Materials available on the Compact Disc accompanying the text Evolution, by Mark Ridley.

Our textbook comes with a disc containing materials for use as study-aids or for course enrichment.
This page summarizes the contents of the disc.

• Classic Texts
  • Noteworthy scientific papers and excerpts from significant books.
  • Click here to see the list of papers.

• Video Gallery
  • A collection of short video interviews with prominent figures in current evolutionary biology.
  • Each person offers brief comments on each of several fundamental questions in evolution.
  • These clips provide an unusual opportunity to see and hear these personalities "live".
  • Click here to see a list of the persons and topics presented.

• Tutorial
  • Step-by-step review for each chapter.
  • Questions for self-testing.

• Browser
  
  • Illustrated A-to-Z encyclopedia of terms.
  • This could be very useful to have open while reading the text.

• Image Gallery
  
  • A collection of photos, mostly of various organisms.
  • Each example illustrates some evolutionary idea.

• Virtual Experiments
  • Demonstrations rather than experiments
  • Each illustrates graphically the outcome of a simple evolutionary process.
  • Click here to see the subjects.

• Timeline
  • A brief chronology of evolutionary time, from the origin of the earth to the present.
  • Significant events and forms of life are noted.

Classic Texts

• Cain, A.J.  "The perfection of animals."
• Carson, H.L.  "Chromosomal sequences and interisland colonizations in Hawaiian Drosophila."
• Coyne, J.A. & Orr, H.A.  "Patterns of speciation in Drosophila."
• Darwin, Charles  "The Origin of Species, chapter 3."
  NOTE:  The full text of Darwin's most famous book is available online here.
• Darwin, Charles  "The Origin of Species, chapter 14."
  NOTE:  The full text of Darwin's most famous book is available online here.
• Dobzhansky, T. & Pavlovsky, O.  "An experimental interaction between genetic drift and natural selection."
• Erlich, P.R. & Raven, P.H.  "Butterflies and plants: A study in coevolution."
• Erlich, P.R. & Raven, P.H.  "Differentiation of populations."
• Eldredge, N. & Gould, S.J.  "Punctuated equilibria: An alternative to phylogenetic gradualism."
• Fisher, R.A.  "The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, chapter 1."
• Fisher, R.A.  "The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, chapter 6."
• Gould, S.J. & Lewontin, R.C.  "The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm."
• Haffer, J.  "Speciation in Amazonian forest birds."
• Haldane, J.B.S  "A mathematical theory of natural and artificial selection."
• Haldane, J.B.S  "The cost of natural selection."
• Kimura, M.  "Evolutionary rate at the molecular level."
• King, J.L. & Jukes, T.H.  "Non-Darwinian evolution."
• Mayr, E.  "Change of genetic environment and evolution."
• Stirton, R.A.  "Observations on evolutionary rates in hypsodonty."
• Wright, S.  "The roles of mutation, inbreeding, crossbreeding, and selection in evolution."

Video Gallery

• Simon Conway Morris
  • Why does stasis occur?
  • Which fossils are most likely to be preserved?
  • How do fossils form?
  • How do we distinguish homologies from analogies?
  • How true is the theory of punctuated equilibrium?
• Helena Cronin
  • What was a world without Darwin like?
  • Are adaptationist explanations 'just so' stories?
  • What is the unit of selection?
  • What is the modern synthesis?
  • What is the outstanding problem in evolutionary biology?
• Richard Dawkins
  • Are species real?
  • Is evolution compatible with religious belief?
  • What evidence is there for evolution?
  • What is the difference between phenetics and cladism?
  • What are evolutionary 'arms races'?
  • What are the conditions for natural selection?
  • Is it misleading to see DNA as a blueprint for the organism?
• Daniel Dennett
  • What is a species?
  • Is Darwinism committed to gradualism?
  • What is the importance of developmental constraints?
  • Are adaptationist explanations inventions imposed on nature?
• Michael Donoghue
  • Do species really exist?
  • What is wrong with phenetics?
  • What is phylogenetic systematics?
• David Haig
  • Why does recombination exist?
  • What is speciation?
• William Hamilton
  • What do males indicate by their sexual displays?
  • What is the problem of altruism?
  • What is the unit of selection?
  • What is puzzling about the peacock's tail?
• Marc Kirschner
  • What were the first cells like?
  • What were the first eukaryotic cells like?
• Richard Lewontin
  • What is an adaptation?
  • Is it misleading to see DNA as the blueprint for the organism?
  • Does natural selection explain every detail of an organism's structure?
• John Maynard Smith
  • What is the 'deleterious mutations' theory of sex?
  • Is evolution necessary for speciation?
  • What is evolution?
  • What is an adaptation?
  • To what extent is evolution at the molecular level neutral?
• Linda Partridge
  • What is fitness?
  • What is a gene?
  • What is neutralism?
  • What is non-coding DNA?
  • What is the molecular clock?
• Naomi Pierce
  • What is coevolution?
  • Are lycaenid butterflies and formica ants coevolved?

Virtual Experiments

• Direction of selection.
  How the intensity of artificial selection affects trait value.
• Genetic drift.
  How population size affects the rate of genetic drift.
• Gene frequency.
  How selection coefficient affects gene frequency.
• Mutational load.
  How mutation rate affects fitness.
• Sexual reproduction.
  How sexual recombination can affect the efficiency of adaptation.
• Sex ratio.
  How sex ratio is affected by selection.

Comments and questions: dgking@siu.edu
Department of Zoology e-mail: zoology@zoology.siu.edu
Comments and questions related to web server: webmaster@science.siu.edu