Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits
Foundations
2nd Edition
Published on 26. August 2025
Book
Hardback
1184 pages
978-0-19-289818-0 (ISBN)
Description
Almost every trait in nature shows variation, both within populations and between populations and species. The field of quantitative genetics is the very broad umbrella that attempts to separate environmental from genetic sources of variation. As a result, it has powerful applications in animal and plant breeding, evolution, ecology, medicine, anthropology, behaviour, population genetics, conservation biology, genomics, and statistics.
This second edition of Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits is a fully rewritten and greatly expanded revision of the first edition, published in 1998, which provided the first, modern, unified treatment of quantitative genetics. In the past two decades, there have been massive advancements in the field coupled with explosive growth in new quantitative methods; those developments are covered in this new edition.
The book weaves important biological applications with a full development of the theory and appropriate statistical tools. There are extensive discussions of important linear-algebra tools, linear and mixed models, likelihood and Bayesian estimation, as well as false discovery rates, multiple comparisons, and meta-analysis. More than 100 worked examples (ranging from microbes to humans) illustrate the key concepts using real-world applications.
This extensive reference will be suitable for graduate-level students and professional researchers (both empiricists and theoreticians) in the fields of evolutionary biology, genetics, and genomics. It will also be of particular relevance and use to applied evolutionary biologists working in breed improvement for agriculture, human geneticists, and statisticians.
This second edition of Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits is a fully rewritten and greatly expanded revision of the first edition, published in 1998, which provided the first, modern, unified treatment of quantitative genetics. In the past two decades, there have been massive advancements in the field coupled with explosive growth in new quantitative methods; those developments are covered in this new edition.
The book weaves important biological applications with a full development of the theory and appropriate statistical tools. There are extensive discussions of important linear-algebra tools, linear and mixed models, likelihood and Bayesian estimation, as well as false discovery rates, multiple comparisons, and meta-analysis. More than 100 worked examples (ranging from microbes to humans) illustrate the key concepts using real-world applications.
This extensive reference will be suitable for graduate-level students and professional researchers (both empiricists and theoreticians) in the fields of evolutionary biology, genetics, and genomics. It will also be of particular relevance and use to applied evolutionary biologists working in breed improvement for agriculture, human geneticists, and statisticians.
More details
Edition
2nd Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
Revised edition
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 278 mm
Width: 228 mm
Thickness: 57 mm
Weight
3497 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-289818-0 (9780192898180)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Bruce Walsh obtained a BS in Mathematical Population Biology of UC Davis and a PhD in Genetics from the University of Washington. Following a short post-doc at the University of Chicago, in 1986 he joined the Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, where he is currently a Professor, with adjunct appointments in multiple departments (Plant Science, Animal Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Public Health, Applied Mathematics). His work focuses on mathematical models of evolution and statistical methods in quantitative genetics. He has a special interest in education, having taught over 15,000 undergraduates at Arizona and has taught short courses in over 25 countries on various aspects of genetics, statistics, and evolution.
Peter Martin Visscher FRS is a Dutch-Australian-British geneticist. He is professor of Quantitative Genetics at the University of Oxford and the University of Queensland. After an undergraduate degree in the Netherlands, Visscher undertook postgraduate study at the University of Edinburgh in animal genetics. He is married to Professor Naomi R. Wray FAA, a fellow geneticist who holds the Michael Davys Professorship in Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. Visscher has held Faculty positions at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Queensland, and Honorary or Affiliate positions at UMCG Groningen and the Karolinska Institute.
Michael Lynch is Regents Professor and the Director of the Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University. A member of the US National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and past president of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, the Genetics Society of America, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the American Genetics Association. Recent awards include the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal from the Genetics Society of America and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Peter Martin Visscher FRS is a Dutch-Australian-British geneticist. He is professor of Quantitative Genetics at the University of Oxford and the University of Queensland. After an undergraduate degree in the Netherlands, Visscher undertook postgraduate study at the University of Edinburgh in animal genetics. He is married to Professor Naomi R. Wray FAA, a fellow geneticist who holds the Michael Davys Professorship in Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. Visscher has held Faculty positions at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Queensland, and Honorary or Affiliate positions at UMCG Groningen and the Karolinska Institute.
Michael Lynch is Regents Professor and the Director of the Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University. A member of the US National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and past president of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, the Genetics Society of America, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the American Genetics Association. Recent awards include the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal from the Genetics Society of America and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Content
Preface
I. Foundations of Quantitative Genetics
1: An overview of quantitative genetics
2: Properties of distributions
3: Covariance, regression, and correlation
4: Properties of single loci
5: Sources of genetic variation for multilocus traits
6: Sources of environmental variation
7: Resemblance between relatives
8: Marker-based estimation of relatedness
9: Introduction to linear models and matrix algebra
10: Linear and mixed models
11: Analysis of line crosses
12: Inbreeding depression
13: Heterosis and outbreeding depression
14: Matters of scale
II. Quantiative trait loci
15: Polygenes and polygenic mutation
16: Detecting major genes
17: Principles of marker-based mapping
18: Linkage mapping and characterizing QTLS: inbred line crosses
19: Linkage mapping and characterizing QTLS: outbred populations of relatives
20: Association mapping
21: Quantitative genomics and probing the nature of quantitative genetic variation
III. Appendices
A1: Expectations, variances, and covariances of compound variables
A2: Path, network, and causality analysis
A3: Further topics in matrix algebra and linear models
A4: Maximum likelihood estimation and likelihood-ratio tests
A5: Computing the power of statistical tests
A6: Multiple comparisons: bonferroni corrections, false-discovery rates, and meta-analysis
A7: Introduction to bayesian analysis
A8: Markov chain monte carlo and gibbs sampling
A9: Experimental Design
I. Foundations of Quantitative Genetics
1: An overview of quantitative genetics
2: Properties of distributions
3: Covariance, regression, and correlation
4: Properties of single loci
5: Sources of genetic variation for multilocus traits
6: Sources of environmental variation
7: Resemblance between relatives
8: Marker-based estimation of relatedness
9: Introduction to linear models and matrix algebra
10: Linear and mixed models
11: Analysis of line crosses
12: Inbreeding depression
13: Heterosis and outbreeding depression
14: Matters of scale
II. Quantiative trait loci
15: Polygenes and polygenic mutation
16: Detecting major genes
17: Principles of marker-based mapping
18: Linkage mapping and characterizing QTLS: inbred line crosses
19: Linkage mapping and characterizing QTLS: outbred populations of relatives
20: Association mapping
21: Quantitative genomics and probing the nature of quantitative genetic variation
III. Appendices
A1: Expectations, variances, and covariances of compound variables
A2: Path, network, and causality analysis
A3: Further topics in matrix algebra and linear models
A4: Maximum likelihood estimation and likelihood-ratio tests
A5: Computing the power of statistical tests
A6: Multiple comparisons: bonferroni corrections, false-discovery rates, and meta-analysis
A7: Introduction to bayesian analysis
A8: Markov chain monte carlo and gibbs sampling
A9: Experimental Design