Microbial Life History: The Fundamental Forces of Biological Design

A powerful framework for understanding how natural selection shapes adaptation and biological design

Design  and diversity are the two great challenges in the study of life.  Microbial Life History draws on the latest advances in microbiology to  describe the fundamental forces of biological design and apply these  evolutionary processes to a broad diversity of traits in microbial  metabolism and biochemistry.

Emphasizing how to formulate and  test hypotheses of adaptation, Steven Frank provides a new foundation  for exploring the evolutionary forces of design. He discusses the  economic principles of marginal valuations, trade-offs, and payoffs in  risky and random environments; the social aspects of conflict and  cooperation; the demographic aspects of age and spatial heterogeneity;  and the engineering control theory principles by which systems adjust to  environments. Frank then applies these evolutionary principles to the  biochemistry of microbial metabolism, providing the first comprehensive  link between the forces that shape biological design and cellular  energetics.

Tracing how natural selection sculpts metabolism,  Microbial Life History provides new perspectives on the life histories  of organisms, from growth rate and survival to dispersal and defense  against attack. Along the way, this incisive book addresses the  conceptual and philosophical challenges confronting evolutionary  biologists and other practitioners who study biological design and seek  to apply its lessons.