Phenotypic Plasticity & Evolution

Anyone interested in the nature of living organisms and their adaptive evolution will be stimulated by reading this book. -- Mary Jane West-Eberhard (Foreword) This authoritative compilation brings together top thinkers on phenotypic plasticity and synthesizes the many ways that it profoundly influences evolution. Plasticity has been too often dismissed as mere 'environmental noise,' but these chapters bring rich and diverse perspectives to one volume and explain how plasticity arises and how understanding plasticity is fundamental to understanding evolutionary patterns and processes. -- Mohamed Noor, Duke University This book is 'must-read' for anyone interested in phenotypic plasticity. The editor and authors have done an excellent job as the treatment is bang up to date with a fully comprehensive coverage. In this era of major challenges from climate change, an understanding of the evolution and ecology of phenotypic plasticity has become ever more pressing and highly relevant to whether species will be able to cope with its consequences. The most valuable and attractive features of the book include an exceptionally thorough assessment of controversial ideas involving the genetics and evolution of plasticity and sections in each chapter entitled 'suggestions for future research'. -- Paul Brakefield FRS, University of Cambridge, UK This is a much needed book. This volume makes clear that nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of selectable variation, and that this variation arises through the alliances woven between genomic and environmental agents during development. This should be mandatory reading for anyone concerned with mechanisms of evolution. -- Scott F. Gilbert, Swarthmore College Bringing together leading theoretical and empirical scientists, this volume provides a comprehensive treatment of the mechanisms underlying phenotypic plasticity and how this knowledge illuminates our understanding of evolution. Among other triumphs, it fulfills the promise of genomics as an engine of discovery for mechanistic biology, evolutionary biology, and their integration. A most worthy successor to West-Eberhard's Developmental Plasticity and Evolution. -- Gene E. Robinson, Department of Entomology and Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Anyone interested in the nature of living organisms and their adaptive evolution will be stimulated by reading this book. -- Mary Jane West-Eberhard (Foreword) This authoritative compilation brings together top thinkers on phenotypic plasticity and synthesizes the many ways that it profoundly influences evolution. Plasticity has been too often dismissed as mere 'environmental noise,' but these chapters bring rich and diverse perspectives to one volume and explain how plasticity arises and how understanding plasticity is fundamental to understanding evolutionary patterns and processes. -- Mohamed Noor, Duke University This book is 'must-read' for anyone interested in phenotypic plasticity. The editor and authors have done an excellent job as the treatment is bang up to date with a fully comprehensive coverage. In this era of major challenges from climate change, an understanding of the evolution and ecology of phenotypic plasticity has become ever more pressing and highly relevant to whether species will be able to cope with its consequences. The most valuable and attractive features of the book include an exceptionally thorough assessment of controversial ideas involving the genetics and evolution of plasticity and sections in each chapter entitled 'suggestions for future research'. -- Paul Brakefield FRS, University of Cambridge, UK This is a much needed book. This volume makes clear that nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of selectable variation, and that this variation arises through the alliances woven between genomic and environmental agents during development. This should be mandatory reading for anyone concerned with mechanisms of evolution. -- Scott F. Gilbert, Swarthmore College Bringing together leading theoretical and empirical scientists, this volume provides a comprehensive treatment of the mechanisms underlying phenotypic plasticity and how this knowledge illuminates our understanding of evolution. Among other triumphs, it fulfills the promise of genomics as an engine of discovery for mechanistic biology, evolutionary biology, and their integration. A most worthy successor to West-Eberhard's Developmental Plasticity and Evolution. -- Gene E. Robinson, Department of Entomology and Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign