Evolutionary Patterns and Processes

Book excerpt: Evolution is the central theme of all biology. Researcarcch in the many branches of evolutionary study continues to flourish. This book, based on a symposium of the Linnean Society, discusses the diversity in currentevolutionary research. It approaches the subject ambitiously and from several angles, bringing ttogether eminent authors from a variety of disciplines paleontologists traditionally with a macroevolutionary bias, neontologists concentrating on microevolutionary processes, and those studying the very essence ofsses and those studying the very essence of evolution the process of speciation in living organisms. Evolutionary Patterns and Processes will appeal to a broad spectrum of professional biologistsworking in such fields as paleontology, population biology, and evolutionary genetics. Biologists will enjoy chapters by Stephen J. Gould, discovering in the much earlier work of Hugo de Vries parallels with his ideas on punctuational evolution; Guy Bush,considering why there are so many small animals; Peter Sheldon, examining detailed fossil trilobite sequences for evidence of microevolutionary processes and considering models of speciation; as well as others dealing with cytological, ecological, and behavioral processes leading to the evolution of new species. None