Evolution is the single unifying principle of biology and core to everything in the life sciences. More than a century of work by scientists from across the biological spectrum has produced a detailed history of life across the phyla and explained the mechanisms by which new species form.
This textbook covers both this history and the mechanisms of speciation; it also aims to provide students with the background needed to read the research literature on evolution. Students will therefore learn about cladistics, molecular phylogenies, the molecular-genetical basis of evolutionary change including the important role of protein networks, symbionts and holobionts, together with the core principles of developmental biology. The book also includes introductory appendices that provide background knowledge on, for example, the diversity of life today, fossils, the geology of Earth and the history of evolutionary thought.
Key Features
- Summarizes the origins of life and the evolution of the eukaryotic cell and of Urbilateria, the last common ancestor of invertebrates and vertebrates.
- Reviews the history of life across the phyla based on the fossil record and computational phylogenetics.
- Explains evo-devo and the generation of anatomical novelties.
- Illustrates the roles of small populations, genetic drift, mutation and selection in speciation.
- Documents human evolution using the fossil record and evidence of dispersal across the world leading to the emergence of modern humans.
Author(s): Jonathan Bard
Publisher: CRC Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 534
City: Boca Raton
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Website Support Materials
Acknowledgements
About the Author
SECTION ONE: AN INTRODUCTION TO EVOLUTION
1. Approaching Evolution
Perspectives
Evolutionary research today
Systems biology
Further readings
Websites
2. A Potted History of Evolutionary Science
The pre-Darwinian Era
The Darwinian Era
The era of evolutionary genetics
The molecular era
Further readings
Website
3. The Ancient World
The evolving earth
Extinctions
Four billion years of life
Prokaryotes
Unicellular eukaryotes
Early large eukaryotes
Further readings
Websites
4. Life Today: Species, Diversity, and Classification
The diversity of life today
Defining a species
Variation within a species
The numbers of species today
Taxonomies: Organising diversity
Phylogenies and evolutionary history
Key points
Further readings
Websites
SECTION TWO: THE EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION
5. Analysing Evolutionary Change
Descent with modification is the identifier for evolution
Cladistic links organisms by anatomical inheritance
Linnaean and cladistic taxonomies are different
Apparent anomalies
Homoplasies
Lost plesiomorphies
Exaptations
The broader importance of Darwin’s ideas
Key points
Further reading
Websites
6. The Anatomical Evidence for Evolutionary Change
The evolution of the pentadactyl limb
The evolution of the mammalian skull
The evolution of middle-ear bones and the reorganization of the jaw
The evolution of the zygomatic arch
The evolution of the secondary palate
The evolution of mammalian teeth
The evolution of the equidae
Key points
Further readings
Website
7. The Genomic Evidence
Phylograms and cladograms are subtly different
Constructing sequence-based phylogenetic trees
Ancestral sequences
Choosing sequences for phylogenetic analysis
Three examples of molecular phylogenies
The evolutionary status of the AmphilLim 1/5 Gene
Phylogenetic relationships among a group of anemone fish
Phylogenetic relationships across the family of hox genes
Gene trees, species trees, and phylogenomics
Adding timings to phylograms
Molecular phylogenetics today
Key points
Further readings
Websites
8. The Evo-Devo Evidence
The molecular basis of evo-devo homologies
Signal and receptor homologies
Transcription factor homologies
Protein network homologies
Implications of protein homologies
Key points
Further readings
Websites
SECTION THREE: THE HISTORY OF LIFE
9. The First Two Billion Years
The origin of life
FUCA, the first universal common ancestor
LUCA, the last universal common ancestor
The prokaryotic seas: Eubacteria and Archaebacteria
Eubacteria
Archaebacteria
FECA, the first eukaryote common ancestor
LECA, the last eukaryote common ancestor
Mitochondria
Membranes and cytoskeleton
Timings
Key points
Further readings
Websites
10 The Roots of the Eukaryotic Tree
of Life
The diversification of the leca
Flagella, centrioles, and basal bodies
Cell walls
Sexual reproduction and diploidy
Plastids
Protist systematics
The origins of social behaviour
The acquisition of multicellularity
Fungal evolution
Key points
Further readings
Websites
Fungi
11. The Evolution of Algae and Plants
Algae
Algal fossil record
Evolution of algae
Plants
Plant evolution
Plant systematics
Key points
Further readings
Websites
12. The Ediacaran Period and the Early Evolution of the Metazoa
The Ediacaran biota
The evolution of diploblastic and triploblastic embryos
Protostomes
Deuterostomes
The evolution of Urbilateria
Key points
Further readings
Website
13. The Cambrian Explosion and the Evolution of Protostomes
The Cambrian fossil record
The protostome world
Porifera
Coelenterata
The Bilateria and protostome diversity
Protostome systematics
The major protostome phyla
Molluscs
Arthropods
Key points
Further readings
Websites
14. Deuterostome Evolution: From the Beginnings to the Amphibians
Modern deuterostome anamniotes
Ambulacraria
The minor chordate clades
Craniata
The early deuterostome fossil
record
The fish fossil record
From water to land
Limb evolution
Girdle evolution
Breathing
Metamorphosis
Amphibians
Key points
Further readings
Websites
15. Vertebrate Evolution: Stem Mammals, Reptiles, and Birds
Anatomical innovations in stem amniotes
The evolution of the amniote egg
The evolution of the early amniote skeleton
The fossil record of mesozoic
reptiles
The Palaeozoic Era
The Mesozoic Era (252–66 Mya)
The K-T extinction and the beginnings of the Cenozoic Era (66 Mya)
