Sex is the queen of problems in evolutionary biology. Generations of researchers have investigated one of the last remaining evolutionary paradoxes: why sex exists at all. Given that sexual reproduction is costly from an evolutionary point of view, one could wonder why not all animals and plants reproduce asexually. Dozens of contemporary hypotheses attempt to explain the prevalence of sex and its advantages and predict the early extinction of fully asexual lineages.The major theme...

At a glance, most species seem adapted to the environment in which they live. Yet species relentlessly evolve, and populations within species evolve in different ways. Evolution, as it turns out, is much more dynamic than biologists realized just a few decades ago.In Relentless Evolution, John N. Thompson explores why adaptive evolution never ceases and why natural selection acts on species in so many different ways. Thompson presents a view of life in which ongoing evolut...

Animal life, now and over the past half billion years, is incredibly diverse. Describing and understanding the evolution of this diversity of body plans - from vertebrates such as humans and fish to the numerous invertebrate groups including sponges, insects, molluscs, and the many groups of worms - is a major goal of evolutionary biology. In this book, a group of leading researchers adopt a modern, integrated approach to describe how current molecular genetic techniques and disciplines as...

The first comprehensive synthesis on development and evolution: it applies to all aspects of development, at all levels of organization and in all organisms, taking advantage of modern findings on behavior, genetics, endocrinology, molecular biology, evolutionary theory and phylogenetics to show the connections between developmental mechanisms and evolutionary change. This book solves key problems that have impeded a definitive synthesis in the past. It uses new concepts and specific examp...

The Evolution of the Genome provides a much needed overview of genomic study through clear, detailed, expert-authored discussions of the key areas in genome biology. This includes the evolution of genome size, genomic parasites, gene and ancient genome duplications, polypoidy, comparative genomics, and the implications of these genome-level phenomena for evolutionary theory. In addition to reviewing the current state of knowledge of these fields in an accessible way, the various chapters a...

Flowers are the beautiful and complex reproductive structures of the angiosperms, one of the most diverse and successful groups of living organisms. The underlying thesis of this book is that to fully understand plant development (and why flowers differ in shape, structure and colour), it is necessary to understand why it is advantageous for them to look like they do. Conversely, in order to fully understand plant ecology, it is necessary to appreciate how floral structures have developed ...

The house mouse is the source of almost all genetic variation in laboratory mice; its genome was sequenced alongside that of humans, and it has become the model for mammalian speciation. Featuring contributions from leaders in the field, this volume provides the evolutionary context necessary to interpret these patterns and processes in the age of genomics. The topics reviewed include mouse phylogeny, phylogeography, origins of commensalism, adaptation, and dynamics of secondary contacts b...

The annual Evolutionary Biology Meetings in Marseille aim to bring together leading scientists, promoting an exchange of state-of-the-art knowledge and the formation of inter-group collaborations. This book presents the most representative contributions to the 13th meeting, which was held in September 2009. It comprises 21 chapters, which are organized into the following three categories: • Evolutionary Biology Concepts • Genome/Molecular Evolution • Morphological Evolution/Speciation This...

Life history theory seeks to explain the evolution of the major features of life cycles by analyzing the ecological factors that shape age-specific schedules of growth, reproduction, and survival and by investigating the trade-offs that constrain the evolution of these traits. Although life history theory has made enormous progress in explaining the diversity of life history strategies among species, it traditionally ignores the underlying proximate mechanisms. This novel book argues that ...

Recent advances in molecular genetics and genomics have been embraced by many in natural resource conservation. Today, several major conservation and management journals are now using 'genetics' editors to deal solely with the influx of manuscripts that employ molecular data. The editors have attempted to synthesize some of the major uses of molecular markers in natural resource management in a book targeted not only at scientists but also at individuals actively making conservation and ma...

Biotechnology and Biology of Trichoderma serves as a comprehensive reference on the chemistry and biochemistry of one of the most important microbial agents, Trichoderma, and its use in an increased number of industrial bioprocesses for the synthesis of many biochemicals such as pharmaceuticals and biofuels. This book provides individuals working in the field of Trichoderma, especially biochemical engineers, biochemists and biotechnologists, important information on how these valuable fung...

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is a unique process by means of which a vegetative/somatic plant cell transforms into an embryo. This in vitro embryogeny has immense fundamental and practical applications. The SE process is complex and is controlled by a variety of external and internal triggers. This book compiles the latest advances in embryogenesis research on ornamentals and discusses the importance of embryogenic cultures/tissues in raising transgenic crops. The technique of cryop...