Adaptive Seascape: The Mechanism of Evolution - Hardcover

Merrell, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0816623481 ISBN 13: 9780816623488

Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, 1994

Synopsis

Modern evolutionary theory, also known as the modern synthesis, has lately become the subject of much criticism and yet its critics all too often display an incomplete understanding of the theory and its provenance. In this volume, Merrell provides an exposition and critique of the modern synthetic theory of evolution, its history, its present difficulties, and its future, from the perspective of ecological genetics, the study of the mechanism of evolution. Based on observation and experimental data among natural populations of plants and animals, as studied in the field and in the laboratory, this perspective unravels the hidden and often poorly-founded assumptions underlying some of the more troublesome controversies in evolutionary biology today. Evolution, Merrell suggests, takes place by many mechanisms, and this pluralism informs his approach to evolutionary problems, which are usually discussed in extreme, generally unjustifiable dichotomies. Thus, although much of evolution is slow and gradual, in accordance with the Darwinian model, Merrell makes the case for rapid, even instantaneous large change as well. He also demonstrates the importance of genes of major effect, especially dominant genes, in bringing about evolutionary change, contrary to the widely held belief that such change only results from the accumulation of numerous genes of small effect. Using these concepts, Merrell interprets the evolution of industrial melanism, DDT resistance, and mimicry. In the treatment of the nature and origin of species, Merrell proposes an "adaptive seascape" to replace Sewall Wright's well-known "adaptive landscape" as a metaphor for the adaptive surface, where the physical and biological environment is constantly changing. Expert yet accessible, Merrell's depiction of this seascape aims to clarify the course of evolutionary theory for both specialists and readers with an general interest in science.

About this title

About the Author

David J. Merrell is Professor Emeritus of Genetics and Ecology at the University of Minnesota and is the author of texts on genetics and evolution.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816623481
• ISBN 13: 9780816623488
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272