Preface to the second edition

Summary

Fifteen years have gone by since I wrote the first edition of this book. Some notable advances have been made in the population genetics of age-structured populations, and in the theory of life-history evolution. In addition, the literature on empirical tests of life-history theory has grown enormously. In order to include an account of these developments in the new edition, while keeping the length of the book roughly constant, I have deleted some old material as well as adding new. I have rewritten Chapter 5 completely, in an attempt to do justice to recent work on life-history evolution. I have not tried to provide a comprehensive review of this large field, but have concentrated on emphasising theoretical principles and empirical tests which seem to me to be especially illuminating.

I am grateful to the following for providing me with copies of their published and unpublished work: Peter Abrams, Steven Austad, Nick Barton, Eric Charnov, Mart Gross, Paul Harvey, Leonard Nunney, Steven Orzack, Linda Partridge, Daniel Promislow, David Reznick, Derek Roff, Alan Rogers, and Michael Rose. Michael Bulmer, Joel Cohen, and Dimitrii Logofet kindly pointed out some errors in the first edition, which I have corrected. A draft of the manuscript of the revised portions of the second edition was read by Deborah Charlesworth, Eric Charnov, Steven Orzack, Stephen Pruett-Jones, Derek Roff, and Michael Rose. Their comments have greatly improved the final version, and I am very grateful to them for the trouble that they took.