Evolutionary biology 418101 226070585 2008-07-16T18:20:35Z 196.41.124.8 /* Topics in evolutionary biology */ {{evolution3}} '''[[Evolution]]ary biology''' is a sub-field of [[biology]] concerned with the origin of [[species]] from a [[common descent]], and [[descent]] of species; as well as their [[evolution|change]], multiplication, and diversity over time. Someone who studies evolutionary biology is known as an '''evolutionary biologist'''. ==Description== Evolutionary biology is an [[interdisciplinary]] field because it includes scientists from a wide range of both field and [[Laboratory|lab]] oriented disciplines. For example, it generally includes scientists who may have a specialist training in particular [[organism]]s such as [[mammalogy]], [[ornithology]], or [[herpetology]], but use those organisms as [[Case study|case studies]] to answer general questions in evolution. It also generally includes [[paleontology|paleontologists]] and [[geology|geologists]] who use [[fossils]] to answer questions about the tempo and mode of evolution, as well as theoreticians in areas such as [[population genetics]] and [[evolutionary psychology]]. Experimentalists have used selection in [[Drosophila]] to develop an understanding of the [[evolution of ageing]], and [[experimental evolution]] is a very active subdiscipline. In the 1990s [[developmental biology]] made a re-entry into evolutionary biology from its initial exclusion from the modern synthesis through the study of [[evolutionary developmental biology]]. Its findings feed strongly into new disciplines that study mankind's [[sociocultural evolution]] and [[evolutionary psychology|evolutionary behavior]]. Evolutionary biology's frameworks of ideas and conceptual tools are now finding application in the study of a range of subjects from [[computing]] to [[nanotechnology]]. [[Artificial life]] is a sub-field of [[bioinformatics]] that attempts to model, or even recreate, the evolution of organisms as described by evolutionary biology. Usually this is done through mathematics and computer models. == History == {{main|History of evolutionary thought}} Evolutionary biology as an [[academic discipline]] in its own right emerged as a result of the [[modern evolutionary synthesis]] in the 1930s and 1940s. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s, however, that a significant number of universities had departments that specifically included the term ''evolutionary biology'' in their titles. In the [[United States]], as a result of the rapid growth of [[molecular biology|molecular]] and [[cell biology]], many universities have split (or aggregated) their biology departments into ''molecular and cell biology''-style departments and ''ecology and evolutionary biology''-style departments (which often have subsumed older departments in [[paleontology]], [[zoology]] and the like). [[Microbiology]] has recently developed into an evolutionary discipline. It was originally ignored due to the paucity of morphological traits and the lack of a species concept in microbiology. Now, evolutionary researchers are taking advantage of our extensive understanding of microbial physiology, the ease of microbial [[genomics]], and the quick generation time of some microbes to answer evolutionary questions. Similar features have led to progress in [[virus|viral]] evolution, particularly for [[bacteriophage]]. ==Notable evolutionary biologists== {{main|:Category:Evolutionary biologists}} Notable contributors to evolutionary biology include: * [[Charles Darwin]] * [[Richard D. Alexander]] * [[William H. Cade]] * [[Bryan Clarke]] * [[Jerry Coyne]] * [[James Crow]] * [[Jared Diamond]] * [[Theodosius Dobzhansky]] * [[Niles