Short description The key to understanding population genetics is gaining familiarity with a set of traditional conceptual approaches along with classical hypotheses and debates. Armed with this background, many empirical studies will be readily understood because the basic hypotheses they address are understood from first principles. To achieve this goal, this book contains mostly conceptual material that is augmented with case studies as illustrations. Several outstanding pedagogical features including methods boxes and exercises to assist students in conducting simulations using public domain software are integrated into the text.
From the contents 1. Thinking like a population geneticist
2. Genotype frequencies
3. Genetic drift and effective population size
4. Population structure and gene flow
5. Mutation
6. Fundamentals of natural selection
7. Further models of natural selection
8. Molecular evolution
9. Quantitative trait variation and evolution
10. The Mendelian basis of quantitative trait variation
