Evolution Above the Species Level

by Bernhard Rensch

Book Overview

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231022964
• ISBN13: 9780231022965
• Release Date: January 1960
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 419 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A CLASSIC EVOLUTIONARY WORK, FOCUSING ON A DIFFICULT QUESTION

Bernhard Rensch (1900-1990) was a German evolutionary biologist; this book was originally written in 1954, and published in English in 1959. In the Foreward by Theodosius Dobzhansky, he states, "The work of Professor Rensch is one of the great books which have appeared since 1940 and which may fairly be said to have given shape to the modern biological, or synthetic, theory of evolution.... The progression of science is, however, uneven; periods of broadening of the evidential base alternate with tides of generalization and forward leaps of understanding. It is our privilege to live in a period of the latter kind, in which the book of Rensch marks one of the forward leaps." In his own Preface, Rensch says, "My intention was not to present a compilation of known facts brought to light by evolutionary research, but rather to outline the major rules governing the processes of evolution. I wanted to attempt a causal explanation, partly based on new material, with the intention of proving that very probably the major trends of evolution are brought about by the same factors that bring about race and species formation." Here are some representative quotations from the book: "At present, there is no reason to assume autonomous forces causing changes in the rate of evolution. The rates of evolution seem to be influenced primarily by conditions of selection..." "During certain periods, an organ or a structure can grow more quickly than the body as a whole." "Compensatory phenomena seem to have an especially important bearing on the process of phyletic reductions of organs, as in most cases these cannot be explained by selection." "Paleontologists have been accustomed to assume, and probably will continue to assume, major evolutionary saltations when a gap appears in an otherwise complete series of successive fossil stages. I do not think it necessary to consider this problem in more detail ... The gaps in the fossil records have become narrower and narrower year after year as new paleontological evidence has been found." "These examples may do to prove that a certain morphological and ontogenetical lineage of several phyla and classes is not impossible, even though there are no fossil records of common ancestors." "I have tried to show what no autonomous evolutionary forces need be assumed for a reasonable explanation of evolutionary progress and human descent." "These statements are not meant to imply that we know the origin of life. The study of viruses has only shown that a model series may be arranged bridging the gap between organisms proper and nonliving molecules by various levels of organization and vital characters." "The basic factors of all evolutionary processes may thus have been the essential causes in the early development of the prestages of life." This work is essential reading for anyone interested in the development of evolutionary theory.