Eternal Ephemera Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century Through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond.

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Table of Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Approaching Adaptation and the Origin of Species; Part I. Birth of Modern Evolutionary Theory; 1. The Advent of the Modern Fauna: On the Births and Deaths of Species, 1801-1831; 2. Darwin and the Beagle: Experimenting with Transmutation, 1831-1836; 3. Enter Adaptation and the Conflict Between Isolation and Gradual Adaptive Change, 1836-1859; Part II. Rebellion and Reinvention: The Taxic Perspective, 1935-; 4. Species and Speciation Reconsidered, 1935-; 5. Punctuated Equilibria: Speciation and Stasis in Paleontology, 1968-

6. Speciation and Adaptation: Large-Scale Patterns in the Evolution of Life, 1972-Notes; Bibliography; Index

One of evolution's fundamental questions is how the skein of life on Earth remains unbroken yet is constantly renewed by new species. What accounts for the scientific paradox that all organisms and species are ephemeral, and yet life endures, yielding more advanced players in nature's eternal play? In this riveting work, renowned scientist Niles Eldredge presents a magisterial account of leading thinkers as they wrestle with this paradox over a span of two hundred years. Eldredge begins in France with Jean Baptiste Lamarck, who in 1802 first framed the overarching question about new species.

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