Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Evolution (4th Ed)
by Dr. Michael Hutchins
Gale | March 2011 | ISBN-10: 1414486693 | PDF | 371 pages | 22.2 mb

Based on the acclaimed print series, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed., this new full-color volume covers evolution in detail. Written for students and general researchers, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Evolution explores its topic from a scientific viewpoint. The volume is also the first to include comprehensive coverage of recent ideas and discoveries in the field. Each of the 36 entries was written by a nationally renowned subject specialist and peer-reviewed by the editor-in-chief and an editorial board of academic experts specializing in evolutionary thought. Each entry contains an authoritative and clear treatment of the topic, comprehensive in both scope and coverage. Entries also contain full-color images to complement, clarify and add detail to the text.

Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
The relevance of evolution to contemporary society . . . . xi
Contributing writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Topic overviews
Scientific methods and human knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Creation stories: The human journey to understand the origins of life on Earth . . . . . . .9
History of evolutionary thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Charles Darwin: A life of discovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Mechanisms of evolutionary change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Origins of the universe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Origins of life on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Speciation: The origins of diversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Sexual reproduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Species nomenclature, classification and problems of application  . . . . 95
The fossil record: A window to the past . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
What does the fossil record tell us about evolution?. . . . 111
Biogeography: The distribution of life . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Genetics: The blueprint of life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Genes and development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Evolutionary ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Adaptation and evolutionary change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Sexual selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Kin selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Coevolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Optimal reproductive tactics and life history theory . . . . 201
Evolutionary physiology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Industrial melanism in moths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Galápagos finches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Artificial selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Convergent evolution and ecological equivalence. . . . . . 235
Evolution of the animal eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Evolution of flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Evolution of limblessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Canid evolution: From wolf to dog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Dinosaurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Megafauna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Non-human primate and human evolution . . . . . . . . . . 299
Evolution of the brain and nervous system . . . . . . . . . . 311
Evolution of language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Evolutionary medicine and the biology of health . . . . . . 325
Evolution and biodiversity conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359