Books in Evolutionary ecology

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology

2nd Edition
September 1, 2025
Claudia Augusta De Moraes Russo + 1 more
English
Hardback
9 7 8 0 4 4 3 1 5 7 5 0 9
eBook
9 7 8 0 4 4 3 1 5 7 5 1 6

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, Second Edition, Four Volume Set is a comprehensive resource containing approximately 215 chapters that covers all fundamental topics in evolutionary biology. Featuring a consistent chapter structure, this encyclopedia ensures easy navigation across the volumes. Each chapter effectively links concepts to specific systems and examples, making it an invaluable tool for anyone interested in applying evolutionary thinking to their field of study. This edition includes new or expanded topics such as human evolution, including cultural evolution and language, paleontology, the origins of life, mass extinction events, epigenetics, and metagenomics.The encyclopedia also delves into the evolution of behavior, game theory, kin selection, optimality, human microbiomes, and the diversification of viruses. With its broad coverage, this essential resource will engage readers across various educational levels, emphasizing the central role of evolutionary biology in the life sciences. It caters to a wide range of readers, from students to experienced professionals, by offering both introductory chapters and in-depth analyses.

Atlas of the Anatomy of Dolphins and Whales

1st Edition
November 20, 2018
Stefan Huggenberger + 2 more
English
Hardback
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 2 4 4 6 1
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 2 6 3 6 6

Atlas of the Anatomy of Dolphins and Whales is a detailed, fully illustrated atlas on the anatomy and morphology of toothed and whalebone whales. The book provides basic knowledge on anatomical structures, in particular, soft tissues, and functions as a standalone reference work for dissecting rooms and labs, and for those sampling stranded and by-caught dolphins in the field. As a companion and supplement to Anatomy of Dolphins: Insights into Body Structure and Function, this atlas will be of great interest to the scientific community, including veterinarians and biologists, as a book of reference. With a modern approach to dolphin anatomy and morphology, this atlas provides the extensive knowledge necessary to practitioners and theoretical scientists such as evolutionary biologists. The conceptual clarity, precision, and comprehensive and updated display of the topographical anatomy of the body of cetaceans in the atlas support and illustrate the authors’ related work, serving as a comprehensive reference for those who are more specifically interested in the details of the anatomy and morphology of porpoises, dolphins and whales.

Palaeobiology of Giant Flightless Birds

1st Edition
November 16, 2017
Delphine Angst + 1 more
English
Hardback
9 7 8 1 7 8 5 4 8 1 3 6 9
eBook
9 7 8 0 0 8 1 0 1 1 4 3 0

The fossil record of giant flightless birds extends back to the Late Cretaceous, more than 70 million years ago, but our understanding of these extinct birds is still incomplete. This is partly because the number of specimens available is sometimes limited, but also because widely different approaches have been used to study them, with sometimes contradictory results. This book summarizes the current knowledge of the paleobiology of seven groups of giant flightless birds: Dinornithiformes, Aepyornithiformes, Dromornithidae, Phorusrhacidae, Brontornithidae, Gastornithidae and Gargantuavis. The first chapter presents the global diversity of these birds and reviews the tools and methods used to study their paleobiology. Chapters 2 to 8 are each dedicated to one of the seven groups of extinct birds. Finally, a conclusion offers a global synthesis of the information presented in the book in an attempt to define a common evolutionary model.

Evolution of Dental Tissues and Paleobiology in Selachians

1st Edition
November 16, 2017
Gilles Cuny + 2 more
English
Hardback
9 7 8 1 7 8 5 4 8 1 3 9 0
eBook
9 7 8 0 0 8 1 0 1 1 4 0 9

Chondrichthyans possess unique anatomical features compared to other vertebrates, in particular a fully cartilaginous skeleton and a permanently renewed dentition. These characteristics make the fossilization of whole bodies difficult and consequently their fossil record consists mainly of a large number of isolated teeth. The study of their dentition is therefore of primary interest for our understanding of the evolution of this group. Beyond the dental morphology, the structure of the tissues composing the dentition has proved an important source of information, sometimes difficult to interpret, on the eating habits and the paleobiology of these animals. This book makes a thorough review of the existing theories in this field of research as well as introducing new elements from more recent studies. Through close reference to the fossil record of ancient selachians it examines what the study of dental tissue in cartilaginous fish can tell us about the evolution and the past biology of these animals, as well as what we can learn about the evolution of teeth themselves.

