Topics In Evolution Research Articles

The Battle of the Books

When creationists and evolutionists spar, textbooks bear the scars of battle, as publishers simply delete or skirt evolutionary topics considered too “controversial.” Educators are now watching how the advent of custom publishing—which allows local districts to order tailor-made books—and the upcoming choice of textbooks in Texas may affect the content of textbooks nationwide.

Evolution in secondary school biology textbooks of the PRC, the USA, and the latter stages of the USSR

AbstractThe presentations of evolutionary theory in 13 prominent, secondary‐school biology textbooks—3 Chinese, 8 American, and 2 Soviet—were examined using the methods of content analysis. For each book, the amount of text devoted to each of 80 evolutionary topics was assessed. Such word counts were enumerated not only for the main narrative, but also for eight supplemental components (illustrations, marginal information, appendixes, etc.). Pronounced differences in topic emphasis among the 13 textbooks and systematic trends between countries are discussed. The strong emphasis on evolution in the USSR textbooks is impressive, but these textbooks also neglect some major themes, and they devote considerable text to certain concepts of an erroneous or dubious nature. The PRC (People's Republic of China) textbooks fail to introduce a considerable number of topics that are prominent in the other two systems. The eight USA textbooks exhibit great diversity in terms of total evolutionary content, number of themes treated, and which topics are emphasized. Unlike the USSR and PRC textbooks, the USA books position a vast amount of evolutionary content (26.5%‐55.8%) within components outside the main narrative. The evolutionary text of USA editions is dispersed throughout and is presented surprisingly early. Several individual themes that proved particularly revealing are examined, including human evolution, law of recapitulation, evolution and religion, evidences of evolution, punctuated equilibria, and artificial selection.

Evolutionary Biology in France: A Review of Some Recent Books

Contemporary evolutionary thought in France is summarized in a critical review of a number of books published in French between 1967 and 1981 and authored by French-speaking biologists. Sixteen of these books are first discussed individually. A synthesis of major evolutionary concepts, based on an analysis of this literature then follows. Mutation, recombination, chance, natural selection, adaptation, speciation, developmental processes, behavior, macroevolution, Lamarckism, and Darwinism are among the concepts discussed. Evolutionary thought in France is often held to lag behind that of biologists elsewhere. This view appears unfounded. With only a few exceptions, the authors of books (or chapters in books) published in French on evolutionary topics in the last fifteen years are fully conversant with modern evolutionary thinking and have espoused the synthetic theory. French-speaking students seeking material to read as part of a course of lectures on evolutionary subjects have the choice of several excellent textbooks that complement each other nicely. The authors of this literature are actively angaged in research in evolutionary biology. The mistaken notion that French-speaking biologists hold antiquated ideas about evolution must be due to the fact that these biologists rarely publish the results of their work in English in the journals considered by most biologists to be the standard avenues of publication. It is hoped that this paper will help English-speaking evolutionists who do not read French to become better acquainted with evolutionary thinking in France. The suggestion is made that French biologists who work on evolutionary topics should start a French Society for the Study of Evolution and should publish a journal as an outlet for the results of their work.

THEORY OF POPULATION GENETICS AND EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION

0. Introductory Survey of Population Phenomena. I. THE BASICS OF POPULATION GENETICS. 1. An Overview of Population Genetics. 2. The Hardy-Weinberg Law. 3. Natural Selection and Mutation at One Locus with Two Alleles. 4. The Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection. 5. Genetic Drift. 6. The Neutrality Controversy. II. COMPLEX GENETIC SYSTEMS. 7. Natural Selection with Multiple Alleles at One Locus. 8. Population Genetics with Multiple Loci. 9. Natural Selection and Quantitative Inheritance. 10. Nonrandom Mating. III. SPECIAL TOPICS IN EVOLUTION. 11. Evolution of the Genetic System. 12. Evolution in Spatially Varying Environments. 13. Natural Selection in Temporally Varying Environments. 14. The Evolution of Altruism: Kin Selection and Group Selection. IV. EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF SINGLE POPULATIONS. 15. An Overview of Evolutionary Ecology. 16. Exponential and Logistic Population Growth. 17. Density-Dependent Natural Selection. 18. Population Growth with Age Structure. 19. Age-Specific Selection and Life History Strategies. 20. Stochastic Environments: Extinction, Resource Tracking, and Patchiness. V. EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF INTERACTING POPULATIONS. 21. Competition. 22. Predation. 23. Coevolution in Ecological Systems. 24. Niche Theory and Island Biogeography. VI. APPENDICES. A1. The Mean and Variance. A2. How to Write a Computer Program in BASIC. A3. Matrix Algebra and Stability Theory. Index. Bibliography.

Theory of Population Genetics and Evolutionary Ecology: An Introduction.

0. Introductory Survey of Population Phenomena. I. THE BASICS OF POPULATION GENETICS. 1. An Overview of Population Genetics. 2. The Hardy-Weinberg Law. 3. Natural Selection and Mutation at One Locus with Two Alleles. 4. The Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection. 5. Genetic Drift. 6. The Neutrality Controversy. II. COMPLEX GENETIC SYSTEMS. 7. Natural Selection with Multiple Alleles at One Locus. 8. Population Genetics with Multiple Loci. 9. Natural Selection and Quantitative Inheritance. 10. Nonrandom Mating. III. SPECIAL TOPICS IN EVOLUTION. 11. Evolution of the Genetic System. 12. Evolution in Spatially Varying Environments. 13. Natural Selection in Temporally Varying Environments. 14. The Evolution of Altruism: Kin Selection and Group Selection. IV. EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF SINGLE POPULATIONS. 15. An Overview of Evolutionary Ecology. 16. Exponential and Logistic Population Growth. 17. Density-Dependent Natural Selection. 18. Population Growth with Age Structure. 19. Age-Specific Selection and Life History Strategies. 20. Stochastic Environments: Extinction, Resource Tracking, and Patchiness. V. EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF INTERACTING POPULATIONS. 21. Competition. 22. Predation. 23. Coevolution in Ecological Systems. 24. Niche Theory and Island Biogeography. VI. APPENDICES. A1. The Mean and Variance. A2. How to Write a Computer Program in BASIC. A3. Matrix Algebra and Stability Theory. Index. Bibliography.