Sex and Evolution
1st Edition
Published on 20. April 2020
210 pages
978-0-691-20992-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book explores the relationship between various types of reproduction and the evolutionary process. Starting with the concept of meiosis, George C. Williams states the conditions under which an organism with both sexual and asexual reproductive capacities will employ each mode. He argues that in low-fecundity higher organisms, sexual reproduction is generally maladaptive, and persists because there is no ready means of developing an asexual alternative.
The book then considers the evolutionary development of diverse forms of sexuality, such as anisogamy, hermaphroditism. and the evolution of differences between males and females in reproductive strategy. The final two chapters examine the effect of genetic recombination on the evolutionary process itself.
The book then considers the evolutionary development of diverse forms of sexuality, such as anisogamy, hermaphroditism. and the evolution of differences between males and females in reproductive strategy. The final two chapters examine the effect of genetic recombination on the evolutionary process itself.
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George Christopher Williams
Sex and Evolution
Book
03/1975
Princeton University Press
€68.70
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George Christopher Williams
Sex and Evolution
Book
03/1975
Princeton University Press
€34.72
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Person
George C. Williams is Professor of Biological Sciences in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has published Adaptation and Natural Selection (1966) and Group Selection (Aldine-Atherton, 1971).
Content
- Cover Page
- Half-title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Preface
- Contents
- 1. an Important Question, Its Easy Answer, and the Consequent Paradox
- 2. The Aphid-Rotifer Model
- 3. The Strawberry-Coral Model
- 4. The Elm-Oyster Model
- 5. Other Models
- 6. Natural Selection in High-Fecundity Populations: Theory
- 7. Natural Selection in High-Fecundity Populations: Evidence on Viability
- 8. Natural Selection in High-Fecundity Populations: Evidence on Fertility
- 9. Derived Low-Fecundity Populations
- 10. Patterns of Sexuality
- 11. Why Are Males Masculine and Females Feminine and, Occasionally, Vice Versa?
- 12. Sex as a Factor in Organic Evolution
- 13. Sex as a Factor in Biotic Evolution
- Bibliography
- Index
