Progress and Prospects in Evolutionary Biology The Drosophila Model [Hardcover]

This book focuses on drosophila as an especially useful model organism for exploring questions of evolutionary biology in the full range of evolutionary studies: population genetics, ecology, ecological genetics, speciation, phylogenetics, genome evolution, molecular evolution, and development. The author presents an integrated view of evolutionary biology as elucidated in this single organism. Special effort is made to point out holes in our knowledge and areas particularly ripe for new investigation.

1. An Overview
2. Population Genetics--Genes
3. Population Genetics--Inversions
4. Population Genetics--Laboratory Studies
5. Ecology
6. Ecological Genetics
7. Speciation
8. Phylogenetics
9. Genome Evolution
10. Molecular Evolution
11. Development
12. Retrospective and Prospective
References
Index

The author provides a comprehensive review of the enormous evolutionary literature concerned with genusDrosophila. Although he laments the fact that only 1,750 out of the existing 60,000 papers on the subject are cited in his book, it is quite obvious that any attempt at more complete coverage would produce an unreadable book. As it is, the book is highly readable and very useful. It can be consulted for things as diverse as per locus mutation rates, patterns of DNA-DNA hybridization, breeding ecology, reproductive isolation, phylogenetics, and developmental biology of variousDrosophilaspecies. Presentation, although rigorous, is accessible to students who have successfully grasped the material from an introductory course on evolution. An interesting upper-level undergraduate course could be based on this book, since applying very different aspects of evolutionary biology to the same genus seems to be a good pedagogical approach. --The Quarterly Review of Biology

Drosophilais a model organism for research at many levels: molecular biology, genetics, genomics, development, al“„