Evolution since Coding

1st Edition
August 1, 2017
Zachary F. Burton
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 3 0 3 3 9
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 3 0 3 4 6

Evolution since Coding: Cradles, Halos, Barrels, and Wings describes genesis of metabolism, transcription, translation, cell structure, eukaryotic complexity, LUCA (the last universal common (cellular) ancestor), the great divergence of archaea and bacteria, LECA (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), extinction, and cancer in very simple ways. The work (almost) "synthesizes life from scratch" (since coding) and describes the tools for readers to check the author’s work. As a result, readers understand living systems and their evolution in a conceptual way and are empowered to utilize powerful but accessible tools in computer-based biology. The work serves as foundational reading for a variety of researchers, academics, and students in life sciences, for example in evolution/evolutiona... biology, biochemistry, genetics/molecular genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, and microbiology, as well as disciplines beyond biological science. Its approachable style makes the book accessible for introductory students and educated laypersons. Evolution since Coding is suitable to supplement college courses that mix computers, evolution, and biology from freshman to senior level.

Freshwater Fishes

1st Edition
May 23, 2017
Lionel Cavin
English
Hardback
9 7 8 1 7 8 5 4 8 1 3 8 3
eBook
9 7 8 0 0 8 1 0 1 1 4 1 6

With more than 15,000 species, nearly a quarter of the total number of vertebrate species on Earth, freshwater fishes are extremely varied. They include the largest fish species, the beluga at over 7 meters long, and the smallest, the Paedocypris at just 8 millimeters, as well as the carnivorous, such as the piranha, and the calm, such as the Chinese algae eater. Certain species evolve rapidly, cichlids for example, while others transform very slowly, like lungfish. The fossils of these animals are very diverse in nature, sometimes just small scattered bones where sites correspond to ancient river beds or magnificent fossils of entire fish where there was once a lake. This book covers the history of these fishes over the last 250 million years by exploring the links between their biological evolution and the paleogeographic and environmental transformations of our planet, whether these be gradual or sudden.

On Human Nature

1st Edition
September 12, 2016
Michel Tibayrenc + 1 more
English
Hardback
9 7 8 0 1 2 4 2 0 1 9 0 3
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 7 9 9 9 1 5 9

On Human Nature: Biology, Psychology, Ethics, Politics, and Religion covers the present state of knowledge on human diversity and its adaptative significance through a broad and eclectic selection of representative chapters. This transdisciplinary work brings together specialists from various fields who rarely interact, including geneticists, evolutionists, physicians, ethologists, psychoanalysts, anthropologists, sociologists, theologians, historians, linguists, and philosophers. Genomic diversity is covered in several chapters dealing with biology, including the differences in men and apes and the genetic diversity of mankind. Top specialists, known for their open mind and broad knowledge have been carefully selected to cover each topic. The book is therefore at the crossroads between biology and human sciences, going beyond classical science in the Popperian sense. The book is accessible not only to specialists, but also to students, professors, and the educated public. Glossaries of specialized terms and general public references help nonspecialists understand complex notions, with contributions avoiding technical jargon.

