Promotional Information

Provides an accessible introduction to one of the most powerful explanatory tools available to science: the theory of evolution

Table of Contents

Series Foreword
Preface
1 The History of Evolutionary Thought
Early Ideas About Life's Diversity
Naming Life
Lamarck Proposes the First Testable Theory of Evolution
Charles Darwin
Darwin Sets Sail Aboard the Beagle and Sees the World
Darwin's Life Back in England
Down House
Wallace Provokes Darwin to Announce His Idea
The Theory of Evolution After Darwin
Darwin's Bold Prediction
Summary
2 Evidence for Evolution
The Evidence for Evolution
The Age of the Earth
Determining the Ages of Fossils and Rocks
Fossils
Extinctions
Artificial Selection
Embryology
Biogeography
Comparative Anatomy
Vestigial Structures
Molecular Biology
We Can Watch Evolution Happen
Evolution, Life, and Death: The Evolution of Drug Resistance
Can Evolution Be Stopped?
Contradictory Evidence?
Evolution in the Courtroom
Summary
3 How Evolution Works
Genes Link Generations
Pesticide Resistance
DNA and Chromosomes
The Frequencies of Genes Can Change
What Causes Genetic Variation?
Mutation Can Cause Genetic Variation
Gene Flow Can Cause Genetic Variation
Genetic Mixing Can Cause Genetic Variation
Evolution Is Change in Gene Frequency—How Do Gene Frequencies Change?
Conservation and Genetic Diversity
Natural Selection Produces Adaptive Change in Gene Frequencies
Sexual Reproduction Increases Genetic Variation
The Red Queen and Sexual Reproduction
Mate Choice Can Be Adaptive
Selection for One Extreme, Both Extremes, or the Middle
Nice Guys Don't Have to Finish Last
Calculating Coefficients of Relatedness
Mutualism
Summary
4 The Scale and Products of Evolution
Microevolution Occurs Within Populations
Macroevolution Produces Species Diversity
What Is a Species?
How Do Species Form?
Species Form by Geographic Isolation, A Disturbance in Gene Flow
Species Form When Shifts in Resources Disturb Gene Flow
Species Form When Mate Choice Restricts Gene Flow
Species Form When Genetic Changes Disturb Gene Flow
The Common Theme of Speciation Is Reproductive Isolation
A Phylogeny Traces the History of Speciation
Shared Traits Reveal Shared Ancestry
Three Types (Branches) of Living Organisms
Where Did Life Come From?
The Evolution of Multicellular Organisms
Adaptive Radiation Fuels Biodiversity
Poisonous Oceans, Death Stars, and Mass Extinction
Summary
5 Evolution and Our Daily Lives
Darwin's Predictions Continue to Ring True
Social Darwinism
Eugenics
The Evolution of Pathogens
Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology
Human Evolution
Summary
Appendices
Appendix 1: The Geological Timescale
Appendix 2: Legal Decisions Involving the Teaching of Evolution and Creationism in Public Schools
Appendix 3: A Timeline for Evolutionary Thought
Appendix 4: Meiosis and Crossing Over
Appendix 5: The Products of Evolution
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Randy Moore is H.T. Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Biology at the University of Minnesota. He had edited The American Biology Teacher and Journal of College Science Teaching, and serves on the editorial board of Journal of Biological Education. He has won numerous grants and teaching awards, including the Teacher Exemplar Award (Society for College Science Teachers). Moore, an Honorary Member of the National Association of Biology Teachers, has written over 200 articles and books, including numerous textbooks and Evolution in the Courtroom: A Reference Guide (2002).

Janice Moore is professor of Biology at Colorado State University. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles and the book Parasites and the Behavior of Animals (2002). She is also co-editor of Host-Parasite Evolution (1997) and serves on the editorial board of BioScience.

Reviews

[E]ven younger, motivated students should be able to gain some understanding of these topics without assistance or prior knowledge. Teachers will appreciate the depth and clairity.
*VOYA*

NSTA Recommends Seldom is a book so well written and so well researched that it ought to be required reading for every thinking person. Moores one-volume reference on the theory of evolution comes as close as anything I have ever encountered in my career as both a biologist and an educator. From its thorough history of the development of the theory over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries to its painstaking analysis of how evolution works and the evidence for it, this book explains in simple but accurate language everything any person needs to know to grasp the essence of one of the most important scientific explanations of all time….Not only should every high school, community, and university library have a copy of Evolution 101 but every science teacher in the country should as well.
*NSTA National Science Teachers Association*

[T]his book is a valuable, concise introduction to evolutionary thought. The authors have succeeded in providing a simple explanation of evolutionary theory that should be understandable to the average reader. This book should be essential for school and public libraries, and would be a valuable resource for any biology teacher concerned about teaching this subject accurately.
*The American Biology Teacher*

Written to be fully accessible and with a minimum of jargon, this covers what general readers should know about evolution for them to apply to further reading or study. Randy Moore and Janice Moore take a practical approach but also offer the theory necessary to get the point across, starting with the history of evolutionary thought (Darwin and the Beagle), extension and elaboration of Darwin's basic theories, and the impact of those who thought they knew Darwin's work but wandered off a bit by themselves. They describe the evidence for evolution in fossils, rocks and drug resistance, examine how evolution works (DNA, genetic variation and gene frequency, mate choices and coefficients of relatedness), the scale and products of evolution and the role of evolution in our daily lives.
*SciTech Book News*