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9780198815785

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McNamara and Leimar have contributed to game theory in evolutionary biology for almost as long as the approach has existed. Their new book is for those who really want to know the nuts and bolts of the techniques involved, and is driven by examples of actual topics of interest to evolutionary and behavioural ecologists. * Hanna Kokko, Trends in Ecology and Evolution *

There is much to like about this book. From the outset, the models are motivated by biological systems and observations. That is, the authors are using evolutionary theory to answer the question why is nature like that? rather than asserting that this is how nature should be. . . . It is rare to find a book that can be used effectively by both experts and neophytes, but this is one. Indeed, I can imagine teaching an upper-level undergraduate seminar with it, passing it to a new postdoctoral researcher who wants to learn the methods, and using it in my own research. Owning it will be a wise investment. * Marc Mangel, University of Bergen, The Quarterly Review of Biology * McNamara and Leimar succeed in producing a very accessible discussion of topics from which many nontheoretically inclined researchers would usually struggle to gain much insight... I cannot recommend this book more enthusiastically...a real gem, bursting with revolutionary insight. * Sasha R.X. Dall, Animal Behaviour * [The authors] stimulate the reader to imagine beyond the traditional ways of doing game theory in biology...The exercises, provided at the end of the main chapters, are excellent for practicing the logic presented. * Chaitanya Gokhale & Arne Traulsen, ISBE Newsletter * McNamara and Leimar have contributed to game theory in evolutionary biology for almost as long as the approach has existed. Their new book is for those who really want to know the nuts and bolts of the techniques involved, and is driven by examples of actual topics of interest to evolutionary and behavioural ecologists. * Hanna Kokko, Trends in Ecology and Evolution *

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John McNamara is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Biology at the University of Bristol, UK. After competing his doctorate on black holes in 1976, he changed his research focus to animal behaviour and evolutionary biology. In these fields he has developed approaches to modelling behaviour, particularly approaches based on state variables. In studying animal behaviour his objective has been to provide theoretical explanations of known phenomena and to motivate and steer the direction of new experiments. Areas in which he has contributed include foraging theory, life history theory, and game theory. Olof Leimar is Emeritus Professor of Zoology at Stockholm University, Sweden. After studying theoretical physics in Stockholm, he switched to biology and completed his doctorate in 1988 with a thesis on game-theory analysis of animal fighting. In modelling animal behaviour, he introduces behavioural mechanisms, including mechanisms from learning psychology to achieve greater biological realism. In addition to fighting behaviour, he has applied this approach to the evolution of warning colouration and mimicry. Other fields he has worked in include sex allocation, mutualism, life-history theory, developmental plasticity and phenotype determination. He develops mathematical models, but he has also been involved in experimental work in his areas of interest.

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