Speciation is one of the most interesting areas of evolutionary biology; it is the key process linking microevolution and macroevolution. Genetics, Speciation and the Founder Principle is a collection of seventeen essays on the underlying genetics of speciation. The first two essays are historical, one a biographical interview with Hampton Carson and the other an account of the history of the founder principle in evolutionary biology. The remaining essays vary immensely in subject and approach, but the typical framework is an attempt to place the results of laboratory experiments or fieldwork into the context of different theoretical models of speciation. The final essay by Hampton Carson is a broad overview of the role of founder populations in speciation.

The particular topics discussed in the essays include (to list a few of the more prominent) founder effects, genetic revolutions (a la Mayr), phylogenetic analysis, karyotype evolution, gene regulation, sexual selection, punctuated equilibrium and ethological effects. The subject material of the essays comes from a wide range of different species and areas, but there is the usual concentration on Drosophila (other essays look at various plant species, Homo sapiens and naked mole rats), and many of the essays are based on work done in the Hawaiian islands. Such a broad collection of essays will be of interest to a wide range of biologists, and Genetics, Speciation and the Founder Principle wouldn't make a bad introduction to the genetics of speciation for the non-specialist with some background in genetics.

August 1993

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