The extraordinary tale of the humble peppered moth is at the very foundation of our acceptance of Darwinian evolution. When scientists in the early twentieth century discovered that a British population of the small Biston betularia had rapidly changed in its appearance as a result of the industrial revolution-becoming black in response to its newly sooty environment over the course of mere decades-the revelation cemented Darwin's theory of natural selection. This story was the staple example of "natural selection in action" until the turn of the millennium, when proponents of Creationism fomented doubts about the experimental methods employed. In the midst of this upheaval, scientist Bruce S. Grant was busy collaborating with respected contemporaries to build a dataset that would ultimately vindicate the theory of industrial melanism in the peppered moth and, by extension, the theory of natural selection itself. Observing Evolution tells the remarkable story of his work. Focusing on the little-known but enormously important research of biologists who tested the theory of natural selection after Darwin, Grant describes the historical foundations of research on the peppered moth, then explains how he and his collaborators were able to push this famous study forward. He details how his experiments were designed and conducted, painting a picture of the personalities, events, and adventures around the world that shaped his successes-and struggles. The story culminates with his discovery that peppered moth populations separated by the Atlantic mirrored each other strikingly in terms of the "rise and fall" of melanism, settling a major scientific controversy by documenting nature's repeat experiment. Observing Evolution is a crash course in natural selection and the history of evolutionary biology for anyone interested in Darwin's legacy. It's also a fascinating read for scientists interested in the bridge between the first efforts to count moths and the sophisticated DNA sequencing and statistical modeling that continue to reveal how these tiny organisms can carry such enormous implications.
Bruce S. Grant (CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA) is Emeritus Professor of biology at the College of William & Mary.
Preface Acknowledgments Part I 1. Passing the Baton 2. Peppered Moths 101 3. Catching Moths Using Light Traps 4. Camouflage 5. The Rest-Site Selection Controversy 6. A Feeling for the Organism 7. Elizabethan Moths 8. Non-Random Rest-Site Selection in Captivity 9. Life at Mountain Lake 10. Travel Arrangements Part II 11. Wirral Welcome 12. Coffee with the Clarkes 13. Clockwork Orange 14. Surface Reflectance 15. How to Pick Up a Moth 16. The Birch Moth 17. Cultural Assimilation 18. Caterpillars 19. Long Season's End 20. Yankees Go Home Part III 21. From Field to Lab 22. The Talk 23. The Grand Pub Part IV 24. Summer School 25. Coauthors Part V 26. Nihongo 27. Gaijin 28. Reception 29. Around Town 30. In The Field 31. Tajima 32. Fisheries Lab 33. Hokkaido 34. Tourists 35. Nagano 36. East Meets West Part VI 37. Serendipity 38. Allelic Melanism 39. Conspecific Pheromones 40. Howard Hughes Lecture 41. Mr. Parallel Evolution 42. Aerogrammes 43. Edwin S. George Reserve 44. Farewell and Welcome 45. Nature 46. Round Two 47. Oxfordshire 48. New York Times 49. Expanding Views 50. Epilogue Bibliography
A firsthand account of how a modest moth demonstrated Darwin's theory of natural selection.
