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3GE Collection on Biology: Evolutionary Biology

3GE Collection on Biology: Evolutionary Biology

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  • About the Editor
    • This book resents the understanding of the origins and diversity of life.
    • Looks at the molecules and cells that make bones and cartilages and how they differ in various parts of the body and across species.
    • Provides a focal point for broad syntheses, in-depth treatment and controversial ideas.
    • This book focuses on drosophila as an especially useful model organism for exploring questions of evolutionary biology in the full range of evolutionary studies.

Evolution is the cornerstone of modern biology. It integrates all the disciplines of biology under one theoretical umbrella. It is not a difficult concept, but very few people -- the majority of biologists included -- have a satisfactory grasp of it. The unity, diversity, and adaptive characteristics of creatures are consequences of evolutionary history, and can be understood entirely only in this light. The science of evolutionary biology is the study of the history of life and of the processes that lead to its unity and diversity. Evolutionary biology sheds light on phenomena studied in the fields of molecular biology, developmental biology, physiology, behavior, paleontology, ecology, and biogeography, complementing these disciplines' study of biological mechanisms with explanations based on history and adaptation. Throughout the biological sciences, the evolutionary perspective provides a useful, often indispensable framework for organizing and interpreting observations and for making predictions. It is one of the most powerful ideas in all areas of science, and is the only theory that can seriously claim to unify biology. It can give meaning to facts from the invisible world in a drop of rain water, or from the many colored delights of a botanic garden, to thundering herds of big game. The theory is also used to understand such topics as the geochemistry of life’s origins and the gaseous proportions of the modern atmosphere.


This edition entitled “Evolutionary Biology” looks at the biology from a fundamentally new perspective, one based on evolutionary theory rather than traditional concepts which emphasize molecular and cellular processes. An extensive and inclusive text focuses on topics in human evolution and the understanding of modern human variation and adaptability. Prominent topics include the appropriate level of selection, the relative importance of natural selection and other mechanisms, and the rate of evolution at genotypic and phenotypic levels. Evolutionary biology has made spectacular progress in answering many major questions, but many important challenges remain. Evolutionary biology has made significant contributions to many other biological disciplines, but the potential for such contributions in certain areas has not been fully realized. Knowledge and concepts from evolutionary biology have had many important practical applications, but many more such applications can be expected in the future. This book serves as a valuable source of information not only for evolutionary biologists, but also for biologists in general.