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Book Reviews 723 My students will get more than enough phylogenetics, set in the context of Darwinian theory where it belongs, from his book. Better yet, the students will have in a single resource a primer on so many of the other tools they will need to perform and understand the research projects in which they find themselves occupied. Where else would I find a text on evolution that succinctly covers some basic statistics right next to the seminal work of the Grants on Darwin’s finches? Or contains such a pithy piece of the nittygritty as what distinguishes a holotype from a paratype next to a reproduction of Darwin’s only figure from the Origin? The richness goes on and on, and it is hard to know where to stop in trying to express my happiness at having this book in my library. But wait, there is more! On the flyleaf, and in many places in the body of the text, there are invitations to visit the Evolution, Second Edition website. There, students and instructors will find an indispensable resource that includes an online version of the glossary appearing in the book, a way to generate flash cards, problem sets pertinent to each chapter, chapter outlines, and chapter summaries. But for me there is nothing quite like flipping the pages of the volume itself, which appropriately comes out in a year full of Darwin-inspired anniversary celebrations. I am surprised to say this about a textbook of all things, but there is carefully selected beauty here of a kind that could serve to inspire and inform students at so many levels, including those of us who are students for life. Not By Design: Retiring Darwin’s Watchmaker. John O. Reiss. designer, in which “the achieved result of the evolutionary process is seen as a previously vacant place in the economy of nature” (p. 353). Cuvier’s principle of conditions for existence of life, however, avoids this downfall by rigorously maintaining the connection between existence and adaptation, whilst Darwin decoupled the two phenomena, “since without this separation, the species would have gone extinct before it could adapt to the new environmental conditions” (p. 133). Even Alfred Russell Wallace is cited as initially recognizing and resisting the teleology inherent in Darwin’s language in On the Origin of Species, although later in his career his refusal to accept human evolution led him into his own brand of teleological explanations (Shermer 2002, pp. 229– 231). In contrast, Cuvier’s principle of conditions for existence states that any organism must already be satisfying its conditions for existence, by virtue of the fact that it does indeed exist in order for us to observe it. Consequently, the idea of organisms being “selected” for some hypothetically superior state is unnecessary and misleading. The issue of teleology in Darwin’s theory has been the subject of vigorous debate amongst both scientists and philosophers. Darwin addressed the issue with his contemporary critics, dismissing accusations of teleology and anthropomorphism as “superficial objections,” that took his metaphors too literally and citing chemists’ discussion of atomic “affinities” as another example of harmless literary language in scientific discourse (Darwin 1859 [1872], Berkeley, CA: UC Press, 2009. 440 pp. ISBN 978-05-2025893-8, $49.95. Georges Cuvier served as one of the founders of vertebrate paleontology in the 19th century, and yet he is often viewed as an example of stubborn orthodoxy during an era that heralded significant new milestones and insights regarding evolution and the history of life on our planet. Frequently lauded for his anatomical expertise, Cuvier’s holistic view of organisms as integrated functional systems led to his legendary ability to predict the form and function of entire species from extremely meager samples of fossil remains. Although he was instrumental in establishing the reality of extinction of species and in developing the concept of stratigraphy using index fossils, he strongly resisted the emerging theories of organic evolution and “transformism,” arguing that any small, random change in physiology or morphology would disrupt the delicate balance that allowed an organism to function and, ultimately, to survive (Rudwick 1997). Reiss, however, suggested that Cuvier’s principle of “conditions for existence” has been misunderstood by generations of evolutionary biologists, including Darwin himself, and actually forms a critical foundation for an accurate understanding of evolution. He presented evidence that Darwin’s natural selection is based upon an unnecessary analogy to an intelligent Rich Mooi Department of Invertebrate Zoology & Geology California Academy of Sciences 55 Music Concourse Drive San Francisco, CA 94118, USA E-mail: [email protected] Advance Access publication September 18, 2009 doi:10.1093/icb/icp095 724 in West-Eberhard 2003, p. 443). Reiss’s thesis, however, is that Darwin was unable to completely