Evolutionary Biology

After volume 33, this book series was replaced by the journal "Evolutionary Biology." Please visit www.springer.com/11692 for further information.
Volume 30 brings readers up to date on the investigation of eminent evolutionary biologists and paleobiologists. Contributions explore such topics as

• Adaptation in Drosophila and the role of cytochrome P450s
• Population genetics and species conservation of the cheetah
• germ-layer theory
• assymetry in the mammalian skeleton
• genetic diversity of marine fish
• the phenomenon of industrial melanism
• the variation in lizard cranal kinesis.

Other chapters focus on such issues as overdominance and its relation to higher mutation-rate estimates and the use of molecular clocks in determining the rate of nucleotide substitution in higher plants.

1. Overdominance: A Half-Century Later.- 2. The Molecular Basis of Adaptation in Drosophila: The Role of Cytochrome P450s.- 3. Intersection of Population Genetics and Species Conservation: The Cheetah’s Dilemma.- 4. Molecular Clocks and Nucleotide Substitution Rates in Higher Plants.- 5. Germ Layers and the Germ-Layer Theory Revisited: Primary and Secondary Germ Layers, Neural Crest as a Fourth Germ Layer, Homology, and Demise of the Germ-Layer Theory.- 6. Fluctuating Asymmetry in the Mammalian Skeleton: Evolutionary and Developmental Implications.- 7. Genetic Diversity and Dispersal Capabilities in Marine Fish.- 8. The “Classical” Explanation of Industrial Melanism: Assessing the Evidence.- 9. Cranial Kinesis in Lizards: Variations, Uses, and Origins.