Selection : the mechanism of evolution
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Bibliographic Information
Selection : the mechanism of evolution
Chapman & Hall , International Thomson Pub., c1997
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 637-681) and indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Thisbookhasbeenwritten tomake a pointand tofulfill a need. Thepoint is that the importance and the distinctiveness of the process of selection have been undervalued by most biologists. There is, consequently, the need for a book that describes the principles of selection in a simple but reasonably comprehensive way. Selection Is a Distinct Kind ofProcess Although we are now well into the second century of Darwinism, the theorythatDarwinand Wallaceannouncedin 1858hasnotyetmademuch progress beyond a small coterie of professional biologists. The reason is thatit isjarringlyunfamiliar toournormalexperienceofhow things come to be. Few ofus would be able to design a light bulb or a lathe, still fewer the computerand itsattendant softwarewithwhich this sentence is being written. But we all have a clear idea of what is meant by "design", and we readily, too readily, transfer this notion to the natural world. A light bulb or a lathe are prefigured in the mind, and constructed according to a plan.
It is entirely reasonable to assume that beetles and daisies must be constructed after the same fashion, especially because they are much morecomplicatedthananythingthathumaningenuityhassofarmanaged to devise. There is, however, a second route to complex organization, throughtheselectionofrandomvariantsthatpropagatenearlyexactcopies ofthemselves. Itisofverylittleconsequenceinourdailylives,becauseifis somuchmorelaboriousandexpensivethandeliberatedesign. However,it isanotherwayofconstructingthings. Indeed, sofarasIknow, itistheonly other way of constructing things that we have ever been able to imagine.
Table of Contents
- Simple selection
- Selection on a single character
- Single episode of selection
- Selection of pre-existing variation
- Continued selection
- The Evolution of novelty
- Selection on several characters
- Selection acting on different components of fitness
- Selection in several environments
- Selection acting at different levels
- Autoselection
- Elements that utilize existing modes of transmission
- Elements that modify existing modes of transmission
- Social selection
- Selection within a single uniform population
- density-dependent selection
- Selection within a single diverse population
- frequency-dependent selection
- Selection among populations
- kin selection and group selection
- Coevolution
- Sexual selection.
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