Description
How fast is evolution, and why does it matter? The rate of evolution, and whether it is gradual or punctuated, is a hotly debated topic among biologists and paleontologists. This book compiles and compares examples of evolution from laboratory, field, and fossil record studies, analyzing them to extract their underlying rates. It concludes that while change is slow when averaged over many generations, on a generation-to-generation time scale, evolution is rapid. Chapters cover the history of evolutionary studies, from Lamarck and Darwin in the nineteenth century to the present day. An overview of the statistics of variation, dynamics of random walks, processes of natural selection and random drift, and effects of scale and time averaging are also provided, along with methods for the analysis of evolutionary time series. Containing case studies and worked examples, this book is ideal for advanced students and researchers in paleontology, biology, and anthropology.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction; 2. Variation in nature; 3. Evolutionary time; 4. Random walks and Brownian diffusion; 5. Temporal scaling and evolutionary mode; 6. Directional selection, stabilizing selection, and random drift; 7. Phenotypic change in experimental lineages; 8. Phenotypic change documented in field studies; 9. Phenotypic change in the fossil record; 10. A quantitative synthesis; 11. Retrospective on punctuated equilibria; 12. Genetic models; 13. Independent contrasts: Phylogeny's influence on phenotypes; 14. Rate perspective on early bursts of evolution; 15. Summary and conclusions; Appendix: generation times in bacteria, plants, and animals; References; Index.
