John Maynard Smith

information about evolutionary genetics of species

"An introduction to some of the mathematical ideas which are useful to biologists ... the ways in which biological problems can be expressed mathematically, and how the mathematical equations which arise in biological work can be solved ... This book is particularly concerned with non-statistical topics"--Publisher description.

During evolution there have been major changes in the way genetic information is transmitted from one generation to the next. This book discusses these transitions. The authors highlight the similarities between different transitions and show how an understanding of one sheds light on others.

The fourteen contributions testify to the increasing co-operation which is bringing together biologists, primatologists, archaeologists, psychologists, linguists and anthropologists who share a common interest in the study of social and cultural behaviour from an evolutionary perspective. The papers, derived from a Royal Society/British Academy meeting, range in topic from cultural and social behaviour among non-human primates, through the interaction of cognitive development with social organization during the Upper Palaeolithic, to behaviour (including linguistic behaviour) among modern humans. This volume reflects the important recent developments in such areas as behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology and the origin and function of language.