Speciation

by Jerry A. Coyne, H. Allen Orr

Over the last two decades, the study of speciation has expanded from a modest backwater of evolutionary biology into a large and vigorous discipline. Thus, the literature on speciation, as well as the number of researchers and students working in this area, has grown explosively. Despite these developments, there has been no book-length treatment of speciation in many years. As a result, both the seasoned scholar and the newcomer to evolutionary biology had no ready guide to the recent literature on speciation--a body of work that is enormous, scattered, and increasingly technical. Although several excellent symposium volumes have recently appeared, these collections do not provide a unified, critical, and up-to-date overview of the field. Speciation is designed to fill this gap.

Aimed at professional biologists, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates, Speciation covers both plants and animals (the first book on this subject to do so), and deals with all relevant areas of research, including biogeography, field work, systematics, theory, and genetic and molecular studies. It gives special emphasis to topics that are either controversial or the subject of active research, including sympatric speciation, reinforcement, the role of hybridization in speciation, the search for genes causing reproductive isolation, and mounting evidence for the role of natural and sexual selection in the origin of species. The authors do not hesitate to take stands on these and other controversial issues. This critical and scholarly book will be invaluable to researchers in evolutionary biology and is also ideal for a graduate-level course on speciation.

Genres: Science, Evolution, Biology, Nonfiction, Genetics, Natural History, Biography

545 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jerry Coyne is a professor in the department of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago. His concentration is speciation and ecological and evolutionary genetics, particularly as they involve Drosophila

His work is widely published, not only in scientific journals, but also in such mainstream venues as The New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and The New Republic. Coyne's peer-reviewed scientific publications include three papers in Nature and two in Science.

His research interests include population and evolutionary genetics, speciation, ecological and quantitative genetics, chromosome evolution, and sperm competition.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, and it truly is one of the great works of evolutionary biology to come out in the past decade. A wonderful, in-depth, and interesting summary of the field of speciation research. Coyne and Orr do show their biases (and the book does have a heavy Drosophila melanogaster focus), but that is actually quite refreshing, because they don't often obscure other points of view -- they take a very balanced approach in most chapters. It's a great read for scientists, but not recommended for the general reader, as it is still quite technical and dense.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great treatment of my favorite scientific subject!

[Narges]

I think this book is good

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a student of evolutionary biology, you should probably read this book. A great starting point for all questions related to speciation.

[Yanick Punter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schilthuizen is better