Author : Sara Ostlund-Nilsson
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 406 pages
File Size : 46,29 MB
Release : 2006-12-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 1420004832
Highlighting the growing importance of the sticklebacks as a model species in emerging fields such as molecular genetics, genomics, and environmental toxicology, Biology of the Three-Spined Stickleback examines data from researchers who use studies of the stickleback to address a wide range of biological issues. This state-of-the-art volume
Author : Rodney Mauricio
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 207 pages
File Size : 50,13 MB
Release : 2005-07-20
Category : Science
ISBN : 1402038364
An enduring controversy in evolutionary biology is the genetic basis of adaptation. Darwin emphasized "many slight differences" as the ultimate source of variation to be acted upon by natural selection. In the early 1900’s, this view was opposed by "Mendelian geneticists", who emphasized the importance of "macromutations" in evolution. The Modern Synthesis resolved this controversy, concluding that mutations in genes of very small effect were responsible for adaptive evolution. A decade ago, Allen Orr and Jerry Coyne reexamined the evidence for this neo-Darwinian view and found that both the theoretical and empirical basis for it were weak. Orr and Coyne encouraged evolutionary biologists to reexamine this neglected question: what is the genetic basis of adaptive evolution? In this volume, a new generation of biologists have taken up this challenge. Using advances in both molecular genetic and statistical techniques, evolutionary geneticists have made considerable progress in this emerging field. In this volume, a diversity of examples from plant and animal studies provides valuable information for those interested in the genetics and evolution of complex traits.
Author : Sharon Marsh
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 16,58 MB
Release : 2008-02-04
Category : Science
ISBN : 1597453773
This book presents detailed protocols for the multidisciplinary application of Pyrosequencing® technology, all written by world-renowned experts. This comprehensive volume enables quick reference by collecting the primary applications for Pyrosequencing®, and supplementing each protocol with troubleshooting tips specific to that method. This volume both highlights the versatility of and provides detailed protocols for the application of Pyrosequencing®.
Author :
Publisher :
Page : 884 pages
File Size : 21,60 MB
Release : 2005
Category : Dissertations, Academic
ISBN :
Author : Michael A. Bell
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
Page : 571 pages
File Size : 40,79 MB
Release : 1994
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780198577287
The threespine stickleback is a small fish of temperate coastal and fresh waters that exhibits extraordinary phenotypic diversity. Benefiting from its amenability to observation in the field and manipulation in the laboratory, Niko Tinbergen pioneered the threespine stickleback's use in behavioral studies and established it as a model system in ethology. This up-to-date volume incorporates reviews from active researchers who use studies of the fish to address a broad variety of evolutionary issues, including optimal foraging, armor variation, speciation, and the endocrine basis for correlated behavioral characters. The work demonstrates the value of viewing the biology of a single organism simultaneously from multiple perspectives. Students and researchers in ecology, evolution, animal behavior, and vertebrate zoology will find much of interest in this useful book.
Author : Richard Gerald Harrison
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 378 pages
File Size : 44,47 MB
Release : 1993
Category : Evolution (Biology)
ISBN : 019506917X
Hybrid zones--geographical areas in which the hybrids of two races are found--have attracted the attention of evolutionary biologists for many years, both because they are windows on the evolutionary process and because the patterns of animals and plant variation seen in hybrid zones do notfit the traditional classification schemes of taxonomists. Hybrid zones provide insights into the nature of the species, the way barriers to gene exchange function, the genetic basis of those barriers, the dynamics of the speciation process. Hybrid Zones and the Evolutionary Process synthesizes theextensive research literature in this field and points to new directions in research. It will be read with interest by evolutionary biologists, geneticists, and biogeographers.
Author : John A. Endler
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 13,23 MB
Release : 2020-03-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 0691209510
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.
Author : Kenneth P. Dial
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 435 pages
File Size : 27,60 MB
Release : 2015-07-20
Category : Science
ISBN : 022626839X
How did flying birds evolve from running dinosaurs, terrestrial trotting tetrapods evolve from swimming fish, and whales return to swim in the sea? These are some of the great transformations in the 500-million-year history of vertebrate life. And with the aid of new techniques and approaches across a range of fields—work spanning multiple levels of biological organization from DNA sequences to organs and the physiology and ecology of whole organisms—we are now beginning to unravel the confounding evolutionary mysteries contained in the structure, genes, and fossil record of every living species. This book gathers a diverse team of renowned scientists to capture the excitement of these new discoveries in a collection that is both accessible to students and an important contribution to the future of its field. Marshaling a range of disciplines—from paleobiology to phylogenetics, developmental biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology—the contributors attack particular transformations in the head and neck, trunk, appendages such as fins and limbs, and the whole body, as well as offer synthetic perspectives. Illustrated throughout, Great Transformations in Vertebrate Evolution not only reveals the true origins of whales with legs, fish with elbows, wrists, and necks, and feathered dinosaurs, but also the relevance to our lives today of these extraordinary narratives of change.
Author : Anne Charmantier
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 15,17 MB
Release : 2014
Category : Medical
ISBN : 019967423X
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.
Author : Tim M. Berra
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 645 pages
File Size : 30,15 MB
Release : 2008-09-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 0226044432
With more than 29,000 species, fishes are the most diverse group of vertebrates on the planet. Of that number, more than 12,000 species are found in freshwater ecosystems, which occupy less than 1 percent of the Earth’s surface and contain only 2.4 percent of plant and animal species. But, on a hectare-for-hectare basis, freshwater ecosystems are richer in species than more extensive terrestrial and marine habitats. Examination of the distribution patterns of fishes in these fresh waters reveals much about continental movements and climate changes and has long been critical to biogeographical studies and research in ecology and evolution. Tim Berra’s seminal resource, Freshwater Fish Distribution,maps the 169 fish families that swim in fresh water around the world. Each family account includes the class, subclass, and order; a pronunciation guide to the family name; life cycle information; and interesting natural history facts. Each account is illustrated, many with historical nineteenth-century woodcuts. Now available in paperback, this heavily cited work in ichthyology and biogeography will serve as a reference for students, a research support for professors, and a helpful guide to tropical fish hobbyists and anglers.
