Evolution since Darwin: The First 150 Years

(from EvolDir)

Edited by Michael A. Bell, Douglas J. Futuyma, Walter F. Eanes, and Jeffrey S. Levinton

June 2010
688 pages, 119 illustrations
paper

About This Title

Evolution since Darwin: The First 150 Years comprises 22 chapters and eight shorter commentaries that emerged from a symposium held in November 2009 at Stony Brook University. Thirty-nine authors from 22 universities and two museums in five countries wrote on areas of evolutionary biology and related topics on which their research focuses. Their essays cover the history of evolutionary biology, populations, genes and genomes, evolution of form, adaptation and speciation, diversification and phylogeny, paleobiology, human cultural and biological evolution, and applied evolution. The volume is intended to summarize progress in major areas of research in evolutionary biology since Darwin, to review the current state of knowledge and active research in those areas, and to look toward the future of the broader field.
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About the Editors

The editors are members of the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. Among them, they have more than 150 years of experience in evolutionary biology. Bell studies the evolution of stickleback fish, ranging from molecules to fossils, and he co-edited The Evolutionary Biology of the Threespine Stickleback. Futuyma is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and author of the textbooks Evolutionary Biology and Evolution. He studies coevolution of insects and plants. Eanes studies the molecular and population genetics of Drosophila and is interested in the interface of metabolism and life history adaptation. Levinton has a long interest in macroevolution, and wrote Genetics, Paleontology, and Macroevolution. He also studies the ecology and evolution of marine and aquatic invertebrates and has authored the textbook Marine Biology: Function, Biodiversity, Ecology and co-edited The Hudson River Estuary.
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Table of Contents

I. Evolution since Darwin

CHAPTER 1. Douglas J. Futuyma. Evolutionary Biology: 150 Years of Progress
CHAPTER 2. Peter J. Bowler. Rethinking Darwin’s Position in the History of Science
Commentary 1. Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis. Where Are We? Historical Reflections on Evolutionary Biology in the Twentieth Century

II. Populations, Genes, and Genomes

CHAPTER 3. Roberta L. Millstein. The Concepts of “Population” and “Metapopulation” in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology
CHAPTER 4. Jianzhi G. Zhang. Evolutionary Genetics: Progresses and Challenges
CHAPTER 5. John Wakeley. Natural Selection and Coalescent Theory
CHAPTER 6. Bryan Kolaczkowski and Andrew D. Kern. On the Power of Comparative Genomics: Does Conservation Imply Function?
Commentary 2. Daniel E. Dykhuizen. The Potential for Microorganisms and Experimental Studies in Evolutionary Biology

III. The Evolution of Form

CHAPTER 7. Mark Kirkpatrick. Limits on Rates of Adaptation: Why Is Darwin’s Machine So Slow?
CHAPTER 8. Günter P. Wagner. Evolvability: The Missing Piece of the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis
CHAPTER 9. Gregory A. Wray. Embryos and Evolution: 150 Years of Reciprocal Illumination

IV. Adaptation and Speciation

CHAPTER 10. Anurag Agrawal, Jeffrey K. Conner, and Sergio Rasmann. Tradeoffs and Negative Correlations in Evolutionary Ecology
CHAPTER 11. May Berenbaum and Mary A. Schuler. Elucidating Evolutionary Mechanisms in Plant–Insect Interactions: Key Residues as Key Innovations
CHAPTER 12. Hannah Kokko and Michael D. Jennions. Behavioral Ecology: The Natural History of Evolutionary Theory
CHAPTER 13. Richard G. Harrison. Understanding the Origin of Species: Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?
Commentary 3. Mark A. McPeek. The Role of Ecology in Evolutionary Biology

V. Diversity and the Tree of Life

CHAPTER 14. Antonio Lazcano. The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Did It All Start in Darwin’s Warm Little Pond?
Commentary 4. Christopher E. Lane. The Genomic Imprint of Endosymbiosis
CHAPTER 15. Jonathan B. Losos and D. Luke Mahler. Adaptive Radiation: The Interaction of Ecological Opportunity, Adaptation, and Speciation
CHAPTER 16. David M. Hillis. Phylogenetic Progress and Applications of the Tree of Life
CHAPTER 17. Peter J. Wagner. Paleontological Perspectives on Morphological Change
CHAPTER 18. Michael Foote. The Geological History of Biodiversity
Commentary 5. Joel Cracraft. Thinking about Diversity and Diversification: What If Biotic History Is Not Equilibrial?

VI. Human Evolution

CHAPTER 19. Tim D. White. Hominid Paleobiology: How Has Darwin Done?
CHAPTER 20. Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd. Darwin on the Role of Culture in Human Evolution

VII. Applications of Evolutionary Biology

CHAPTER 21. Fred Gould. Applying Evolutionary Biology: From Retrospective Analysis to Direct Manipulation
Commentary 6. Charles C. Davis, Erika J. Edwards, and Michael J. Donoghue. A Clade’s-Eye View of Global Climate Change

VIII. Prospects

CHAPTER 22. Hopi E. Hoekstra. Evolutionary Biology: The Next 150 Years Commentary 7. Charles Marshall. Towards a More Richly Integrated Biology
Commentary 8. Joshua Rest. Balance between Organismal and Molecular Training