Experimental Evolution: The Making of a Modern Science connects molecular biology/biochemistry with ecology/evolution to show how molecular mechanisms and ecological processes work together to drive evolutionary change. The book's four-part structure, covering Preliminaries, The Molecular Basis of Fitness, The Ecological Context of Competition, and Cooperation and Conflict, helps those with a background in the molecular sciences to learn about the ecological context of fitness while those trained in ecology and evolution will find segues to the biochemical basis of adaptation. This organization also facilitates outsiders entering the field as it closely follows the biological silos, separating molecular phenomena from ecological phenomena, while clearly delineating how these levels interact to produce evolutionary change.
The book shows how well-designed experiments can be used to test evolutionary theory decisively. The focus is on microbes. Their small size, rapid reproduction in chemically defined environments, ease of manipulation and stability in long-term storage make them ideal subjects for laboratory experiments. Higher organisms make occasional appearances—to effect. Rigorous experimental approaches have resolved old controversies, resurrected heretical ideas, and will continue to revitalize and expand the study of natural selection. This book serves as a valuable resource for anyone interested in natural selection and the evolutionary process and interested in insights from approaches not familiar within their own fields.