eliminate the implication of design from his concept of natural selection, due to the pervading influence of 19th century British natural theology in his upbringing and professional training. Darwin’s view of variation as being caused by imperfect adaptedness resulting from environmental change resulted in the concept of selective “force” working to “sort out proper structure and adapt it to change” (Notebook D, Barrett et al. 1987, pp. 375–376). In Not by Design, Reiss integrates two longcontentious issues—Cuvier’s role in the development of evolutionary theory, and inherent teleology in Darwin’s concept of natural selection—into a wideranging review of the development and progression of our understanding about both the principles and the mechanisms of evolution. The unifying theme throughout the text is that Darwin’s ideas were heavily influenced by Paley’s teleology, and that Cuvier’s ideas are a more appropriate, non-purposive way to view evolution. He supports Darwin’s natural selection as one mechanism of evolution, but rejects it as an interpretive principle. The book is divided into four parts: an overview of the philosophical background and terminology which is used to discuss issues of teleology, selection, and determinism; a comprehensive review of the historical debate and diverse ideas regarding evolution and creation, ranging from Epicurean atomists to modern times; a thorough evaluation of how the development of mathematical population genetics models during the Modern Synthesis was also influenced by ambiguity between overall adaptedness and existence; and an extensive examination of how Cuvier’s principle of conditions for existence can strengthen the understanding and discourse about a comprehensive list of topics relating to adaptation and evolution. Reiss achieves both breadth and depth, as he meticulously sorts through various definitions of common terms and concepts that have been interpreted and developed in divergent or conflicting ways within the scientific community. He suggests in the preface that some readers may choose to skip the middle chapters of the book, which center upon the technical details of various models in population genetics. Those that are less than mathematically inclined should not be deterred; Reiss takes care to insert boxes with summaries of the relevant equations and derivations, and the overall analysis developed in these chapters contributes greatly to a full engagement with the ideas and arguments in later chapters. The purpose of the book is to build the case that Cuvier’s principle of conditions for existence is a Book Reviews unifying concept in evolutionary biology, and that Darwin’s and Wallace’s natural selection functions as a “conservator of adaptedness” (p. 309) by explaining the persistence of traits within a population, but not as an active, driven force for change. Reiss differentiates between the concept of natural selection as a mechanism of evolution, in a probabilistic sense, versus its use as a “principle of interpretation” for our understanding of the process of evolution (pp. 280– 284). In his efforts to root out teleological implications from evolutionary discourse, Reiss delves into thought-provoking examinations of a range of issues. His discussion on the difficulty of assigning conflicting roles to natural selection and genetic drift includes an exhaustive overview of the many sources of random change in populations. There is a thorough review of the many ways in which the terms “adaptation” and “adaptedness” are used, and Reiss also builds a case to show that simple functional significance is often misconstrued as selective “force.” He concludes with a section on conservation, discussing how our concepts of genetic load, genetic quality, and fitness have strong implications for management of declining populations. Although much attention is devoted to rates of population growth, Reiss does little to address the specific mechanisms involved in differential reproductive success. Phenotype can influence reproductive success in a variety of ways, including sexual selection, rate of maturation, patterns of fecundity, and other life-history traits (Cornwallis and Birkhead 2008). Reiss’s argument would have benefited from a more inclusive coverage of these phenomena. Instead, he tends to focus his discussion on the functional significance of traits related to pure survival, and most reproductive issues are relegated to mathematical models. Another weakness is that although he mentions research into the “evolution of evolvability,” the discussion lacks a review of more current research in this field (Landry et al. 2007; Wagner 2008). Not by Design is valuable for its meticulous coverage of the historical foundations of modern thought about natural selection, speciation, and a myriad of topics relevant to research in evolutionary biology. Reiss does not claim to be promoting a novel and original idea, but simply to shed light on the need for clear definitions, vigilance about teleology, and efficient communication about ideas, both within the scientific community and with the public at large. Regardless of whether one agrees with Reiss about either the degree to which teleology clouds Darwin’s theory, or the role that Cuvier’s principle of conditions for existence ultimately plays in evolution, this Book Reviews volume is a valuable review of both historical and current evolutionary concepts. Not by Design is an engaging read and is sure to stimulate much-needed discussion about the details of current evolutionary concepts. 