Avise John C. Evolutionary Pathways in Nature. A Phylogenetic Approach

Cambridge University Press, 2006. — 296 p.Reconstructing phylogenetic trees from DNA sequences has become a popular exercise in many branches of biology, and here the well-known geneticist John Avise explains why. Molecular phylogenies provide a genealogical backdrop for interpreting the evolutionary histories of many other types of biological traits (anatomical, behavioral, ecological, physiological, biochemical and even geographical). Guiding readers on a natural history tour along dozens of evolutionary pathways, the author describes how creatures ranging from microbes to elephants came to possess their current phenotypes. Essential reading for college students, professional biologists and anyone interested in natural history and biodiversity, this book is packed with fascinating examples of evolutionary puzzles from across the animal kingdom; how the toucan got its enormous bill, how reptiles grow back lost limbs and why Arctic fish don't freeze.Preface pageThe meaning of phylogeny
Phylogenetic metaphors
Molecular appraisals of phylogeny
Comparative phylogenetics
Phylogenetic character mapping
Anatomical structures and morphologies
Whence the toucan’s bill?
The beak of the fish
Snails’ shell shapes
Moreon snails’ shell shapes
Winged walkingsticks
Hermits and kings
True and false gharials
Loss of limbs on the reptile tree
Fishy origins of tetrapods
Panda ponderings
Fossil DNA and extinct eagles
The Yeti’s abominable phylogeny
Body colorations
Light and dark mice
Sexual dichromatism
Dabbling into duck plumages
Specific avian color motifs
The poisonous PitohuiWarning colorations in poison frogs
M¨ ullerian mimicry butterflies
Caterpillar colors and cryptic species
Sexual features and reproductive lifestyles
The chicken or the egg?
The avian nest
Eggdumping and foster parentage
Egglaying and live bearing
Piscine placentas
Male pregnancy
Living and reproducing by the sword
Brood care in Jamaican land crabs
Social parasitism of butterflies on ants
Of monkeyflowers and hummingbirds
henogenetic lizards, geckos, and snakes
Delayed implantation
More behaviors and ecologies
The kangaroo’s bipedal hop
Poweredflight in winged mammals
Magnetotaxis in bacteria
Cetacean origins
Feeding and echolocation in whales
The phylogeny of thrush migration
Pufferfish inflation
Eusociality in shrimp
Evolutionary reversals of salamander lifecycles
Dichotomous life histories of marine larvae
Adaptive radiations in island lizards
Spiders’ web-building behaviors
Lichen lifestyles
Cellular, physiological, and genetic traits
Foregut fermentation
Snake venoms
Antifreeze proteins in anti-tropical fish
Warm-bloodedness in fishes
Electrical currents
The Xs and Ys of sex determination
The eyes have it
Twotypes of body
The phylogenomics of DNA repair
Roving nucleic acids
Host-to-parasite gene transfer
Tracking the AIDS virus
Geographical distributions
Afrotheria theory
Aussie songbirds
Madagascar’s chameleons
The evolutionary cradle of humanity
Coralconservation
SriLanka, a cryptic biodiversity hotspot
Overseas plant dispersal
Phylogenetic bearings on Polar Bears
Looking over overlooked elephants
Bergmann’s rule
Epilog
Appendix: a primer on phylogenetic character mapping
History of cladistic concepts and terminology
Maximum parsimony
Maximum likelihood
Independent contrasts between pairs of quantitative traitsReferences and further reading