Mechanisms of life history evolution : the genetics and physiology of life history traits and trade-offs

[This book] single-handedly kept me off a computer for a long time and renewed my excitement about books. ... The content is motivating. Excellent chapters, sections and overview by the editors will turn this book into a much-read, dog-eared reference staple. Highly recommended. Andrew P. Beckerman, Times Higher Education Flatt and Heyland have clearly spent much time editing this book and have produced an effective template for an impressive set of authors, organised contributions into coherant sets with logical flow, and offer their own preview of each section. This provides readers with multiple points of access to the material. The content is motivating, the 25 chapters in this book shed light on many advances made ... For some, the most compelling aspects of this book will be the pair of chapters where Stearns and the editors argue over the merits of this "molecular natural history" ... these chapters make for one of the most exciting exchanges in print for a long time. Andrew P. Beckerman, Times Higher Education For years there has been a divide between biologists that asked why and those that asked how. This book integrates the two perspectives beautifully, while addressing the most fundamental of all aspects of an organism - its life history. Here we learn how adopting genetic, genomic, and physiological perspectives informs evolutionary patterns of birth, growth, reproduction, ageing, and death. This book comprehensively reviews and informs us about the latest developments in mechanistic and evolutionary approaches to understanding the diversity of life history patterns in nature. With chapters by the authorities and innovators in the field, this is a work that will inform and inspire my laboratory for years to come. Professor Allen J. Moore, University of Exeter, UK This volume contains an impressive amount of information about the molecular and physiological mechanisms behind life-history trade-offs, with contributions from leading authors in the field. It should be an excellent entry to this vast literature for those who wish to bring the field further and wish to understand how organismal life-histories evolve and the factors that constrain them. The book also includes a critical discussion about the utility of mechanistic knowledge in the development of life-history theory; here radically different viewpoints are contrasted against each other. I recommend this book to those who are interested in this classical field and the many controversies surrounding it. Professor Erik Svensson, Lund University, Sweden This compilation by Flatt and Heyland is especially timely as it fills a long-standing lacuna in the balanced integration of ecology, evolution and development. The book brings together well written chapters by many leading experts, covering mechanisms of life-history traits and trade-offs in a range of organisms from algae to angiosperms and cnidarians to humans. Unlike in many compilations, the broader issues and questions are always in sight. Section headers that thread together related chapters do a great job of putting the issues in a more general conceptual context, something that will be particularly helpful for graduate students. I can imagine this book being a superb resource for established researchers and graduate students alike. Professor Amitabh Joshi, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, India This book is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in life history. My own research is moving from behavioural ecology into a more detailed examination of the mechanisms underlying life history trade-offs and I found fascinating insights into the field of life history. The chapters are detailed enough to satisfy me as an experienced researcher, but also would offer a wonderful introduction to graduate students or early career scientists wanting to engage in this field of study. I particularly liked the concluding chapters, which provide insight into the challenges that lie at the intersection between molecular mechanisms and evolutionary outcomes. I am certain that this book is one that will be frequently pulled off my shelf as I work to design and understand my experiments. Professor Patricia Moore, University of Exeter, UK Flatt and Heyland's exciting new volume gives a rich harvest of current work on life history evolution across the Animal and Plant kingdoms. Wisely, the editors included several chapters discussing human biology. The diverse species discussed should catalyze biomedical researchers to look beyond the standard animal models of fly, worm, and mouse. Inclusion of diverse life history paradigms will be essential to developing the genomics of life history evolution. Professor Caleb E. Finch, University of Southern California, USA An expanded modern synthesis of evolutionary biology, which truly integrates ecology, evolution, and development, is on the horizon. This edited volume brings together an impressive team of scientists from diverse fields in an attempt to integrate recent advances in molecular and developmental biology with traditional life history theory. In so doing, this volume will not only inspire a better understanding of the evolution of development, but will also inspire revisions and advances in traditional life history theory, and thus, take us one step closer toward achieving an expanded evolutionary synthesis. Professor Ehab Abouheif, McGill University, Canada This edited volume provides a fresh and much-needed update to the venerable field of life history evolution by emphasizing the importance of understanding its underlying genetic and molecular basis. Professor Gregory Wray, Duke University, USA Flatt and Heyland have solicited contributions from an impressive array of researchers studying the mechanisms of life history evolution in organisms ranging from algae to humans. This timely volume not only provides a snapshot of our current understanding of the genetic, physiological, and developmental mechanisms of life history evolution, but also points the way toward a promising integration of theoretical and mechanistic approaches to the study of life history evolution.This comprehensive treatment of the mechanisms of life history evolution is sure to become the subject of many graduate seminars and will be a welcome to classic texts on life history theory on comprehensive exam reading lists. Professor Andrew McAdam, University of Guelph, Canada In this impressive and substantial edited work, Thomas Flatt and Andreas Heyland have gathered together contributions from numerous authors, many of them leaders in their fields, all aimed at a common goal: the integration of a mechanistic component into life-history theory. Although, as the editors state, this integration is still in its infancy, the volume they have assembled will help enormously in the growth of the infant concerned, which in turn will help in the further integration of evolutionary biology as a whole. Professor Wallace Arthur, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland Read more...