Review of <em>Sex, Size & Gender Roles: Evolutionary Studies of Sexual Size Dimorphism</em>

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Abstract

<p> Since Darwin&rsquo;s Decent of Man (1874), biologists have been fascinated by the evolutionary pro-cesses that produce and maintain sexual size dimorphisms (SSD). This excellent volume is &filig;lled with the most current and stimulating re-search on SSD. It is separated into three sec-tions. The &filig;rst section contains six chapters that review macroevolutionary patterns of variation across major taxonomic groups (e.g., reptiles, birds, and insects). These chapters assess the role of sexual selection as a contributor to SSD and test Rensch&rsquo;s rule. Section II has eight chap-ters that explore microevolutionary processes that might be responsible for SSD (e.g., fecun-dity selection, genetic constraints, and differen-tial equilibrium). In some ways, these chapters are the backbone of the book because they pro-vide a synthesis of the proximate selection pat-terns that generate SSD and, thus, present an organizational framework to further explore how the wide variation in SSD arises in certain species (Chapters 8 to 11) or populations (Chap-ters 12 through 15). Section III explores the developmental and genetic mechanisms respon-sible for SSD. Unlike earlier sections, these &filig;ve chapters do not address the adaptive value or generation of SSD; rather, the authors explore how growth trajectories and morphologies are generated during gene expression and develop-ment. This section was particularly thought-provoking because these issues are fundamen-tally important, yet have received less attention than other areas of SSD research.</p>
Original languageAmerican English
JournalQuarterly Review of Biology
Volume83
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2008

Keywords

  • Evolutionary studies
  • Gender roles
  • Sex
  • Sexual size dimorphism
  • Size

DC Disciplines

  • Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
  • Biology

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