Evolution__3rd_Edition

20 PART 1 / Introduction
Further reading
Study and review questions
1 Review the ways in which biological evolution differs
from individual development, changes in the species
composition of ecosystems, and some other kinds of
change that you can think of.
2 What property of nature must any theory of evolution
explain, if it is not (in Darwin’s words) to be “almost
useless.”
A popular essay about the adaptations of woodpeckers is by Diamond (1990). Bowler
(1989) provides a general history of the idea of evolution. On Lamarck and his context,
see Burkhardt (1977) and Barthélemy-Madaule (1982); and Rudwick (1997) for
Cuvier. There are many biographies of Darwin; Browne (1995–2002) is as near to a
“standard” modern biography as any. Darwin’s autobiography is an interesting source.
A pleasant (if more demanding) way to follow Darwin’s life is through his correspondence:
a modern scholarly edition is under way (Burkhardt & Smith 1985–). Bowler
(1989) discusses and gives references about the reception and fate of Darwin’s ideas.
Berry (2002) is a readable anthology from Wallace’s writings. On the modern synthesis,
see also Provine (1971), Mayr & Provine (1980), Bowler (1996), and Gould (2002b).
Numbers (1998) is about the American reception of Darwinism.
There are biographies of many of the key figures: Box (1978) for Fisher; Clark (1969)
for Haldane; Provine (1986) for Wright. Huxley (1970–73) and Simpson (1978) wrote
autobiographies. Laporte (2000) is an intellectual biography of Simpson. See Adams
(1994) for Dobzhansky, and Powell (1997) for the contributions of the “Drosophila
model” to evolution. See the papers in a dedicatory issue of Evolution (1994), vol. 48,
pp. 1–44, for Mayr. See the special issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences USA (2000), vol. 97, pp. 6941–7055 for Stebbins.
Evolution is probably better covered than any other scientific theory by popular
science writers. Dawkins (1986, 1989a, 1996) introduces many ideas in evolution, particularly
those to do with adaptation and natural selection. Gould’s popular essays,
which first appeared in Natural History magazine from 1974 to 1999, have been anthologized
in a series of books and introduce many aspects of evolutionary biology (Gould
1977b, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002a). Jones (1999) is a popular
update of Darwin’s Origin of Species: it keeps Darwin’s original structure, and uses
modern examples. Mayr (2001) is an overview of the subject for a general reader, as
well as containing the current views of an authoritative writer.
Pagel (2002) and the encyclopedia of the life sciences (www.els.net) are encyclopedias
of evolution and of biology, respectively. The encyclopedia of life sciences
is comprehensive on evolution. Evolution is covered in many web pages, and links
are provided to them from the web page associated with this book (www.blackwellscience.com/evolution).
Zimmer (2001) is a popular book about evolution, accompanying
a PBS TV series. Trends in Ecology and Evolution is a good one-stop source
to follow a wide range of evolutionary research.
3 How did the main popular concept of evolution in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries differ from
the conception of evolution in Darwin’s theory?
4 What are the two theories that are combined in the
synthetic theory of evolution?
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