Tinkering: The Microevolution of Development (Novartis Foundation Symposia)

Hardcover, ix + 289 pages, NOT ex-library. Book is clean and bright throughout with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Gentle external handling wear. Issued without a dust jacket. -- Tinkering presents a rich investigation into how evolutionary change is shaped not by sweeping transformations but through the gradual, opportunistic modification of existing developmental processes - what François Jacob once called "evolution as a tinkerer." This concept anchors a wide-ranging and intellectually vibrant dialogue among experts in evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo), genetics, paleontology, and comparative morphology. The volume captures the complexity and subtlety of how evolution works at the developmental level, showing that microevolutionary shifts - such as changes in gene regulation, pleiotropy, modularity, and plasticity - can generate profound morphological and functional diversity over time. Across the book, contributors reflect on how regulatory changes within conserved genetic networks result in both constraint and innovation, offering a nuanced view of the forces that shape organismal form and variation. Rather than presenting a single unified model, the book embraces a pluralism of approaches - empirical, theoretical, and philosophical - to challenge assumptions about the tempo and mode of evolutionary change. It is particularly strong in illuminating the interplay between developmental constraints and evolutionary potential, and in demonstrating how small-scale modifications at the molecular or cellular level can cascade into significant macroevolutionary patterns. What makes Tinkering especially valuable is its integrative framing. The book brings together laboratory data, evolutionary theory, and critical debate in a format that is as much a reflection of the field's past as it is a provocation for its future. It offers readers not only a snapshot of current thinking in Evo-Devo, but also a model of productive scientific dialogue. For researchers, educators, and graduate students engaged in evolutionary biology, developmental genetics, or systems biology, this volume remains a conceptually rich and intellectually stimulating resource - one that invites reconsideration of how small developmental changes can underpin the vast and intricate tapestry of life's evolution. -- Contents: Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Tinkering: Introduction to the Challenge / Daniel Lieberman & Brian Hall; Tinkering: A Conceptual and Historical Evaluation / Manfred Laubichler; Tinkering: New Embryos from Old, Rapidly and Cheaply / Rudolf Raff & Elizabeth Raff; Relationship Between Development and Evolution Through Heritable Variation / James Cheverud; Genetic Networks as Transmitting and Amplifying Devices for Natural Genetic Tinkering / Adam Wilkins; Butterfly Eyespot Patterns and How Evolutionary Tinkering Yields Diversity / Paul Brakefield; Tinkering with Transcription Factor Proteins: Role of Transcription Factor Adaptation in Developmental Evolution / Günter Wagner & Anna Marie Pyle; Tinkering with Constraints in the Evolution of the Vertebrate Limb Anterior-Posterior Polarity / Denis Duboule, Basile Tarchini & Jozsef Zakany; Affecting Tooth Morphology and Renewal by Fine-tuning the Signals Mediating Cell and Tissue Interactions / Irma Thesleff, Elina Jarvinen & Marika Suomalainen; Evolution of Covariance in the Mammalian Skull / Benedikt Hallgrimsson, Nathan Young, Trish Parsons & Steven Wat; Developmental Genetics of Microevolution / David Stern; Economy of Tinkering Mammalian Teeth / Jukka Jernvall & Isaac Salazar-Ciudad; Pelvic Skeleton Reduction and Pitx1 Expression in Threespine Stickleback Populations / Michael Bell, Kaitlyn Ellis & Howard Sirotkin; Using Patterns of Fin and Limb Phylogeny to Test Developmental-Evolutionary Scenarios / Michael Coates, Marcello Ruta & Peter Wagner; Craniofacial Variation and Developmental Divergence in Primate and Human Evolution / Rebecca Ackermann.…