Evolutionary Theory [Paperback]

Sean H. Rice (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0878937021 | ISBN-13: 978-0878937028 | Publication Date: June 1, 2004 | Edition: 1

Evolutionary Theory is for graduate students, researchers, and advanced undergraduates who want an understanding of the mathematical and biological reasoning that underlies evolutionary theory. The book covers all of the major theoretical approaches used to study the mechanics of evolution, including classical one- and two-locus models, diffusion theory, coalescent theory, quantitative genetics, and game theory. There are also chapters on theoretical approaches to the evolution of development and on multilevel selection theory. Each subject is illustrated by focusing on those results that have the greatest power to influence the way that we think about how evolution works. These major results are developed in detail, with many accompanying illustrations, showing exactly how they are derived and how the mathematics relates to the biological insights that they yield. In this way, the reader learns something of the actual machinery of different branches of theory while gaining a deeper understanding of the evolutionary process. <P>Roughly half of the book focuses on gene-based models, the other half being concerned with general phenotype-based theory. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the fundamental relationships between the different branches of theory, illustrating how all of these branches are united by a few basic, universal, principles. <P>The only mathematical background assumed is basic calculus. More advanced mathematical methods are explained, with the help of an extensive appendix, when they are needed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... all evolutionary biologists should be made to understand this material, and Rice's volume is the best place for them to begin. ... Anyone who wants to call themselves evolutionary theorists should work their way through this unique book. --Joe Felsenstein, The Quarterly Review of Biology

About the Author

Sean H. Rice is Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, and Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History USA. He received his Ph.D., in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, from the University of Arizona. Dr. Rice's work in evolutionary biology has explored a wide range of topics, including developmental modeling, morphological evolution in both invertebrates and vertebrates, population and quantitative genetics. His current research focuses on general mathematical theories governing the evolution of gene interactions and development.

Product Details

• Paperback: 370 pages
• Publisher: Sinauer Associates, Inc.; 1 edition (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878937021
• ISBN-13: 978-0878937028
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #805,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A deep and effective analysis of the mechanics of evolution, December 2, 2005

By 

saimiri37 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evolutionary Theory (Paperback)

I would reckon that few people are actually qualified to review this excellent book, including myself--I certainly don't have the necessary mathematical background. Nevertheless, I was surprised that no one has reviewed it yet, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Put simply, Rice's book is easily(!) one of the best texts written on evolutionary theory. It is a book that truly encompasses all the relevant aspects pertaining to the mechanics of evolutionary change. A lot books that claim to deal with "evolutionary theory" are actually either population genetics texts, tomes on macroevolution, or sleekly packaged books on Evo-devo. Rice's book, on the other hand, includes population/quantitative genetics, but also chapters on game theory, evolution of development, and multi-level selection. These chapters, as well as a chapter on Price's Theorem, set this book apart from all others.

There is a hefty dose of equations in this text, but unlike other books, the equations are skillfully integrated into explaining a particular topic. In fact, the main thrust of this text is to take some foundational concepts in evolutionary theory and to make them accessible to quasi-motivated people. Rice does this, not by re-hashing standard derivations found elsewhere, but by providing first a brief verbal description of the concept and then going through the necessary mathematical steps that show how a particular set of equations were derived. This nuts-and-bolts approach is remarkably effective and doesn't bring on the eyelid fatigue that so many other books do. Rice doesn't shy away from complex topics but tackles them with the same pithy straightforwardness as more simple topics. In particular, the sections on effective population size, diffusion theory, continuous strategy games, and Hamilton's rule are quite well done.

For a book that is full of equations, Rice's writing style is remarkably disarming. His words have a resolute efficiency about them. There's nothing arcane about this book and his prose is about as far away as you can get from the prose in Gould's big book. That said, Rice's colloquial style shouldn't be confused with simplicity or superficiality--quite the contrary, there are some deep but crisp discussions on the philosophy of model-building, multilevel selection, and assumptions of game theory. The clarity with which things are presented in this book make them all look so easy in retrospect.

Novel derivations (at least novel to me) abound in this book. They include: a new way to derive Hamilton's rule from the Price theorem (which I think is different from Hamilton's 75 paper as well as Queller's); a genetical model of species selection; a way to conceptualize drift as "random covariance" (which shows why a non-zero covariance between fitness and phenotype is not evidence of selection--causal arguments are needed as well); an incorporation of the drift term (from diffusion theory) into game-theoretic models with finite populations; a demonstration of how seemingly independent cases of one/two/multi locus selection are special cases of the Price theorem; and an entirely novel chapter on the mathematics of developmental evolution (which outlines and expands on Rice's earlier phenotype landscape work, including a section on the evolution of reaction norms). There are probably more.

I should note that Rice's book doesn't deal with systematics or speciation. Nevertheless, Felsenstein's recent book (get the latest printing!) and Coyne/Orr's recent book deal with these topics. If you understood the contents of all three of these books, you'd be seriously well-versed in evolutionary theory.

Rice's book is industrial-strength. Buy it and it will scour away the semantic veneer of your knowledge only to reveal the shiny mathematical structure of evolutionary change that lies beneath.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, brief introduction, April 25, 2008

By 

B. OFallon (Salt Lake City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evolutionary Theory (Paperback)

At first glance Dr. Rice's book appears to be a somewhat generic introduction to population genetic theory. The first few chapters, which lay out the basic selection- at-one-or-two-loci seemingly required of all such texts, are written clearly, but nonetheless seem basically interchangeable with most other discussions of the topic. In my opinion, however, Rice's brilliance really shows through in the subsequent chapters, in particular his exposition of the Price Equation (presented in chapter 6). Here, Rice presents arguments and explanations of the fundamentals of the evolutionary process that I found unique, easy to follow, and full of deep insight. The mathematics require nothing more than algebra, but nonetheless the concepts really influenced my way of thinking about evolution.
The later chapters deal with several specific issues (developmental evolution, multilevel selection, etc), and sometimes require fairly advanced mathematics (eg. tensor analysis). The chapter on multilevel selection provides a fairly clear introduction to using the Price Equation to actually solve population genetic problems.
The text is fairly short, and some sections don't get the attention they deserve (particularly on coalescent theory). Nonetheless, the clearly presented introductory material, combined with the deep insight offered by some of the later chapters, should make this book of interest to both early graduate students as well as population genetics mavens.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent guide to evolutionary theory, March 29, 2006

By 

heavyd (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evolutionary Theory (Paperback)

This book is an extremely well-written and accessible resource. As mentioned in a previous review, each subject receives mathematically detailed treatment (without getting bogged down in irrelevant detail) along with intuitive explanations of the biological meaning and behavior of the math. It therefore provides plenty of useful material for readers with diverse backgrounds. The book benefits from a focus and clarity that proves painfully absent in many other science texts, and it is deceptively short as a result. Page for page, this text packs in far more comprehensible content than any other on my shelf.