Evolution and the Genetics of Populations: Genetics and Biometric Foundations Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Sewall Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1984 | ISBN-10: 0226910385 | ISBN-13: 978-0226910383

"Wright's views about population genetics and evolution are so fundamental and so comprehensive that every serious student must examine these books firsthand. . . . Publication of this treatise is a major event in evolutionary biology."-Daniel L. Hartl, BioScience

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (June 15, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226910385
• ISBN-13: 978-0226910383
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,100,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN IMPORTANT WORK BY A FOUNDER OF POPULATION GENETICS, December 8, 2009

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Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Evolution and the Genetics of Populations: Genetics and Biometric Foundations Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Sewall Wright (1889-1988) was an American geneticist known as one of the founders of population genetics, an important step in the development of modern evolutionary theory.

Wright states, "Too frequently, evolution is treated as a mere succession of favorable mutations rather than as a continual remolding of interaction systems in which the component genes cannot be treated as favorable or unfavorable in themselves," and notes that "It is possible to calculate the exact probabilities of any set of frequencies in the four cells of the 2 x 2 table from elementary probability theory."

Wright says that "natural selective value is a function of the system of genes as a whole rather than something that can be assigned individual genes," that "The ultimate character with which population genetics is concerned is selective value itself," and observes that "Darwin made extensive experiments with many species of plants but did not achieve any substantial advance." Wright asserts that "Such evolutionary processes as mutation, immigration, selection, and inbreeding ... may, however, be brought under a common viewpoint by measuring each by its effect on gene frequency...."

He admits the difficulty in formulating such an approach, however: "It is evident that any attempt at complete mathematical formulation must ordinarily lead to extreme complexity and that simplifying assumptions are necessary in order to obtain an understanding of the essential effects of each complication," that "It is obvious that some sort of abstraction must always be made from crude enumerations to obtain the most significant population number from the standpoint of effects of inbreeding," and that "These are, of course, highly idealized situations, never full realized in nature."

He also notes that "It is by no means certain that even a rather strongly favorable individual mutation will be fixed. It is indeed much more likely that it will be lost...."

He concludes by stating, "This volume has been concerned with the theory of the genetic composition of populations in terms of gene frequencies, and of the immediate changes to be expected under various conditions.

This is an important work for those interested in the development of evolutionary theory.