In Search of the Causes of Evolution From Field Observations to Mechanisms

About this book

Evolutionary biology has witnessed breathtaking advances in recent years. Some of its most exciting insights have come from the crossover of disciplines as varied as paleontology, molecular biology, ecology and genetics. This book brings together many of today's pioneers in evolutionary biology to describe the latest advances and explain why a cross-disciplinary and integrated approach to research questions is so essential.

Contributors discuss the origins of biological diversity, mechanisms of evolutionary change at the molecular and developmental levels, morphology and behavior, and the ecology of adaptive radiations and speciation. They highlight the mutual dependence of organisms and their environments, and reveal the different strategies today's researchers are using in the field and laboratory to explore this interdependence.

Contents

List of Contributors ix Preface xi Introduction to Section I: The Origins of Biological Diversity 1 Chapter One: The Big Picture: A Tripartite View of Life and Environments through Time by Andrew H. Knoll and David T. Johnston 5 Chapter Two: Macroevolutionary Trends in Time and Space by David Jablonski 25 Chapter Three: Dinosaurs Live! 4 by Philip J. Currie 4 Chapter Four: Phylogeography and Phylogenetics in the Nuclear Age by Christopher N. Balakrishnan, June Y. Lee, and Scott V. Edwards 65 Introduction to Section II: Mechanisms, Molecules, and Evo-Devo 89 Chapter Five: The Flexibility of Butterfly Wing Color Patterns and Evolution in Morphospace by Paul M. Brakefield and Mathieu Joron 93 Chapter Six: Genetics, Geology, and Miracles by David Kingsley 115 Chapter Seven: Evolutionary Genetics of Pigmentation Loss in the Blind Mexican Cavefish by Joshua B. Gross and Clifford J. Tabin 131 Chapter Eight: A Developmental View of Exaggerated Growth and Conditional Expression in the Weapons of Sexual Selection by Douglas J. Emlen 149 Introduction to Section III: Morphology and Behavior 173 Chapter Nine: How Does Morphology Affect Performance in Variable Environments? By Mimi A. R. Koehl 177 Chapter Ten: In Search of the Elusive Behavior Gene by Hopi E. Hoekstra 192 Chapter Eleven: There Must Be Finches--Charles Darwin, Prickly Pears, and Pollination Biology by May R. Berenbaum 211 Chapter Twelve: The Adaptive Radiation of Coevolving Prodoxid Moths and Their Host Plants: Greya Moths and Yucca Moths by John N. Thompson 228 Introduction to Section IV: Ecological Diversity 247 Chapter Thirteen: Ecological and Geographical Influences on the Allopatric Phase of Island Speciation by Trevor Price, Albert B. Phillimore, Myra Awodey, and Richard Hudson 251 Chapter Fourteen: Geographical Mode and Evolutionary Mechanism of Ecological Speciation in Cichlid Fish by Ole Seehausen and Isabel Santos Magalhaes 282 Chapter Fifteen: A Tale of Two Radiations: Similarities and Differences in the Evolutionary Diversification of Darwin's Finches and Greater Antillean Anolis Lizards by Jonathan B. Losos 309 Chapter Sixteen: Clarifying the Mechanisms of Evolution in Sticklebacks Using Field Studies of Natural Selection on Genes by Rowan D. H. Barrett and Dolph Schluter 332 Chapter Seventeen: The Book and the Future: Perspective and Prospective by Peter R. Grant and B. Rosemary Grant 347 Chapter Eighteen: A Festival for Rosemary and Peter Grant by David B. Wake 360 Index 367

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Biography

Peter R. Grant is the Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology (emeritus) at Princeton University. B. Rosemary Grant is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton.