Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)We all know of examples of coevolution. The variety of flowering plants and their pollinators is a spectacular example. But this book looks at coevolution on a very small scale. For example, in parts of the Rocky Mountains where crossbill birds are the main eaters of the seeds of lodgepole pines, the cones have evolved mostly to defend against the birds and the birds' bills have evolved mostly to counter those defenses. This is coevolution. But there are also many regions in the Rockies where the primary eaters of pine seeds are squirrels or moths. In those regions those animals mostly shape the cones and the birds bills evolve accordingly. Such regional variations constitute the geographical mosaic of the title.
This book was written to convince researchers that the geographic mosaic of evolution is much more important than most evolution researchers recognize. It contains many, many examples such as the crossbills, and it states many general principles, which are often very similar to previous principles. It has none of the glamour or scope of, say, an account of the transition from fishes to land-dwelling animals. Instead, it is about how researchers study the working of evolution from generation to generation, and that is the level at which evolution actually works. I think anyone who is seriously interested in evolution should read one such book in his lifetime. This book is a good one because the examples aren't too technical. Be prepared to skim over some sections, and to decide which sections you can skim over without losing continuity.
It is also worth noting that, as in most academic writing, nothing is said in plain English if it can be expressed in jargon.
The last chapter deals with something entirely new in evolution: intelligent design. Humans are promoting some forms (through breeding and other forms of genetic engineering), demoting others (by pest control, antibiotics, et al.), and massively transforming environments (e.g. cities and farms). These present unique problems for evolution researchers because they are much faster than "natural" evolution. But they may well be the most important for the future of the species closest to our hearts.
-- Éad
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution (Interspecific Interactions)
Coevolution—reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species driven by natural selection—is one of the most important ecological and genetic processes organizing the earth's biodiversity: most plants and animals require coevolved interactions with other species to survive and reproduce. The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution analyzes how the biology of species provides the raw material for long-term coevolution, evaluates how local coadaptation forms the basic module of coevolutionary change, and explores how the coevolutionary process reshapes locally coevolving interactions across the earth's constantly changing landscapes.Picking up where his influential The Coevolutionary Process left off, John N. Thompson synthesizes the state of a rapidly developing science that integrates approaches from evolutionary ecology, population genetics, phylogeography, systematics, evolutionary biochemistry and physiology, and molecular biology. Using models, data, and hypotheses to develop a complete conceptual framework, Thompson also draws on examples from a wide range of taxa and environments, illustrating the expanding breadth and depth of research in coevolutionary biology.
No comments:
Post a Comment