Evolution

Citation

Futuyma, D. J., & Kirkpatrick, M. (2023). Evolution (5th ed.). Oxford University Press (Sinauer Associates).

Chapter Summary

The fifth edition has twenty-two chapters and about 592 pages in the listing of one retailer. Oxford University Press describes it as presenting evolution as a living science, with revised treatment of evolutionary genetics and genomics and an emphasis on the interplay between theory and empirical tests of hypotheses, so that students learn how the science proceeds. The publisher's resource page summarises the scope as the history of evolution, evolutionary processes and adaptation, at levels of organization from genomes to ecological communities, for undergraduates.

Chapters 1–2: An Idea that Changed the World; The Tree of Life

The opening chapters introduce the idea of evolution and its history, and then the tree of life as the framework for describing the diversity of organisms.

Chapters 3–7: Natural Selection and Adaptation; Mutation and Variation; The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection; Genetic Drift: Evolution at Random; Quantitative Traits

The core processes. Chapter 3 introduces natural selection and adaptation; Chapter 4 turns to the source of variation; Chapter 5 gives the genetical theory of selection; Chapter 6 covers drift, the random component of evolution; and Chapter 7 deals with quantitative traits. One adopting instructor quoted by the retailer praises the early part of the book, where the chapters build on each other in a natural progression.

Chapters 8–11: Evolution in Space; Species and Speciation; The Evolution of Genes and Genomes; Evolution and Development

Chapter 8 considers the geographic dimension, Chapter 9 species and speciation, Chapter 10 the evolution of genes and genomes, which is where the revised genetics and genomics coverage the publisher mentions is located, and Chapter 11 evolution and development.

Chapters 12–15: All about Sex; Cooperation and Conflict; Evolutionary Ecology: How to be Fit; Interactions among Species

The chapters on reproduction and social behaviour (sex, cooperation and conflict) are followed by evolutionary ecology and by interactions among species.

Chapters 16–19: Phylogeny: The Unity and Diversity of Life; The History of Life; The Geography of Evolution; Macroevolution: Evolution above the Species Level

The large-scale chapters: phylogeny, the history of life, the geography of evolution and macroevolution.

Chapters 20–22: The Evolutionary Story of Homo sapiens; Evolution and Society; A Statistics Primer

The book closes with human evolution, then evolution and society, and a statistics primer. An adopting instructor quoted by the retailer singles out the combination of large-scale trends with an overview of the evolution of Homo sapiens.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–7

• The tree of life: the framework of Chapter 2.
• Natural selection and adaptation: Chapter 3.
• Mutation and variation; the genetical theory of selection: Chapters 4–5.
• Genetic drift and quantitative traits: Chapters 6–7.

Chapters 8–15

• Speciation: the formation of species, Chapter 9.
• Evolution of genes and genomes; evolution and development: Chapters 10–11.
• Sex, cooperation and conflict: Chapters 12–13.
• Evolutionary ecology and species interactions: Chapters 14–15.

Chapters 16–22

• Phylogeny and the history of life: Chapters 16–17.
• Macroevolution: evolution above the species level, Chapter 19.
• Human evolution and evolution in society: Chapters 20–21.
• Statistics: the primer of Chapter 22, a support chapter at the end.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Empirical emphasis. The publisher stresses the interplay of theory and empirical tests, and adopting instructors quoted by the retailer describe the book as providing many empirical examples for each major concept and as full of recent data.
• Whole-subject coverage in one volume. The contents run from the history of the idea through processes (selection, mutation, drift, quantitative genetics), species and speciation, and sex and social evolution, to phylogeny, macroevolution and human evolution.
• Support for working with data. The statistics primer in Chapter 22 and, according to the publisher's resource page, answers to end-of-chapter Problems and Discussion Topics for instructors, a test bank, and an enhanced e-book with problem-solving and data-analysis activities, give instructors material beyond the text.
• Revised for the genomic era. The publisher highlights updated coverage of evolutionary genetics and genomics, with a chapter on genes and genomes.

Limitations

• Length. At 22 chapters it is a full-year or very selective one-semester text. The publisher presents it as suited to undergraduates who have already taken biology and genetics, and the frontmatter says it should deepen an introductory course rather than serve as a first science text.
• Genetic theory is one part of a whole-subject text. Population-genetic and quantitative-genetic theory sits in Chapters 5–7 alongside everything else; students who want a dedicated treatment of the theory need a specialist book such as the Charlesworths' Elements of Evolutionary Genetics.
• Edition details differ across listings. The retailer lists a hardback from October 2022 and a paperback (international edition) from September 2023, and the frontmatter gives no ISBN, so check which printing a course uses.

Where It Fits in the Course

The other evolution books in this course serve different readers. Zimmer's The Tangled Bank is an illustrated first introduction for readers new to the subject, and the Charlesworths' Evolution: A Very Short Introduction is a concise account of the evidence for common ancestry and of how selection and other processes work. Bergstrom and Dugatkin's Evolution is another undergraduate textbook that presents evolution as an active, data-driven science, and Darwin's On the Origin of Species is the original argument. Charlesworth and Charlesworth's Elements of Evolutionary Genetics is the graduate-level theory text.

Futuyma and Kirkpatrick is the text to use for a complete, upper-level undergraduate evolution course. Read it after an introductory biology and genetics course and before the specialised theory in Elements of Evolutionary Genetics; use Bergstrom and Dugatkin as a parallel text if a second presentation of the same material helps.

How to Use This Book

The book is for undergraduates with introductory biology and genetics, as the frontmatter specifies, and for graduate students who need a broad refresher.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapters 1–9 in order. They set out the history, the tree of life, the processes of evolution and speciation.
• Next: Chapters 10–11 (genes, genomes, development) and Chapters 12–15 (sex, cooperation, ecology), which can be taken in either order.
• Large-scale evolution: Chapters 16–19 on phylogeny, the history of life, biogeography and macroevolution.
• Optional or by interest: Chapters 20–21 on human evolution and society. Use Chapter 22 when the statistical reasoning in a data-based chapter needs support.
• Practice: Work the end-of-chapter problems and discussion topics, which the publisher mentions, and check whether answers are available for students.