Eldredge]] * [[Ronald Fisher|R.A. Fisher]] * [[E.B. Ford|Edmund Brisco Ford]] * [[J.B.S. Haldane]] * [[Ernst Haeckel]] * [[W. D. Hamilton|W.D. "Bill" Hamilton]] * [[Julian Huxley]] * [[Daniel Janzen]] * [[Motoo Kimura]] * [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck]] * [[Richard Levins]] * [[Richard Lewontin]] * [[Gustave Malécot]] * [[Pierre Louis Maupertuis]] * [[Ernst Mayr]] * [[John Maynard Smith]] * [[George and Elizabeth Peckham]] * [[Robert Trivers]] * [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] * [[August Weismann]] * [[George C. Williams]] * [[Allan Wilson]] * [[Edward Osborne Wilson]] * [[Sewall Wright]] * [[Carl Woese]] Evolutionary biologists known primarily for their science popularization: * [[Richard Dawkins]] * [[Stephen Jay Gould]] * [[Steve Jones (biologist)|Steve Jones]] * [[Kenneth R. Miller]] Notable popularizers of evolution whose research isn't primarily concerned with evolutionary biology include: * [[Daniel Dennett]] * [[Greg Graffin]] * [[Steven Pinker]] * [[Matt Ridley]] * [[Carl Sagan]] * [[Peter Atkins]] * [[Robert Ardrey]] * [[Michael Ruse]] == Bibliography == === Textbooks === * [[Douglas J. Futuyma]], ''Evolutionary Biology (3rd Edition)'', Sinauer Associates (1998) ISBN 0-87893-189-9 * Douglas J. Futuyma, ''Evolution'', Sinauer Associates (2005) ISBN 0-87893-187-2 * [[Mark Ridley (zoologist)|Mark Ridley]], ''Evolution (3rd edition)'', Blackwell (2003) ISBN 1-4051-0345-0 * [[Scott R. Freeman]] and [[Jon C. Herron]], ''Evolutionary Analysis'', Prentice Hall (2003) ISBN 0-13-101859-0 * [[Michael R. Rose]] and [[Laurence D. Mueller]], ''Evolution and Ecology of the Organism'', Prentice Hall (2005) ISBN 0-13-010404-3 * [[Monroe W. Strickberger]], ''Evolution (3rd Edition)'', Jones & Bartlett Publishers (2000) ISBN 0-7637-1066-0 === Notable monographs and other works === {{main|:Category:Notable publications in evolutionary biology}} {{main|:List of publications in biology}} * [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck]] (1809) ''[[Philosophie Zoologique]]'' * [[Charles Darwin]] (1859) ''[[The Origin of Species]]'' * [[Charles Darwin]] (1871) ''[[The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex]]'' * [[Ronald Fisher|R.A. Fisher]] (1930) ''[[The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection]]'' * [[J. B. S. Haldane]] (1932) ''[[The Causes of Evolution]]'' * [[Ernst Mayr]] (1941) ''[[Systematics and the Origin of Species]]'' * [[Susumu Ohno]] (1970) ''[[Evolution by gene duplication]]'' * [[Richard Dawkins]] (1976) ''[[The Selfish Gene]]'' * [[Motoo Kimura]] (1983) ''[[The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution (monograph)|The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution]]'' == Topics in evolutionary biology == * [[Foster's rule]] * [[Muller's ratchet]] * [[Mutational meltdown]] * [[Fitness landscape]] * [[Koinophilia]] * [[List of evolutionary biology topics|List of other evolutionary biology topics]] {{portal|Evolutionary biology|Charles Darwin aged 51 crop.jpg|25}} == See also == * [[Artificial selection]] * [[Computational phylogenetics]] * [[Evolutionary ecology]] * [[Evolutionary physiology]] * [[Evolutionary tree]] * [[Genetics]] * [[Phylogenetic comparative methods]] * [[Phylogenetics]] * [[Quantitative genetics]] * [[Selective breeding]] * [[Sexual selection]] * [[Systematics]] {{Biology-footer}} {{evolution}} [[Category:Evolutionary biology| ]] [[cs:Evoluční biologie]] [[es:Biología evolutiva]] [[fr:Biologie de l'évolution]] [[id:Biologi evolusioner]] [[it:Biologia evolutiva]] [[mk:Еволутивна биологија]] [[nl:Evolutiebiologie]] [[ja:進化生物学]] [[pl:Ewolucja biologiczna]] [[pt:Biologia evolutiva]] [[tr:Evrimsel biyoloji]] [[zh:演化生物學]]