The Evolution of Melanism
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The Evolution of Melanism: a study of recurring necessity; with special reference to industrial melanism in the Lepidoptera is a 1973 science book by the lepidopterist Bernard Kettlewell.
The book includes Kettlewell's original papers in the journal
The book is centered on the authors research of evolution of industrial melanism in peppered moths. It does not goes much in-depth about the evolution of melanism in other species as the title might suggest. The book introduces the reader with a 50-page long chapter about
Importance of the book
The experiments with the peppered moths, as described in this book, are arguably the most dramatic and best known case of
Criticism
Most of the information depicted in the book was already published before and it followed the presentation of Kettlewell's papers. He has altered many figures and tables slightly compered to the originals which were mostly published in the journal Heredity. It was therefore criticised that this book was more a compilation of Kettlewell's work instead of a synthesis (Carson, 1974). Furthermore, some of the black-and-white photographs were of better quality in the journals than in the book.
The entomologist and geneticist Michael Majerus reviewed this in his 1998 book Melanism: Evolution in Action, and compared it with more recent studies which did not support some of Kettlewell's conclusions. He called for more research, and in 2001 began extended experiments. In 2002, Judith Hooper wrote a book about Kettlewell, Of Moths and Men, accusing Kettlewell of fraudulent data. Majerus concluded his research in 2007, with results which he described as a complete vindication of the natural selection theory of peppered moth evolution, answering the various questions which had been raised.[1]
See also
References
- ^ Connor, Steve (25 August 2007). "Moth study backs classic 'test case' for Darwin's theory". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
- The Evolution of Melanism: A study of recurring necessity; with special reference to industrial melanism in the Lepidoptera. Oxford, ISBN 0-19-857370-7
- Book Review: Of Moths and Men: The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth. Scientific American, (1959), 48–53, 200(3). Liebher J https://www.jstor.org/stable/25010462
- Darwin's Missing Evidence. Scientific American, (1959), 48–53, 200(3). Kettlewell H https://www.jstor.org/stable/24944943
- Differences in behaviour, dominance and survival within a cline Amathes glareosa Esp. (Lep.) and its melanic F. Edda Staud. in Shetland. Heredity 1969 24:1, (1969), 15–25, 24(1). Kettlewell, H B D; Berry, R J; Cadbury, C J; Phillips, G C DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1969.2
- Industrial Melanism in North American Moths. The American Naturalist, 95(883), 1961. Owen D F DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/282180
- Industrial Melanism in the Seasnake Emydocephalus annulatus. Current Biology, (2017), 2510–2513.e2, 27(16). Goiran, C; Bustamante, P; Shine, R DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.073
- Industrial Melanism in the Two-Spot Ladybird and Smoke Abatement. Evolution, (1971), 290, 25(2). Creed, E R https://www.jstor.org/stable/2406921
- Of moths and men: An evolutionary tale: The untold story of science and the peppered moth. Norton, 2002. Hooper, J
- The Biston Affair: The Evolution of Melanism. Science, (1974), 67, 183(4120). Carson, H L https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.183.4120.67-a