Timothy A. Mousseau - Böcker

Phenotypic variation is influenced by both genetic and environmental variation. One important source of environmental variation is the maternal effect: influences of the maternal environment on offspring phenotype. Heritable maternal effects have been shown to influence the life histories, behaviour, and population dynamics of a wide variety of plants and animals. They are likely to have evolved as a mechanism for cueing offspring to appropriate development for predicted environmental conditions. This will be the first book dealing with the broad range of maternal effects.

Two of the great mysteries of biology yet to be explored concern the distribution and abundance of genetic variation in natural populations and the genetic architecture of complex traits. These are tied together by their relationship to natural selection and evolutionary history, and some of the keys to disclosing these secrets lie in the study of wild organisms in their natural environments.This book, featuring a superb selection of papers from leading authors, summarizes the state of current understanding about the extent of genetic variation within wild populations and the ways to monitor such variation. It proposes the idea that a fundamental objective of evolutionary ecology is necessary to predict organism, population, community, and ecosystem response to environmental change. In fact, the overall theme of the papers centers around the expression of genetic variation and how it is shaped by the action of natural selection in the natural environment.Patterns of adaptation in the past and the genetic basis of traits likely to be under selection in a dynamically changing environment is discussed along with a wide variety of techniques to test for genetic variation and its consequences, ranging from classical demography to the use of molecular markers. This book is perfect for professionals and graduate students in genetics, biology, ecology, conservation biology, and evolution.

This volume features an important collection of review articles highlighting the top science and developments in the field of evolutionary biology. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas.ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member

This volume features an important collection of review articles highlighting the top science and developments in the field of evolutionary biology. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas.ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

The latest volume of “The Year in Evolutionary Biology” series of the Annals features six synthetic reviews and two perspectives.  Several of these contributions address issues related to speciation, ranging from a synthesis of research on two continents on the fascinating adaptive radiation of crossbills to an evaluation of how differences in gene expression affect the process of ecological speciation. Other papers featured papers include: a meta-analysis of publications on allopatric versus sympatric speciationan evaluation of patterns of adaptation to climatic variation focused on phenotypic plasticity in response to global climate changea look at the genetic controls of plant stress responses from an evolutionary viewpointnew perspectives on the evolution of life historiesan evolutionary analysis of the causes and consequences of persistent human diseasesNOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas.ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

This fourth installment of "The Year in Evolutionary Biology" series includes reviews on competition and the evolutionary dynamics of mutualism; rapid Hox gene evolution and the evolution of body plans; the evolutionary and conservation consequences of inbreeding-environment interactions; evolution and development of character displacement; applications of information theory to evolution; and gene duplications.NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit http://ordering.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/subs.asp?ref=1749-6632&doi=10.1111/(ISSN)1749-6632.ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.