Evolution: Making Sense of Life

1357 Pages·2016·57.55 MB·English

by  Carl Zimmer

Evolution
Evolution
Making Sense of Life Second Edition

Carl Zimmer Douglas J. Emlen
Evolution: Making Sense of Life, Second Edition
Carl Zimmer and Douglas J. Emlen
W. H. Freeman and Company
One New York Plaza
Suite 4500
New York, NY 10004
www.macmillanhighered.com
Publisher, Ben Roberts; production editor, Julianna Scott Fein; manuscript editor, Christianne Thillen;
creative director, Emiko-Rose Paul; text and cover designer, Jeanne Calabrese; cover art, Quade Paul;
illustrators, Emiko-Rose Paul and Carl Buell; photo editor, Sharon Donahue; proofreader, Jennifer
McClain. The text was set in 10/12 Celeste OT by TECH-arts of Colorado and printed on 45# Utopia Book
Matte by Transcontinental Printing.
Copyright © 2016 by W. H. Freeman and Company
Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the
1976 United States Copyright Act without permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for
permission or further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department at W. H. Freeman
and Company.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zimmer, Carl, 1966-
Evolution : making sense of life / Carl Zimmer, Douglas J. Emlen. -- Second edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-936221-55-4 | 978-1-319-12974-3 (epub)
1. Evolution (Biology) I. Emlen, Douglas John, 1967-II. Title.
QH366.2.Z526 2015
576.8’2--dc23
2015014646
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Front cover: The Madagascar flower Angraecum sesquipedale has an extraordinarily deep nectary that
grows as long as 30 centimeters. It is pollinated by the moth Xanthopan morganii praedicta, which has
an equally extraordinarily long proboscis to feed on the nectar. As it pushes its proboscis into the flower,
it presses its body against the flower, picking up pollen grains. These two species are a remarkable case
study in coevolution—the adaptation of two species to each other. In 1862, Charles Darwin received a
box of the flowers. He wrote to a friend that it must be pollinated by a suitably long-tongued insect. It
wasn’t until 1907, 20 years after Darwin’s death, that naturalists discovered the subspecies of X.
morganii that pollinates the flowers. The subspecies was dubbed praedicta in honor of Darwin’s
remarkable prediction.
To Grace, who awakens me to the life around us, and to Charlotte and
Veronica, who have grown up amidst my books.—C. W. Z.
To Kerry, Cory, and Nicole, the center of my beautiful world.—D. J. E.
Brief Contents
1 The Whale and the Virus: How Scientists Study Evolution
2 From Natural Philosophy to Darwin: A Brief History of Evolutionary Ideas.
3 What the Rocks Say: How Geology and Paleontology Reveal the History of Life
4 The Tree of Life: How Biologists Use Phylogeny to Reconstruct the Deep Past
5 Raw Material: Heritable Variation among Individuals
6 The Ways of Change: Drift and Selection
7 Beyond Alleles: Quantitative Genetics and the Evolution of Phenotypes
8 Natural Selection: Empirical Studies in the Wild
9 The History in Our Genes
10 Adaptation: From Genes to Traits
11 Sex: Causes and Consequences
12 After Conception: The Evolution of Life History and Parental Care
13 The Origin of Species
14 Macroevolution: The Long Run
15 Intimate Partnerships: How Species Adapt to Each Other
16 Brains and Behavior
17 Human Evolution: A New Kind of Ape
18 Evolutionary Medicine
Contents
Preface
About the Authors
1 The Whale and the Virus: How Scientists Study Evolution
Biological evolution is the process by which inherited traits of a population change over time.
1.1 Whales: Mammals Gone to Sea
Whales may look like fish, but closer inspection reveals they are more closely related to
camels.
1.2 Viruses: The Deadly Escape Artists
Populations of viruses evolve rapidly in part due to their amazing reproductive potential and in
part due to the ability of different strains to combine their genetic material.
1.3 Evolution: A Tapestry of Concepts
Evolution is not just natural selection—the theory includes other mechanisms of change such
as genetic drift.
To Sum Up
Multiple Choice Questions
Short Answer Questions
Additional Reading
Primary Literature Cited in Chapter 1
2 From Natural Philosophy to Darwin: A Brief History of Evolutionary Ideas
Charles Darwin developed his revolutionary theory by building on more than two thousand years
of research into the natural world.
2.1 Nature before Darwin
Long before Darwin, naturalists Carl Linnaeus and Nicolaus Steno were describing and
defining key concepts vital to developing an understanding of the natural world.
Natural Theology
Natural philosophers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries developed the concept
that the adaptations of species to their environment were the result of God’s design.
2.2 Evolution before Darwin
The concept that life changes over the course of vast stretches of time was being vigorously
debated before Darwin was born.
Fossils and Extinctions
Paleontology thrived as scientists discovered evidence of incredible animals and plants in
the fossil record but nowhere else on the planet.
Evolution as Striving
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed one of the first theories of evolution based on natural
laws—that animals and plants strived for existence.
BOX 2.1 • Lamarck’s View of Inheritance
2.3 The Unofficial Naturalist
Charles Darwin developed as a naturalist while taking a voyage around the world, using
pivotal concepts such as Charles Lyell’s uniformitarianism, to explain the distribution of
fossils and organisms he encountered on his journey.
BOX 2.2 • Theories in Science
Common Descent
As the discipline of taxonomy developed, so did scientists’ understanding of homologous
traits (shared because of a common ancestor) and analogous traits (shared forms).
Natural Selection
Darwin argued that the patterns observed in nature reflected a common inheritance and
that natural selection, just like selection by breeders, could lead to the diversity of species
and fossils observed.
2.4 Darwin in the Twenty-First Century
In 1859, Darwin established many of the fundamental principles of evolution. However,
evolutionary biology has developed far beyond his initial formulation in the years since.
To Sum Up
Multiple Choice Questions
Short Answer Questions
Additional Reading
Primary Literature Cited in Chapter 2