In this fully revised and updated edition, the editors have integrated a completely new set of contributions from the leading researchers in the field to describe the latest research in evolutionary medicine, providing a fresh summary of this rapidly expanding field 10 years after its predecessor was first compiled. It continues to adopt a broad approach to the subject, drawing on medically relevant research from evolutionary genetics, human behavioural ecology, evolutionary microbiology (especially experimental evolution of virulence and resistance), the evolution of aging and degenerative disease, and other aspects of biology or medicine where evolutionary approaches make important contributions. Evolution in Health and Disease describes how evolutionary thinking gives valuable insights and fresh perspectives into human health and disease, establishing evolutionary biology as an essential complementary science for medicine. Integrating evolutionary thought into medical research and practice helps to explain the origins of many medical conditions, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma, allergies, other autoimmune diseases, and aging. It also provides life-saving insights into the evolutionary responses of pathogens to antibiotics, vaccinations, and other human interventions. Why are we vulnerable to disease? Why are our bodies not better designed? Are unpleasant surprises in store as we use more antibiotics and vaccines? Why do we respond to inappropriately to so many modern conditions? How do cancers evolve? Why must we grow old? The book discusses answers to these and many other questions while suggesting new approaches to treatment and research. This research-level text is suitable for graduate-level students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary (Darwinian) medicine, evolutionary biology, anthropology, developmental biology, and genetics. It will also be of relevance and use to medical researchers and doctors.

Since Charles Darwin's masterpiece 'The origin of Species by natural selection' was published in 1859, evolution has become an established science that illuminates and informs our understanding of many central biological issues from animal development to animal behaviour. Evolution 2/e stands alone amongst the major textbooks by focusing on key principles to offer a truly accessible, unintimidating treatment of this fascinating subject Part One introduces the basic mechanisms of microevolution: selection, inheritance, and development. Part Two considers how natural selection has designed organisms for reproductive success. Part Three explores macroevolutionary processes such as speciation and extinction and the techniques which are used to study these. Part Four examines key events in evolution throughout the geological record. Finally, Part Five discusses two subjects, coevolution and evolutionary medicine, which integrate and contrast micro- and macroevolution. The book closes with a chapter that recapitulates major issues, discusses unsolved problems, and looks ahead to future developments in this dynamic field. Recent advances in molecular biology and genetics have fuelled a renewed interest in evolutionary biology, and have given us new tools with which to explore the field, revolutionising our understanding of how evolutionary processes impact upon many aspects of biology. A rigorous yet engaging text, Evolution 2/e is perfect for any student wishing to gain a sound understanding of the subject. Online Resource Centre: - Figures available to download, to facilitate lecture preparation, - Self test questions linked to each chapters in the textbook - Key glossary terms in an interactive crossword format

This book offers the first comprehensive summary of life-history evolution, a field that holds a central position in modern ecology and evolutionary biology. Structured for teaching, with problem sets at the end of each chapter, the contents will interest all biologists wishing to understand the evolution of the life cycle and the causes of phenotypic variation in fitness.

To those struggling on the frontlines to save endangered plants and animals, the crucial challenge is to confront the biological causes of those species' decline. But just as threatening to their survival are obstacles erected by human politics, greed, corruption, folly, and hypocrisy. In this mesmerizing book, Beverly and Stephen Stearns tell the stories of people who have worked directly with disappearing species in Europe, Africa, North America, and Oceania. They are stories of passion and commitment, of competence and selflessness. They are also stories that alarm, for even as unheralded heroes are working to reverse what often seems to be a species' inevitable march toward extinction, incompetent or self-interested parties are often working against them. The authors interviewed people who work with endangered species as diverse as Mediterranean monk seals, large blue butterflies, African wild dogs, native Hawaiian crows, Texas salamanders, and rare plants on Mauritius. These dedicated individuals, in discussing how they view their work, the problems they encounter, and their thoughts on the broader significance of extinction, reveal that the causes of extinction are unique to each species-sometimes subtle and complex, at other times obvious and simple. Yet an extinction always represents an irretrievable loss of evolutionary potential and a diminishing of the beauty, diversity, and value in our own lives. The dramatic lessons of this book shed new light on the problems of endangered species and offer hope that we may yet change the fate of those species that totter on the edge of extinction.