All of Sewall Wright's published papers on evolution up to 1950, and a few published later, are gathered in this volume. William Provine's introductions to each paper include pertinent references to related portions of Provine's Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology and Wright's four-volume masterwork, Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. By comparing the papers in this volume with the corresponding topics in the larger work, it is possible to determine the respects in which Wright extended, changed, or remained constant in his ideas over a period of sixty years.

Wright's shifting-balance theory of evolution, first conceived in 1925, has proved enormously useful in modern evolutionary biology. Wright's international prestige has never been higher than it is currently, and the time is ripe for a rereading of his seminal papers. These papers are not only historically important for understanding the period of the "evolutionary synthesis" of the 1930s and 1940s, but continue to be stimulating and useful to working evolutionary biologists today.

Sewall Wright is the Ernest D. Burton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of zoology at the University of Chicago and professor emeritus of genetics at the University of Wisconsin. He has received the National Medal of Science, the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society, the Balzan Prize, and many other honors during his extraordinary career.

Preface

Introduction to Paper 1

1. The Relation of Livestock Breeding to Theories of Evolution

Journal of Animal Science 46 (1978): 1192-1200

Introduction to Paper 2

2. Coefficients of Inbreeding and Relationship

American Naturalist 56 (1922): 330-38

Introduction to Papers 3, 4, and 5

3. Mendelian Analysis of the Pure Breeds of Livestock

I: The Measurement of Inbreeding and Relationship

Journal of Heredity 14 (1923): 339-48

4. II: the Duchess Family of Shorthorns as Bred by Thomas Bates

Journal of Heredity 14 (1923): 339-48

5. III: The Shorthorns

Journal of Heredity 16 (1925): 205-15

Introduction to Paper 6

6. Fisher's Theory of Dominance

Animal Naturalist 63 (1929): 274-79

Introduction to Paper 7

7. The Evolution of Dominance: Comment on Dr. Fisher's Reply

American Naturalist 63 (1929): 556-61

Introduction to Paper 8

8. Evolution in a Mendelian Population

Anatomical Record 44 (1929): 287

Introduction to Paper 9

9. Review of The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection by R. A. Fisher

Journal of Heredity 21 (1930): 349-56

Introduction to Paper 10

10. Statistical Theory of Evolution

Journal of the American Statistical Association 26, Suppl. (1931): 201-8

Introduction to Papers 11 and 12

11. Evolution in Mendelian Populations

Genetics 16 (1931): 97-159

12. The Roles of Mutation, Inbreeding, Crossbreeding and Selection in Evolution

Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Genetics 1 (1932): 356-66

Introduction to Papers 13 and 14

13. Physiological and Evolutionary Theories of Dominance

American Naturalist 68 (1934): 25-53

14. Professor Fisher on the Theory of Dominance

American Naturalist 68 (1934): 25-53

 

Introduction to Papers 15 and 16

15. The Analysis of Variance and the Correlations between Relatives with Respect to Deviations from an Optimum

Journal of Genetics 30 (1935): 243-56

16. Evolution in Populations in Approximate Equilibrium

Journal of Genetics 30 (1935): 257-66

Introduction to Papers 17 and 18

17. The Distribution of Gene Frequencies in Populations

Science 85 (1937): 504

18. The Distribution of Gene Frequencies in Populations

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 23 (1937): 307-20

Introduction to Paper 19

19. Size of Population and Breeding Structure in Relation to Evolution

Science 87 (1938): 430-31

Introduction to Papers 20, 21, and 22

20. The Distribution of Gene Frequencies under Irreversible Mutation

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 24 (1938): 253-59

21. The Distribution of Gene Frequencies in Populations of Polyploids

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 24 (1938): 372-77

22. The Distribution of Self-Sterility Alleles in Populations

Genetics 24 (1939): 538-52

Introduction to Paper 23

23. Statistical Genetics in Relation to Evolution

Actualités scientifiques et industrielles, 802: Exposés de Biométrie et de la statistique biologique XIII. Paris: Hermann & Cie, 1939

Introduction to Papers 24 and 25

24. Breeding Structure of Populations in Relation to Speciation

American Naturalist 74 (1940): 232-48

25. The Statistical Consequences of Mendelian Heredity in Relation to Speciation

In The New Systematics, ed. by Julian S. Huxley, 161-83. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1940

Introduction to Papers 26, 27, and 28

26. The "Age and Area" Concept Extended (A review of The Course of Evolution by Differentiation or Divergent Mutation Rather Than by Selection, by J. C. Willis)

Ecology 22 (1941): 345-47

27. The Material Basis of Evolution (A review of The Material Basis of Evolution, by Richard B. Goldschmidt).

Scientific Monthly 53 (1941): 165-170

28. Tempo and Mode in Evolution: A Critical Review (A review of Tempo and Mode in Evolution, by George Gaylord Simpson).

Ecology 26 (1945): 415-19

29. Isolation by Distance

Genetics 28 (1943): 114-38

30. Analysis of Local Variability of Flower Color in Linanthus parryae

Genetics 28 (1943): 139-56

31. Isolation by Distance under Diverse Systems of Mating

Genetics 31 (1946): 39-59

Introduction to Papers 32 and 33

32. Statistical Genetics and Evolution

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 48 (1942): 223-46

33. The Differential Equation of the Distribution of Gene Frequencies

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 31 (1945): 383-89

Introduction to Papers 34 and 35

34. On the Roles of Directed and Random Changes in Gene Frequency in the Genetics of Populations

Evolution 2 (1948): 279-94

35. Fisher and Ford on "The Sewall Wright Effect"

American Scientist 39 (1951): 452-58, 479

Introduction to Papers 36 and 37

36. Evolution, Organic

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed. revised (1948): 8:915-29

37 Genetics of Populations

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed. revised (1948): 10:111-15

Introduction to Paper 38

38. Adaptation and Selection. In Genetics, Paleontology, and Evolution, ed. by G. L. Jepson, G. G. Simpson, and E. Mayr, 365-89. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949

Introduction to Papers 39 and 40

39. Population Structure in Evolution

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 93 (1949): 471-78

40. The Genetical Structure of Populations

Annals of Eugenics, 15 (1951): 323-54

Introduction to Paper 41

41. Genetics and Twentieth Century DarwinismA Review and Discussion.

American Journal of Human Genetics 12 (1960): 365-72

Introduction to Paper 42

42. Character Change, Speciation, and the Higher Taxa

Evolution 36 (1982): 427-43

References Cited in Introductions

Publications by Sewall Wright