Brian K. Hall is University Research Professor at Dalhousie University and fellow of the Centre for Human Biology at the University of Western Australia and the editor of the three-volume series The Skull, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Fins into Limbs is an exploration of a longstanding evolutionary
puzzle associated with the origin of tetrapods and the vertebrate
invasion of land. Brian Hall has assembled a stellar array of
contributors from various fields that represent the pieces
necessary for a solution. The volume is handsomely executed and
also timely. It collects a diverse body of recent research on fins
and limbs emerging from evolutionary developmental biology
(evo-devo), functional morphology, and paleontology, all of which
have transformed our conception of what the fin-limb transition
looked like....Fins into Limbs serves as a necessary reference and
a worthy guide to future research on this and other evolutionary
transitions. It tells us what we know, what we don't know, and what
we'd really like to know. Thus it points us in the direction of
which pieces are required to solve the puzzle and reminds us of the
pressing need to figure out how they all fit together."--Alan C.
Love "Science" (9/14/2007 12:00:00 AM)
"We are now at a point where the more experimental, mechanistic
approaches that have previously been restricted to studies of model
organisms must be applied more broadly. . . . To this end, in
driving a new era of research in skeletal biology, Fins into Limbs
is a great success."--Mark W. Hamrick "Journal of Mammal
Evolution"
"Evo-devo--and more importantly, evo-devo-paleo--is the cutting
edge of biological and evolutionary science. This collection of
empirical and theoretical reviews is timely and necessary, and the
choice of authors is excellent. Fins into Limbs is a must-have for
anyone with even a passing interest in any one or all of the
disciplines of evolution, developmental biology, or
paleontology."--Michael Caldwell, University of Alberta
"In this important synthetic review, Hall and the thirty-seven
authorities he has assembled have succeeded in capturing the
quantum advances made by functional morphologists, developmental
biologists, evolutionary scientists, and vertebrate paleontologists
in explaining the origin and diversification of fins and limbs.
This review is unparalleled in its depth, scope and scholarship and
is indispensable for any student interested in unraveling new
complexities hidden in the developing as well as adult fin and
limb. The reader will discover important new paths of inquiry;
conceptually and technically, this book actually covers more than
the title implies and is a must for any seminar course dealing with
form, function, and evolution of vertebrates."--Karel F. Liem,
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
"Variation and selection at the population level are no longer the
central unexplored questions in evolution. Today, advances in
genetics and development are steadily drawing us closer to an
understanding of the origins of the phenotype and the generation of
major morphological innovations. One of the cases where work is now
well advanced involves finding causal links in the genetics,
morphogenesis, and evolutionary transformations of the fish fin and
tetrapod limb. This new book shows how much has been accomplished
in this exciting field, and how many opportunities remain."--Keith
S. Thomson, professor emeritus, University of Oxford
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