The origin of flight
Pterosaurs
Birds
Key points
Further readings
Websites
16. Vertebrate Evolution: Mammals
The mammalian fossil record
from the Mesozoic
The evolution of some key mammalian features
Changes to the skull
Changes to soft tissues
The evolution of the Cetacea
Defensive adaptations
Probosces with a second function
Flight
Back to the sea and the evolution of whales
Key points
Further readings
Websites
SECTION FOUR: THE MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION
17. Variation 1: Mutations and
Phenotypes
Phenotypic variation
Unusual variation: Sports and anomalies
Variation leading to human disease
Secondary variation
Genotypic variation
Mutation
The effects of mutation on the genotype
The effect of mutation on individual genes
Larger-scale genomic changes
Horizontal gene transfer
The role of the environment in generating variation
Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI)
The wider context
Key points
Further readings
Websites
18. Variation 2: Evolutionary Change
Some origins of anatomical change
Organism size
Timing changes
Limb variation
Other evolutionary variants
The effect of mutation on
signaling and network systems
Signals, receptors, and transcription factors
Networks
Developmental constraints
on variation
The mutational basis of trait change—The broader view
Key points
Further readings
Websites
19. Adaptation, Symbionts,
and Holobionts
Types of adaptation
Camouflage and mimicry
Exaptation
Niche construction
Parasites
Facilitating reproduction
Increasing offspring numbers
Symbiosis
Holobiosis
Developmental plasticity and adaptive change
Key points
Further readings
Websites
20. Selection
Natural selection
The evolution of the camera eye under selection
Sexual selection
The advantages and disadvantages of sexual reproduction
The sexual phenotype
The sex ratio
Kin selection and altruism
The speed of change under selection
Controlling selection
Selective breeding
Generating anatomical novelties
Selection pressures imposed by humans
Key points
Further readings
Websites
21. Evolutionary Population Genetics
Classical population genetics
Linkage
Nonrandom breeding
Migration
Genetic drift
The effects of selection
Practical considerations
Neutral theory versus selection
Small populations and founder
groups
Quantitative and complex traits
Gene identification
Selfish genes
Coalescence approaches
Conclusion
Key points
Further readings
Websites
22. Speciation
Defining a species
The breeding criterion
The morphological criterion
The habitat criterion
The molecular criterion
The timing criterion
How new species form
Modes of reproductive isolation
Allopatric separation
Peripatric speciation
Parapatric speciation
Sympatric separation
The rate of speciation
Hybrids
Speciation speeds under allopatric conditions
Species flocks
Experimental speciation
The genetics of speciation
The key role of chromosomes
Key points
Further readings
Websites
SECTION FIVE: HUMAN EVOLUTION
23. Human Evolution 1: The Fossil
Evidence
Human fossil material
The major hominin groups
Possible early hominins (7–4.5 Mya)
Archaic hominins (4.5–2.5 Mya)
Megadont archaic hominins (2.5–1 Mya)
Transitional hominins (~2.5–1.4 Mya)
Pre-modern Homo (1.9 Mya–30 Kya)
Anatomically modern Homo (from 0.2 Mya onwards)
Selection and speciation
Key points
Further readings
Websites
24. Human Evolution 2: Genes
and Migrations
Information from chimpanzee genomes
Ancient Homo DNA
Contemporary human genomes
Mitochondrial DNA
Migrations within Africa
Migrations out of Africa
The wider picture
Key points
Further readings
Websites
25. Human Evolution 3: The Origins
of Modern Humans
The rise of H. sapiens
Cultural inheritance
Tool-making
Social living
Speech
Art
The modern brain
The origins of human differences
Skin pigmentation
Eye colour
Genetic disorders
Body differences
Are humans still evolving?
Key points
Further readings
Websites
26. Conclusions
The achievements of evolutionary science
Contemporary challenges
The history of life
The mechanisms of speciation
Is anything missing?
The speed of evolutionary
change and noncanonical heritability
The origins of novel phenotypes
Neurobiology and behaviour
Origin of life
The evolutionary future of
Homo sapiens
Is the human species still evolving
The effect of humans on the planet
Finally
Websites
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Systems Biology
The narrow view
The broader view
Events within each level are complex
There are interactions between levels
Causality is distributed
A note on systems terminology
Further readings
Websites
Appendix 2: A History of Evolutionary Thought
The early days
The move to evolutionary
thinking
The early 19th century
Lamarck: The first evolutionary scientist
The era of Darwin
The 19th century after
Darwin
The early 20th century
Taxonomy
The molecular era
DNA sequence analysis
Evo-devo
Systems biology
Further readings
Websites
Appendix 3: A Brief History of the World
Appendix 4: Rocks, Dates, and Fossils
Rock types
Ageing rocks (geochronology)
Paleoclimatology
How fossils form
Dating ancient organisms
Further readings
Websites
Appendix 5: Constructing Molecular Phylogenies
Phylogenies based on
shared/absent sequences
Phylogenies based on distance matrices
Phylogenies based on
tree-searching methods
Maximum parsimony
Maximum likelihood
Bayesian methods
Phylogeny choices
Further readings
Websites
Appendix 6: Three Key Model Organisms: Mouse, Drosophila, and H. sapiens
Drosophila development
Mouse development
Similarities and differences
Homo sapiens
Further readings
Websites
Appendix 7: Some Principles of Animal Developmental Biology
Driving developmental change
How tissues form
Tissue modules
The origins of anatomical
differences
The role of the genome in development
Key points
Further readings
Websites
Appendix 8: Evolution and Creationism
Creationism
The claim
Evolutionary criticisms of creationism
Evolution
The claims
The creationists’ criticisms of evolution
Conclusions
Websites
Glossary
References
Index
