Unfinished synthesis : biological hierarchies and modern evolutionary thought / Niles Eldredge.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eldredge, Niles.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evolution.

Physical Description:

viii, 237 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1985.

Summary:

This study provides a stimulating critique of contemporary evolutionary thought, analyzing the Modern Synthesis first developed by Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, and George Gaylord Simpson. The author argues that although only genes and organisms are taken as historic "individuals" in conventional theory, species, higher taxa, and ecological entities such as populations and communities should also be construed as individuals--an approach that yields the ecological and genealogical hierarchies that interact to produce evolution. This clearly stated, controversial work will provoke much debate among evolutionary biologists, systematists, paleontologists, and ecologists, as well as a wide range of educated lay readers.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Approaching Complexity: Thinking About Evolution 3

Chapter 2 Genes and the Evolutionary Synthesis 13

Chapter 3 Systematics, Paleontology, and the Modern Synthesis 43

Chapter 4 The Structure and Content of the Modern Synthesis 84

Chapter 5 Toward Hierarchy: Trends and Tensions in Evolutionary Theory 117

Chapter 6 The Evolutionary Hierarchies 139

Chapter 7 Hierarchic Interactions: The Evolutionary Process 175.

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages 217-225.

ISBN:

0195036336

OCLC:

11842353