Evolutionary Theory and Processes: Modern Perspectives, 1999 Papers in Honour of Eviatar Nevo

This volume consists of papers written by evolutionary, molecular and organismal biologists, geneticists, ecologists, behavioural ecologists, morphologists, mathematicians, theoreticians and experimentalists, in honour of Professor Eviatar (Eibi) Nevo on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. The contributors are only a small subset of Eibi's many friends, collaborators and students (not that one can distinguish these categories among Eibi's colleagues). His widespread influence and activity, both in Israel and more generally, as a leading evolutionary biologist is indicated by his many co-authors on books and papers, and by his many students integrated in teaching and research. This volume presents some of the most recent dramatic results of molecular, genomic, and organismal evolutionary processes. It represents analyses, experiments, observations, reviews, discussions and forecasts of evolutionary theory comprising both novel methods and results, reanalyzed and reviewed data sets based on comparative, experimental, and theoretical studies utilizing model organisms across phylogeny, including bacteria, fungi, plants, animals and humans. It elucidates the revolution in molecular biology that ushered in our understanding of the evolutionary process over time and space. The topics discussed include major problems of evolutionary theory concerning origins, phylogeny, relative importance of evolutionary forces, structure and function, adaptation and speciation in space and time in changing and stressful environments. A major emerging generalization is the nonrandomness of genome structure highlighting the importance of natural selection as a major organizing evolutionary force not only at the phenotypic level, but most importantly at the interlinked genotypic molecular level. The integration between the molecular and organismal levels unifies life which is subjected to the mechanism of natural selection as a major orienting evolutionary force.

One. Evolutionary Theory.- 1. HLA Polymorphism and Evolution.- 2. Selection, Darwinian Fitness and Evolution in Local Populations.- 3. Selection for Adaptive Traits as a Factor of Recombination Evolution: Evidence from Natural and Experimental Populations.- 4. The Role of Recombination in Plant Genome Evolution.- 5. Variation and Fidelity: The Evolution of Simple Sequence Repeats as Functional Elements in Adjustable Genes.- 6. TIMA a Recent Evolutionary Paradigm.- 7. Stable Gene Associations in Breeding and Evolution of Grasses.- 8. Compositional Correlations and Gene Distribution of the Human Genome.- 9. At the World’s Cross Roads.- Two, Molecular Biology and Phylogeny.- 10. Molecular Clocks and the Origin of Animals.- 11. Using Gene Trees to Infer Species from Testable Null Hypothesis: Cohesion Species in the Spalax ehrenbergi Complex.- 12. Primate Phylogeny and Classification Elucidated at the Molecular Level.- 13. Significant Segment Pair Alignment for Protein Sequences between Animals, Plants, and Fungi.- 14. Molecular Genetic Characterization of Two Insular Asian Cat Species, Borncan Bay Cat and Iriomote Cat.- 15. Microsatellite Loci and the Origin of Modern Humans: Bayesian Analysis..- Three. Biodiversity and Speciation.- 16. Can Biodiversity and Genetic Variability be Conserved in Hostile Environments?.- 17. Species Diversity and Biology of Fungal Life in the Extremely Hypersaline Water of the Dead Sea.- 18. Speciation Patterns in Predominately Self-Pollinated Annuals.- 19. Allelic Variation at the MN Locus Varies with Climatic Variation in Africans and Native Americans.- 20. Genetic Structure of Natural Populations of the Parasitic Wasp Nasonia vtiripennis Wlk. (Hymenoptera, Chalcididae) and the Role of Haplo-Diploid Sex Determination in Microevolution.- 21.Studies on wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum C. Koch at the Scottish Crop Research Institute.- Four. Adaptive Evolutionary Strategies.- 22. The Halophilic Archaea-Evolutionary Relationships and Adaptation to Life at High Salt Concentrations.- 23. The Functinal Ecology of Nectar Guides in Relation to Insects Behavior and Vision.- 24. Syndrome of Eusociality in African Subterranean Mole-Rats (Bathyergidae, Rodentia), its Diagnosis and Aetiology.- 25. Afterripening, Amounts of Rain for Germination, and Seedling Drought Tolerance, of Local and Edaphic Geno-Ecotypes of Hordeum spontaneum C. Koch from Israel.- 26. Oviposition Site Selection in Response to Risk of Predation: Evidence from Aquatic Habitats and Consequences for Population Dynamics and Community Structure.