725 Rudwick MJS. 1997. Georges Cuvier, fossil bones, and geological catastrophes: new translations & interpretations of the primary texts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Shermer M. 2002. In Darwin’s shadow: the life and science of Alfred Russell Wallace. New York: Oxford University Press. Wagner A. 2008. Robustness and evolvability: a paradox resolved. Proc Natl Soc B 275:91–100. References Barrett PH, Gautrey PJ, Herbert S, Kohn D, Smith S (eds). 1987. Charles Darwin’s notebooks, 1836–1844. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Cornwallis CK, Birkhead TR. 2008. Plasticity in reproductive phenotypes reveals status-specific correlations between behavior, morphology, and physiological sexual traits. Evolution 62:1149–61. West-Eberhard MJ. 2003. Developmental plasticity and evolution. New York: Oxford University Press. Anne-Marie C. Hodge Department of Biology and Marine Biology University of North Carolina-Wilmington Wilmington, NC 28403-5904, USA E-mail: [email protected] Darwin CD. 1859 [1872]. On the origin of species, facsimile of 6th Edition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Landry CR, Lemos B, Rifkin SA, Dickinson WJ, Hartl D. 2007. Genetic properties influencing the evolvability of gene expression. Science 317:118–21. Advance Access publication September 17, 2009 doi:10.1093/icb/icp096 The Rise of Amphibians: 365 Million Years of Evolution. Robert Carroll. much detail on the evolutionary morphology of amphibians and early amniotes. This book presents a wealth of information in a clear, easily accessible style of writing. Numerous illustrations and a comprehensive bibliography further increase the value of this work. There exists, as yet, no consensus on whether extant amphibians form a monophyletic group, Lissamphibia, although many phylogenetic analyses have supported this hypothesis. Carroll has long argued that the limbless, superficially worm-like caecilians had an evolutionary origin quite separate from that of frogs and salamanders. Carroll’s book employs the traditional concept of Amphibia to denote a grade encompassing all nonamniote tetrapods. This usage has been increasingly questioned in recent years, because many nonamniotes were, at most, distantly related to, and presumably biologically quite different from, extant amphibians. Among the Paleozoic and early Mesozoic nonamniote tetrapods, Carroll maintains the longstanding distinction of two major groups—lepospondyls and labyrinthodonts. The exclusively Paleozoic lepospondyls comprise a heterogeneous assemblage of small forms with vertebrae in which all parts are fused into a single structure. In contrast, most authors now regard labyrinthodonts, named for the labyrinthine infolding of the dentine of their teeth, as an artificial grouping. The majority of “labyrinthodonts” are referable to the temnospondyls, a very diverse group that ranged in time from the Early Carboniferous to Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009. xiv þ 360 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-9140-3 (hardcover), $65.00. Present-day terrestrial ecosystems are home to more than 6000 named species of amphibians (frogs, salamanders, and caecilians), a diversity exceeding that of placental mammals. Scores of new species, especially of frogs, are still being discovered every year. Since the 1990s, however, there have been alarming declines in amphibian populations around the world, which have been widely publicized as a harbinger of profound environmental changes. Despite the abundance of, and general interest in, amphibians, there has been no introductory book on the evolutionary history of this group. The classic Biology of Amphibians by William Duellman and Linda Trueb (1986; reissued in paperback by The Johns Hopkins University Press in 1994) remains the best survey of the diversity and biology of extant amphibians. As part of a series, Amphibian Biology, Harold Heatwole and Robert Carroll (2000) edited a major volume on the fossil record of amphibians and their relatives, intended primarily for specialists. Carroll’s new book presents a comprehensive review of the evolutionary history of amphibians for anyone seriously interested in these intriguing animals. Carroll is generally acknowledged as the foremost student of the early evolution of land vertebrates. He and his students have studied and published in