John C. Avise

Covering both the internal and external incubation of offspring, this book provides a biology-rich survey of the natural history, ecology, genetics, and evolution of pregnancy-like phenomena. From mammals and other live-bearing organisms to viviparous reptiles, male-pregnant fishes, larval-brooding worms, crabs, sea cucumbers, and corals, the world's various species display pregnancy and other forms of parental devotion in surprisingly multifaceted ways. An adult female (or male) can incubate its offspring in a womb, stomach, mouth, vocal sac, gill chamber, epithelial pouch, backpack, leg pocket, nest, or an encasing of embryos, and by studying these diverse examples from a comparative vantage point, the ecological and evolutionary-genetic outcomes of different reproductive models become fascinatingly clear. John C. Avise discusses each mode of pregnancy and the decipherable genetic signatures it has left on the reproductive structures, physiologies, and innate sexual behaviors of extant species. By considering the many biological aspects of gestation from different evolutionary angles, Avise offers captivating new insights into the significance of "heavy" parental investment in progeny.

Evolutionary Perspectives on Pregnancy

Distinguished Professor Ecology & Evolutionary Biology John C Avise, Ph.D.

Phylogeography is a discipline concerned with various relationships between gene genealogies--phylogenetics--and geography. This book captures the conceptual and empirical richness of the field, and also the sense of genuine innovation that phylogeographic perspectives have brought to evolutionary studies.

The History and Formation of Species

Phylogeography

How do you explain flaw in a world engineered by God? Avise extends this age-old question to the most basic aspect of humanity's physical evidence-- our genes-- and provides the evolutionary answers.

A Case for Non-Intelligent Design

Inside the Human Genome

Francisco J. Ayala

Traces scholarly thought from the nineteenth-century birth of evolutionary biology to the mapping of the human genome through forty-eight essays, arranged in chronological order, each preceded by a one-page essay that explains the significance of the chosen work.

Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology

Kate Spencer

The High-flow Cow (pictured below and on the front cover) is just one of many remarkable organisms recently created by the biotechnology industry. Here the author guides readers on a fascinating behind-the-scenes journey into the little-known world of genetic engineering. Field marks, behaviors, and geographic ranges are provided for 35 of the world's most top secret genetically engineered species. Also described are the historical sagas and personal dramas behind each creature's artificial manufacture. From Migratory Chickens and Marijuana sniffing Dogs to Fire-retardant Trees, Square Tomatos, and Oil-drinking Bacteria, the creatures described in this Field Guide give new meaning to the old adage that "fiction is stranger than truth."

Including Revisionary Interpretations about Their Impact on World History

A Field Guide to Little Known Genetically Engineered Organisms

This volume is a reprinted collection of 69 ?classics? from the Avise laboratory, chosen to illustrate a trademark brand of research that harnesses molecular markers to scientific studies of natural history and evolution in the wild. Spanning the early 1970s through the late 2000s, these articles trace how the author and his colleagues have used molecular genetics techniques to address multifarious conceptual topics in genetics, ecology, and evolution, in a fascinating menagerie of creatures with oft-peculiar lifestyles. The organisms described in this volume range from blind cavefish to male-pregnant pipefishes and sea spiders, from clonal armadillos to natal-homing marine turtles, from hermaphroditic sea snails to hybridizing monkeys and tree frogs, from clonal marine sponges to pseudohermaphroditic mollusks to introgressing oysters, and from endangered pocket gophers, terrapins, and sparrows to unisexual (all-female) fish species to ?living-fossil? horseshoe crabs, and even to a strange little fish that routinely mates with itself. The conceptual and molecular topics addressed in this volume are also universal, ranging from punctuated equilibrium to coalescent theory to the need for greater standardization in taxonomy, from cytonuclear disequilibrium statistics to the ideas of speciation duration and sympatric speciation, from historical population demography to phylogenetic reconstructions of males' sexual ornaments, from the population genetic consequences of inbreeding to Pleistocene effects on phylogeography, and from the molecular underpinnings of null alleles to the notion of clustered mutations that arise in groups to compelling empirical evidence for the unanticipated processes of gene conversion and concerted evolution in animal mitochondrial DNA. Overall, this collection includes many of the best, most influential, sometimes controversial, occasionally provocative, always intriguing, or otherwise entertaining publications to have emerged from the Avise laboratory over the last four decades. Thus, this book conveys, through the eyes of one of the field's longstanding pioneers, what ?the organismal side? of molecular ecology and evolution really means.

The Organismal Side : Selected Writings from the Avise Laboratory

Molecular Ecology and Evolution

Reconstructing phylogenetic trees from DNA sequences has become a popular exercise in many branches of biology, and here the well-known geneticist John Avise explains why. Molecular phylogenies provide a genealogical backdrop for interpreting the evolutionary histories of many other types of biological traits (anatomical, behavioral, ecological, physiological, biochemical and even geographical). Guiding readers on a natural history tour along dozens of evolutionary pathways, the author describes how creatures ranging from microbes to elephants came to possess their current phenotypes. Essential reading for college students, professional biologists and anyone interested in natural history and biodiversity, this book is packed with fascinating examples of evolutionary puzzles from across the animal kingdom; how the toucan got its enormous bill, how reptiles grow back lost limbs and why Arctic fish don't freeze.

John C. Avise

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