| Portion of title |
How living beings evolved and made the earth a home |
| Contents |
Introduction -- How we approach the problem -- Adaptation, individual and social -- Life's common ancestry, and its origin -- Diversification -- Integrating diversity into community -- Heredity, natural selection, and evolution -- Organizing genes for adaptive evolution -- The processes of evolution -- The last transition -- What have we learned, and what is still unknown? -- Bibliographic essay. |
| Abstract |
In this rich, wide-ranging, beautifully illustrated volume, Egbert Leigh explores the results of billions of years of evolution at work. Leigh, who has spent five decades on Panama's Barro Colorado Island reflecting on the organization of various amazingly diverse tropical ecosystems, now shows how selection on "selfish genes" gives rise to complex modes of cooperation and interdependence. With the help of such artists as the celebrated nature photographer Christian Ziegler, natural history illustrator Deborah Miriam Kaspari, and Damond Kyllo, Leigh explains basic concepts of evolutionary biology, ranging from life's single-celled beginnings to the complex societies humans have formed today. The book covers a range of topics, including adaptation, competition, mutualism, heredity, natural selection, sexual selection, genetics, and language. Leigh's reflections on evolution, competition, and cooperation show how the natural world becomes even more beautiful when viewed in the light of evolution-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-241) and index (pages 243-258). |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Issued in other form | Electronic version: Leigh, Egbert Giles, Jr., 1940- Nature strange and beautiful. New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2019] |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2019931653 |
| ISBN | 0300244622 (print) |
| ISBN | 9780300244625 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | (electronic bk.) |
| ISBN | (electronic bk.) |
