Population Genetics: A Concise Guide

by John H. Gillespie

"In a species with a million individuals," writes John H. Gillespie, "it takes roughly a million generations for genetic drift to change allele frequencies appreciably. There is no conceivable way of verifying that genetic drift changes allele frequencies in most natural populations. Our understanding that it does is entirely theoretical. Most population geneticists are not only comfortable with this state of affairs, but revel in the fact that they can demonstrate on the back of an envelope, rather than in the laboratory, how an important evolutionary force operates." Longer than the back of an envelope but more concise than many books on the subject, this brief introduction to the field of population genetics offers students and researchers an overview of a discipline that is of growing importance. Chapter topics include genetic drift; natural selection; non-random mating, quantitative genetics; and the evolutionary advantage of sex. While each chapter treats a specific topic or problem in genetics, the common thread throughout the book is what Gillespie calls "the main obsession of our field," the recurring question, "Why is there so much genetic variation in natural populations?" "Population genetics remains the central intellectual connection between genetics and evolution. As genetics becomes integral to all aspects of biology, the unifying nature of evolutionary studies rests more and more on population genetics. This book lays out much of the foundation of population genetics augmented with interesting particulars and conceptual insight. Population genetics involves ideas that are quantitative and often difficult for biology undergraduates, but Professor Gillespie offers his characteristically clear thinking and articulate explanations." -- Charles Langley, University of California-Davis

Genres: Genetics, Science, Biology, Evolution, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Reference

192 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 1997

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to get the basic ideas of population genetics. The explanations are fairly good though there are a few that require some additional thought or research before they make sense. If you are looking to get an understanding of the many theories and models that are used, this is an excellent volume that gives short, but complete descriptions.

This volume will require some facility with calculus I like manipulation (that is, you should be ready for a lot of algebra and have an awareness of what integrals mean).

[Pantoufle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un excellent guide de poche pour reviser la genetique des populations. N'hesitez pas a le mettre dans votre bibliotheque.
On pourra mentionner que le livre a les defauts de ses avantages, et les informations sont tres condensees. On pourra preferer Principles of Population Genetics de Hartl Clak pour un premier contact avec la matiere. Mais le livre de Gillespie reste un ouvrage de reference pour cette matiere.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise and clear summary of difficult topics.

[Marcos Egea gutiérrez-cortines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficult to read, concise, needs paper to go through the maths if you want to get all the knowledge packed in it.