Genetics, Paleontology, and Macroevolution

ISBN-13: 9780521005500 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 634 str.

Jeffrey S. Levinton

Opis

This expanded and updated second edition offers a comprehensive look at macroevolution and its underpinnings, with a primary emphasis on animal evolution. From a Neodarwinian point of view, the book integrates evolutionary processes at all levels to explain the diversity of animal life. It examines a wide range of topics including genetics, speciation, development, evolution, constructional and functional aspects of form, fossil lineages, and systematics, and --in a major new chapter--takes a hard look at the Cambrian explosion. The author delves into the age of molecular science and integrates important recent contributions made to our understanding of evolution.

Recenzje

'… this is still the best macroevolution book out there.' Kevin Peterson, Palaeontologia Electronica

Spis treści

Preface to the first edition; Preface to the second edition; 1. Macroevolution: the problem and the field; 2. Genealogy, systematics, and macroevolution; 3. Genetics, speciation, and trans-specific evolution; 4. Development and evolution; 5. The constructional and functional aspects of form; 6. Patterns of morphological change in fossil lineages; 7. Patterns of diversity, origination, and extinction; 8. A Cambrian explosion?; Glossary; References; Author index; Subject index.