Overview
Evolutionary quantitative genetics (EQG) provides a formal theoretical foundation for quantitatively linking natural selection and genetic variation to the rate and expanse of adaptive evolution. It has become the dominant conceptual framework for interpreting the evolution of quantitative traits in terms of elementary forces (mutation, inheritance, selection, and drift). Despite this success, the relevance of EQG to many biological scenarios remains relatively unappreciated, with numerous fields yet to fully embrace its approach. Part of the reason for this lag is that conceptual advances in EQG have not yet been fully synthesized and made accessible to a wider academic audience. A comprehensive, accessible overview is therefore now timely, and Evolutionary Quantitative Genetics provides this much-needed synthesis.The central argument of the book is that an adaptive landscape concept can be used to understand both evolutionary process within lineages and the pattern of adaptive radiations. In particular, it provides a convincing argument that models with a moving adaptive peak carry us further than any other conceptual approach yet devised. Although additive theory holds center stage, the book mentions and references departures from additivity including non-Gaussian distributions of allelic effects, dominance, epistasis, maternal effects and phenotypic plasticity. This accessible, advanced textbook is aimed principally at students (from senior undergraduate to postgraduate) as well as practising scientists in the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, physiology, functional morphology, developmental biology, comparative biology, paleontology, and beyond who are interested in how adaptive radiations are produced by evolutionary and ecological processes.
Full Product Details
Author: Prof Stevan J. Arnold (Professor Emeritus, Professor Emeritus, Dept Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, USA)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 18.90cm
, Height: 2.40cm
, Length: 24.60cm
Weight: 1.042kg
ISBN: 9780192859396
ISBN 10: 0192859390
Pages: 496
Publication Date: 25 July 2023
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Author Information
Stevan J. Arnold is Professor Emeritus, Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, USA. He was made a Fellow of the AAA&S (American Academy of Arts and Sciences) in 2009, and has held the presidency of both the Society for the Study of Evolution (1998) and the American Society of Naturalists (2012). He is one of the top experts in the field and has published large numbers of highly cited academic articles in the realm of quantitative genetics.
