Evolutionary Developmental Biology

Many changes that occur during the development of an individual animal (particularly embryonic development) can be seen as a parallel to changes that have occurred in species or groups of species during evolutionary time. This book discusses how developmental processes affect evolutionary change and how development itself has evolved. It emphasizes that the two fields are tightly interwoven and draws attention to an emerging, distinct subdiscipline within biology. History, hierarchy, constraint, genetics, epigenetics, unity of type or archetypes, body plans, varieties of types of animals, homology, the relative role of external and internal factors, levels of evolutionary change and patterns versus processes are all placed in the context of this new subdiscipline.