Since George Gaylord Simpson published Tempo and Mode in Evolution in 1944, discoveries in paleontology and genetics have abounded. This volume brings together the findings and insights of today's leading experts in the study of evolution, including Ayala, W. Ford Doolittle, and Stephen Jay Gould.


The volume examines early cellular evolution, explores changes in the tempo of evolution between the Precambrian and Phanerozoic periods, and reconstructs the Cambrian evolutionary burst. Long-neglected despite Darwin's interest in it, species extinction is discussed in detail.


Although the absence of data kept Simpson from exploring human evolution in his book, the current volume covers morphological and genetic changes in human populations, contradicting the popular claim that all modern humans descend from a single woman.


This book discusses the role of molecular clocks, the results of evolution in 12 populations of Escherichia coli propagated for 10,000 generations, a physical map of Drosophila chromosomes, and evidence for "hitchhiking" by mutations.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
Early Life
Tempo, Mode, the Progenote, and the Universal Root
Phylogeny from Function: The Origin of tRNA Is in Replication, not Translation
Disparate Rates, Differing Fates: Tempo and Mode of Evolution Changed from the Precambrian to the Phanerozoic
Proterozoic and Early Cambrian Protists: Evidence for Accelerating Evolutionary Tempo
Macroevolution
Late Precambrian Bilaterians: Grades and Clades
The Role of Extinction in Evolution
Tempo and Mode in the Macroevolutionary Reconstruction of Darwinism
Morphological Evolution Through Complex Domains of Fitness
Human Evolution
Tempo and Mode in Human Evolution
Molecular Genetics of Speculation and Human Origins
Rates
Rates and Patterns of Chloroplast DNA Evolution
The Superoxide Dismutase Molecular Clock Revisited
Patterns
Dynamics of Adaptation and Diversification: A 10,000-Generation Experiment with Bacterial Populations
Explaining Low Levels of DNA Sequence Variation in Regions of the Drosophila Genome with Low Recombination Rates
The History of a Genetic System
Genome Structure and Evolution in Drosophila: Applications of the Framework P1 Map
Index