Cells, Embryos and Evolution

The aim of the authors of this work is to continue what Darwin started: to understand not only the influence of selection on the path of evolution, but also the capacity of the organism to generate heritable variation upon which selection can act. Drawing on the understandings derived from molecular, cell and developmental biology in the past 20 years, this book explains the origins of phenotypic variation and evolutionary adaptation from within eukaryotic cell biological and developmental processes. This has required the confrontation of the paradox of, on the one hand, deep cellular and molecular conservation and the extraordinary stability of body plans of the major metazoan phyla and, on the other hand, the rapid diversification of the anatomy and physiology of organisms. The book is illustrated with examples drawn from modern palaeontology, developmental biology and cell biology. It sets out to establish a coherent basis for evaluating the role of cellular and embryological mechanisms in evolutionary change.