Populations, Species, and Evolution: An Abridgment of Animal Species and Evolution

About the Book

Representative of the international acclaim accorded Ernst Mayr's Animal Species and Evolution, published in 1963, is Sir Julian Huxley's description of it as "a magistral book...certainly the most important study of evolution that has appeared in many years-perhaps since the publication of The Origin of Species." In his extraordinary book, Mayr fully explored, synthesized, and evaluated man's knowledge about the nature of animal species and the part they play in the process of evolution.

In this long-awaited abridged edition, Mayr's definitive work is made available to the interested nonspecialist, the college student, and the general reader. The author has retained the dominant themes of his original study-themes now more widely accepted than they were in 1963: the species is the most important unit of evolution; individuals (and not genes) are the targets of natural selection, hence the fitness of "a" gene is a nebulous if not misleading concept; and the most important genetic phenomena in species are species-specific regulatory systems that give species internal cohesion.

Each of the twenty chapters of the original edition has been revised; six have been extensively reworked. Discussions of peripheral subjects and massive citations of the literature have been eliminated, but the glossary has been greatly expanded. The focal point of the volume is, naturally, the species-a reproductively isolated aggregate of interbreeding populations. Presenting an overview of evolutionary biology in Chapter 1, Mayr then considers the nature of species, their population structure, their biological interactions, the multiplication of species, and their role in evolution.

Because of the impossibility of experimenting with man and because an understanding of man's biology is indispensable for safeguarding his future, emphasis throughout the book is placed on those findings from higher animals which are directly applicable to man. The last chapter, "Man as a Biological Species," is of particular interest to the general reader. Mayr concludes that while modern man appears to be as well adapted for survival purposes as were his ancestors, there is much evidence to suggest that he is threatened by the loss of his most typically human characteristics.

Table of Contents:
1. Evolutionary Biology 2. Species Concepts and Their Application 3. Morphological Species Characters and Sibling Species 4. Biological Properties of Species 5. Isolating Mechanisms 6. The Breakdown of Isolating Mechanisms (Hybridization) 7. The Population, Its Variation and Genetics 8. Factors Reducing the Genetic Variation of Populations 9. Storage and Protection of Genetic Variation 10. The Unity of the Genotype 11. Geographic Variation 12. The Polytypic Species of the Taxonomist 13. The Population Structure of Species 14. Kinds of Species 15. Multiplication of Species 16. Geographic Speciation 17. The Genetics of Speciation 18. The Ecology of Speciation 19. Species and Transpecific Evolution 20. Man as a Biological Species Glossary Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Ernst Mayr was Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Crafoord Prize for Biology, the National Medal of Science, the Balzan Prize, and the Japan Prize.

Review :
Evolution would not strike many nonscientific readers as a red-hot topic. The general impression is that Darwin settled all that in 1859… That isn’t so, as Mayr’s book testifies with a vengeance… This is a lovely, craggy book…something of a monument to an age of reason that now seems to be ending. A masterful exposition of what has come to be called the synthetic theory of biological evolution…strongly recommended as a text and a reference book, and for the general reader who wants to acquire a serious understanding of biological evolution. A magistral book…certainly the most important study of evolution that has appeared in many years—perhaps since the publication of On the Origin of Species.