Evolution, Explanation, Ethics and Aesthetics

1st Edition
July 19, 2016
Francisco J. Ayala
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 3 6 9 3 8
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 3 7 3 1 7

Evolution, Explanation, Ethics and Aesthetics: Towards a Philosophy of Biology focuses on the dominant biological topic of evolution. It deals with the prevailing philosophical themes of how to explain the adaptation of organisms, the interplay of chance and necessity, and the recurrent topics of emergence, reductionism, and progress. In addition, the extensively treated topic of how to explain human nature as a result of natural processes and the encompassed issues of the foundations of morality and the brain-to-mind transformation is discussed. The philosophy of biology is a rapidly expanding field, not more than half a century old at most, and to a large extent is replacing the interest in the philosophy of physics that prevailed in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. Few texts available have the benefit of being written by an eminent biologist who happens to be also a philosopher, as in this work. This book is a useful resource for seminar courses and college courses on the philosophy of biology. Researchers, academics, and students in evolutionary biology, behavior, genetics, and biodiversity will also be interested in this work, as will those in human biology and issues such as ethics, religion, and the human mind, along with professional philosophers of science and those concerned with such issues as whether evolution is compatible with religion and/or where morality comes from.

Chordate Origins and Evolution

1st Edition
July 14, 2016
Noriyuki Satoh
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 9 9 3 4 6
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 3 0 0 6 6

Chordate Origins and Evolution: The Molecular Evolutionary Road to Vertebrates focuses on echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins, and others), hemichordates (acorn worms, etc.), cephalochordates (lancelets), urochordates or tunicates (ascidians, larvaceans and others), and vertebrates. In general, evolution of these groups is discussed independently, on a larger scale: ambulacrarians (echi+hemi) and chordates (cephlo+uro+vert). Until now, discussion of these topics has been somewhat fragmented, and this work provides a unified presentation of the essential information. In the more than 150 years since Charles Darwin proposed the concept of the origin of species by means of natural selection, which has profoundly affected all fields of biology and medicine, the evolution of animals (metazoans) has been studied, discussed, and debated extensively. Following many decades of classical comparative morphology and embryology, the 1980s marked a turning point in studies of animal evolution, when molecular biological approaches, including molecular phylogeny (MP), molecular evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and comparative genomics (CG), began to be employed. There are at least five key events in metazoan evolution, which include the origins of 1) diploblastic animals, such as cnidarians; 2) triploblastic animals or bilaterians; 3) protostomes and deuterostomes; 4) chordates, among deuterostomes; and 5) vertebrates, among chordates. The last two have received special attention in relation to evolution of human beings. During the past two decades, great advances have been made in this field, especially in regard to molecular and developmental mechanisms involved in the evolution of chordates. For example, the interpretation of phylogenetic relationships among deuterostomes has drastically changed. In addition, we have now obtained a large quantity of MP, evo-devo, and CG information on the origin and evolution of chordates.

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology

1st Edition
April 14, 2016
Richard M Kliman
English
Hardback
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 0 0 4 9 6
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 0 4 2 6 5

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, Four Volume Set is the definitive go-to reference in the field of evolutionary biology. It provides a fully comprehensive review of the field in an easy to search structure. Under the collective leadership of fifteen distinguished section editors, it is comprised of articles written by leading experts in the field, providing a full review of the current status of each topic. The articles are up-to-date and fully illustrated with in-text references that allow readers to easily access primary literature. While all entries are authoritative and valuable to those with advanced understanding of evolutionary biology, they are also intended to be accessible to both advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Broad topics include the history of evolutionary biology, population genetics, quantitative genetics; speciation, life history evolution, evolution of sex and mating systems, evolutionary biogeography, evolutionary developmental biology, molecular and genome evolution, coevolution, phylogenetic methods, microbial evolution, diversification of plants and fungi, diversification of animals, and applied evolution.

Life Sciences

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Social Sciences & Humanities

Health

Books in Evolutionary ecology

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology

Atlas of the Anatomy of Dolphins and Whales

Palaeobiology of Giant Flightless Birds

Evolution of Dental Tissues and Paleobiology in Selachians

Evolution since Coding

Freshwater Fishes

On Human Nature

Evolution, Explanation, Ethics and Aesthetics

Chordate Origins and Evolution

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology