of today's pioneers in evolutionary biology to describe the latest advances and explain why a cross-disciplinary and integrated approach to research questions is so essential. Contributors discuss the origins of biological diversity, mechanisms of evolutionary change at the molecular and developmental levels, morphology and behavior, and the ecology of adaptive radiations and speciation. They highlight the mutual dependence of organisms and their environments, and reveal the different strategies today's researchers are using in the field and laboratory to explore this interdependence. Peter and Rosemary Grant--renowned for their influential work on Darwin's finches in the Galpagos--provide concise introductions to each section and identify the key questions future research needs to address. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Myra Awodey, Christopher N. Balakrishnan, Rowan D. H. Barrett, May R. Berenbaum, Paul M. Brakefield, Philip J. Currie, Scott V. Edwards, Douglas J. Emlen, Joshua B. Gross, Hopi E. Hoekstra, Richard Hudson, David Jablonski, David T. Johnston, Mathieu Joron, David Kingsley, Andrew H. Knoll, Mimi A. R. Koehl, June Y. Lee, Jonathan B. Losos, Isabel Santos Magalhaes, Albert B. Phillimore, Trevor Price, Dolph Schluter, Ole Seehausen, Clifford J. Tabin, John N. Thompson, and David B. Wake.

About this title

About the Author

Peter R. Grant is the Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology (emeritus) at Princeton University. B. Rosemary Grant is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton.

From the Back Cover

"In Search of the Causes of Evolution offers a bountiful sampler of what is going on in evolutionary research. Darwin's finches, which for three decades engaged Peter and Rosemary Grant's research, are there, and much, much more--all written by accomplished specialists. There is much to learn and much to enjoy in this wonderful, and at times riveting, book."--Francisco J. Ayala, author ofDarwin's Gift to Science and Religion

"These accessible and informative essays span the range of evolution, from its historical and environmental context to the nature of adaptation itself and the generation of biological diversity. Peter and Rosemary Grant have assembled a stellar cast of authors who, through their own work, pay tribute to the Grants' decades of research on Darwin's finches. Anyone wishing a thoroughly modern and readable account of evolution should start here."--Robert E. Ricklefs, University of Missouri, St. Louis

"The Grants' gift to evolutionary biology--the characterization of evolution in action in the Galįpagos finches--was enough to define extraordinary careers. Here they extend their reach by depicting the study of evolution as a process of discovery that spans levels of organization ranging from individual genes to development, adaptation, speciation, and even the origin and deep history of life. The contributors span generations of investigators who are among our best and brightest."--David Reznick, University of California, Riverside

"Rosemary and Peter Grant have pursued a monumental search for the causes of evolution in the behavior, morphology, ecology, and genetics of Darwin's finches. Here they extend that search as editors of seventeen contributions, a set of major statements by leaders in the fields of biology touched by their own work. This is a connoisseurs' collection of selected readings in modern evolutionary biology, molded into a synthesis by the eloquent commentaries of the Grants themselves."--Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

From the Inside Flap

"In Search of the Causes of Evolution offers a bountiful sampler of what is going on in evolutionary research. Darwin's finches, which for three decades engaged Peter and Rosemary Grant's research, are there, and much, much more--all written by accomplished specialists. There is much to learn and much to enjoy in this wonderful, and at times riveting, book."--Francisco J. Ayala, author of Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion

"These accessible and informative essays span the range of evolution, from its historical and environmental context to the nature of adaptation itself and the generation of biological diversity. Peter and Rosemary Grant have assembled a stellar cast of authors who, through their own work, pay tribute to the Grants' decades of research on Darwin's finches. Anyone wishing a thoroughly modern and readable account of evolution should start here."--Robert E. Ricklefs, University of Missouri, St. Louis

"The Grants' gift to evolutionary biology--the characterization of evolution in action in the Galpagos finches--was enough to define extraordinary careers. Here they extend their reach by depicting the study of evolution as a process of discovery that spans levels of organization ranging from individual genes to development, adaptation, speciation, and even the origin and deep history of life. The contributors span generations of investigators who are among our best and brightest."--David Reznick, University of California, Riverside

"Rosemary and Peter Grant have pursued a monumental search for the causes of evolution in the behavior, morphology, ecology, and genetics of Darwin's finches. Here they extend that search as editors of seventeen contributions, a set of major statements by leaders in the fields of biology touched by their own work. This is a connoisseurs' collection of selected readings in modern evolutionary biology, molded into a synthesis by the eloquent commentaries of the Grants themselves."--Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691146810
• ISBN 13: 9780691146812
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304