Evolutionary Restraints : The Contentious History of Group Selection - Mark E. Borrello

Evolutionary Restraints

The Contentious History of Group Selection

By: Mark E. Borrello

Hardcover | 15 October 2010 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover


$239.50

or 4 interest-free payments of $59.88 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

Much of the history of the evolutionary debate since Darwin has focused on the level at which natural selection occurs. Most biologists acknowledge multiple levels of selection--from the gene, the trait, and the organism, to the family, the group, and the species. However, it is the debate about group selection that Mark E. Borrello focuses on in "Evolutionary Restraints." Tracing the history of biological attempts to determine whether selection could lead to the evolution of fitter groups, Borrello takes as his focus the British naturalist V. C. Wynne-Edwards, who proposed that animals could regulate their own population levels and thereby avoid overexploitation of their food and other resources. By the mid-twentieth century, Wynne-Edwards became the primary advocate for group selection theory, and precipitated a debate that engaged the most significant evolutionary biologists including Ernst Mayr, John Maynard Smith, G.C. Williams and Richard Dawkins. The resultant interpretations and arguments bled out into broader conversations about population regulation, environmental crises, and the evolution of human and animal social behavior. "Evolutionary Restraints" illuminates both the process of science and the role of controversy in the process. From its origins in Darwin's own thinking, this debate, Borrello reminds us, remains relevant and alive to this day.
Industry Reviews
"Group selection has a turbulent history, and this book, about a theory that was prematurely rejected and subsequently accepted, covers an important episode in the history of science that is more timely than ever before. Now that evolution as a multilevel process is becoming widely accepted, a proper history is badly needed; Evolutionary Restraints provides that." - David Sloan Wilson, author of Darwin's Cathedral"

More in Biology, Life Sciences

Citrus : A World History - David J. Mabberley

RRP $69.99

$44.50

36%
OFF
Principles of Anatomy and Physiology : 3rd Asia Pacific Edition - Gerard J. Tortora
Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies : For Dummies - Erin Odya

RRP $38.95

$26.35

32%
OFF
The Anatomy Coloring Book - Wynn Kapit

RRP $31.96

$29.95

Netter's Anatomy Coloring Book : 3rd edition - John T. Hansen

RRP $37.95

$33.25

12%
OFF
Gray's Anatomy for Students : 5th Edition - Richard Drake

RRP $154.95

$120.75

22%
OFF
AFN Australian Fish Guide : AFN Fish ID - Frank Prokop

RRP $29.99

$27.90

A Field Guide to Australian Fungi - Bruce Fuhrer

RRP $49.95

$38.50

23%
OFF
Bird Bingo : Magma for Laurence King - Laurence King Publishing

RRP $49.99

$38.75

22%
OFF
The Physiology Coloring Book : 2nd Edition - Wynn Kapit

RRP $41.95

$36.50

13%
OFF
Sapiens A Graphic History, Volume 2 : The Pillars of Civilization - Yuval Noah Harari
Gathering Moss : A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses - Robin Wall Kimmerer