Evolutionary Analysis presents evolution as a science of questions, evidence, and testable explanations. Jon C. Herron and Scott Freeman's fifth edition guides life science undergraduates through natural selection, population genetics, phylogenetics, and speciation, using research examples and application questions to connect evolutionary mechanisms with observed biological patterns.
Inside this title
Uses experimental and observational evidence to examine evolution
Current listed price $34.99Regular price $92.00Digital ebook
How can evolutionary explanations be tested against observations? This textbook approaches that question through experimental results, field studies, and genetic evidence. Its core topics include adaptation, genetic drift, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and the construction of phylogenetic trees, establishing links between processes within populations and relationships among species.
Later perspectives include molecular evolution, evolutionary developmental biology, behavior, and human evolution. Diagrams and photographs work with the text to explain patterns that occur at different biological scales. Questions ask students to interpret evidence and apply concepts rather than simply recall terminology. Designed around an undergraduate biology background, the fifth edition supports evolution coursework and review of the field's principal methods of explanation.
Study guide included
Inside Evolutionary Analysis, 5th Edition.
An undergraduate text that presents evolution as a testable science rather than a set of conclusions. Herron and Freeman work from HIV, natural selection and tree estimation through population genetics, adaptation, speciation, fossils and development, using models and field data to evaluate competing explanations.
The book opens with HIV and the evidence for common descent, then introduces natural selection and evolutionary trees. Population genetics examines single genes and quantitative traits under several evolutionary forces. Adaptation chapters connect measurable fitness to anatomy, sex, behaviour, life history, health and genomes. Final chapters apply the same reasoning to species boundaries, the origin of life, the fossil record, development and human evolution. Each chapter pairs a conceptual model with a research example, then asks what observation would support or contradict the proposed explanation, and problem sets encourage readers to work through the logic rather than recall conclusions.
Evidence and phylogenetic trees
Common ancestry predicts nested similarities, and fossils, anatomy, geography and molecular sequences offer independent ways to test whether lineages share a history. Similar traits can also evolve separately under similar pressures. A tree's branching points represent shared ancestors, and rotating branches around a node does not change the relationship.
Compare several independent lines of evidence
Distinguish shared inheritance from convergence
Read relationships at the nodes
Chapters 1 to 4 · Introduction and Estimating Evolutionary Trees
Selection as a testable process
Selection requires variation, heritability and differences in survival or reproduction. When those conditions hold, descendant populations can differ in trait frequency even though selection acts on individuals. Finch studies connect beak variation, survival under particular conditions and inherited change, showing how observation, experiment and modelling test a proposed adaptive explanation.
State the conditions selection requires
Measure fitness in a defined environment
Follow trait frequencies across generations
Chapter 3 · Evolution by Natural Selection
Population genetics and equilibrium
Mutation introduces alleles and recombination rearranges them, and observed trait differences do not automatically reveal genetic differences. Mendelian models connect individual inheritance to population counts. With alleles at frequencies p and q, random mating predicts p-squared, 2pq and q-squared genotypes, giving a baseline that observed data can be compared against.
Separate genetic from environmental variation
Use Hardy-Weinberg as a null model
Check the assumptions behind the prediction
Chapters 5 and 6 · Variation and Mendelian Genetics in Populations I
Drift, migration and quantitative traits
Drift changes frequencies through chance sampling and matters most in small populations. Migration introduces alleles and can make populations more similar, while nonrandom mating alters genotype proportions without necessarily changing allele frequencies. Quantitative genetics uses resemblance among relatives to study traits influenced by many loci and environmental variation.
Expect strong drift in small populations
Distinguish migration from gene flow effects
Use relatives to estimate heritability
Chapters 7 to 9 · Migration, Drift, Linkage and Quantitative Genetics
Testing adaptation and life history
A functional story is only a hypothesis until an observation, comparison or experiment tests the expected benefit against alternatives. Sexual selection can favour traits that improve mating success despite survival costs. Social evolution examines when relatedness, repeated interaction or direct benefit sustains cooperation, and life-history analysis compares investment in growth, reproduction and survival.
Turn a functional claim into a prediction
Weigh mating benefit against survival cost
Compare investment across life stages
Chapters 10 to 15 · Adaptation
Speciation, fossils and development
Species concepts emphasise different evidence, including reproductive isolation, diagnosable differences or shared history. Isolation can arise through geographic separation and divergence, though gene flow and hybridisation may persist. Fossils preserve some organisms and environments unevenly, and developmental evidence links genetic change to altered timing or placement of structures.
Name the species concept in use
Trace the stages that limit gene flow
Combine fossil, molecular and developmental records
Chapters 16 to 20 · The History of Life
Chapter and section map
Understanding HIVCh. 1 · p. 1
Evolution by Natural SelectionCh. 3 · p. 73
Estimating Evolutionary TreesCh. 4 · p. 109
Selection and Mutation in PopulationsCh. 6 · p. 179
Migration, Drift and Nonrandom MatingCh. 7 · p. 233
Studying AdaptationCh. 10 · p. 369
Mechanisms of SpeciationCh. 16 · p. 609
Evolution and the Fossil RecordCh. 18 · p. 691
Key takeaways
Read evolutionary trees by shared ancestry at the nodes and check how strongly data support each branch.
State the assumptions behind an equilibrium prediction before interpreting departures from expected genotypes.
Test an adaptation against alternatives by measuring fitness under clearly defined conditions.
Life science undergraduates taking an evolution course and advanced readers who want a quantitative, evidence-driven treatment of evolutionary mechanisms, population processes and their applications in real research.
Topics covered
natural selection
phylogenetic trees
population genetics
genetic drift
quantitative traits
sexual selection
speciation mechanisms
fossil record
Questions about this ebook.
Edition, audience, and study-guide details at a glance.
What is Evolutionary Analysis, 5th Edition about?
Evolutionary Analysis presents evolution as a science of questions, evidence, and testable explanations. Jon C. Herron and Scott Freeman's fifth edition guides life science undergraduates through natural selection, population genetics, phylogenetics, and speciation, using research examples and application questions to connect evolutionary mechanisms with observed biological patterns.
Which edition of Evolutionary Analysis, 5th Edition is this?
This listing is for the 5th edition. Check the title, ISBN, and book details above before ordering, especially if your course or reading list names a specific edition.
Who is Evolutionary Analysis, 5th Edition for?
Life science undergraduates taking an evolution course and advanced readers who want a quantitative, evidence-driven treatment of evolutionary mechanisms, population processes and their applications in real research.
Does this page include a study guide?
Yes. This page includes an original study guide with six thematic sections, key takeaways, and a chapter and section map for structured reading.
