Natural Selection in the Wild. (MPB-21), Volume 21

by John A. Endler

Overview

Natural selection is an immense and important subject, yet there have been few attempts to summarize its effects on natural populations, and fewer still which discuss the problems of working with natural selection in the wild. These are the purposes of John Endler's book. In it, he discusses the methods and problems involved in the demonstration and measurement of natural selection, presents the critical evidence for its existence, and places it in an evolutionary perspective.


Professor Endler finds that there are a remarkable number of direct demonstrations of selection in a wide variety of animals and plants. The distribution of observed magnitudes of selection in natural populations is surprisingly broad, and it overlaps extensively the range of values found in artificial selection. He argues that the common assumption that selection is usually weak in natural populations is no longer tenable, but that natural selection is only one component of the process of evolution; natural selection can explain the change of frequencies of variants, but not their origins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691083872
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	04/21/1986
Series:	Monographs in Population Biology , #21
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	354
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

	Preface	xi
1.	Introduction	3
1.1.	Definition of Natural Selection	4
1.2.	Relationship to Genetic Drift and Evolution	5
1.3.	Restricted Meanings of "Natural Selection"	8
1.4.	Modes of Selection	15
1.5.	Summary	26
2.	Philosophical Comments	27
2.1.	Natural Selection and Tautology	28
2.2.	Force, Action, and Intensity	29
2.3.	Fitness and Adaptation	33
2.4.	Two More Useful Distinctions	50
2.5.	Summary	51
3.	Methods for the Detection of Natural Selection in the Wild	52
3.1.	Method I: Correlation with Environmental Factors	56
3.2.	Method II: Comparisons between Closely Related Sympatric Species	59
3.3.	Method III: Comparisons between Unrelated Species Living in Similar Habitats	62
3.4.	Method IV: Deviation from Formal Null Models	64
3.5.	Method V: Long-Term Studies of Trait Frequency Distributions	73
3.6.	Method VI: Perturbation of Natural Populations	75
3.7.	Method VII: Genetic Demography or Cohort Analysis	81
3.8.	Method VIII: Comparisons among Age Classes or Life-History Stages	82
3.9.	Methods IX and X: Predictions about Natural Selection	86
3.10.	Method IX: Nonequilibrium Predictions of Changes in Trait Frequency Distributions	88
3.11.	Method X: Equilibrium Predictions about Trait Frequency Distributions	91
3.12.	How to Detect Natural Selection in the Wild	93
3.13.	Summary	96
4.	Problems in Detecting Natural Selection	97
4.1.	Reasons for Lack of Detection of Natural Selection When It Exists	98
4.2.	Reasons for Apparent Detection of Selection When It Is Nonexistent	107
4.3.	Reasons for Mislcading Detection of Selection	115
4.4.	Summary	125
5.	Direct Demonstrations of Natural Selection in the Wild	126
5.1.	Characteristics of Demonstrative Studies	127
5.2.	Observations on the Distribution of Kinds of Traits Selected	154
5.3.	Observations on the Distribution of Modes of Selection	160
5.4.	General Comments on Detecting Natural Selection	162
5.5.	Summary	165
6.	Estimating Selection Coefficients and Differentials	167
6.1.	Introduction to the Methods	168
6.2.	Direct Univariate Methods	171
6.3.	Univariate Mean Fitness Methods	176
6.4.	Multivariate Methods	179
6.5.	The Use of Selection Coefficients and Differentials	199
6.6.	Summary	201
7.	Distribution of Selection Coefficients and Differentials in Natural Populations	203
7.1.	Methods	203
7.2.	Observed Distributions	207
7.3.	A Comparison of Observed and Expected Distributions	215
7.4.	Summary	222
8.	The Importance of Natural Selection	224
8.1.	Four Views	224
8.2.	Origin and Replacement	240
8.3.	Conclusion: Natural Selection and Evolution	245
8.4.	Summary	248
Appendix 1.	Multiple Regression and the Estimation of Selection Differentials	251
Appendix 2.	Comparisons between Selection Differentials and Regression Coefficients Using Simulated Data of Selection with Known Properties	260
	References	273
	Species Index	325
	Subject Index	328

What People are Saying About This

Paul Harvey

Those who denigrate the importance of natural selection in evolution will be forced to take this book seriously, and those who work on the process will find this the necessary reference text.
— Paul Harvey, Oxford University

From the Publisher

"Those who denigrate the importance of natural selection in evolution will be forced to take this book seriously, and those who work on the process will find this the necessary reference text."—Paul Harvey, Oxford University

Editorial Reviews

"Those who denigrate the importance of natural selection in evolution will be forced to take this book seriously, and those who work on the process will find this the necessary reference text."—Paul Harvey, Oxford University

From the Publisher