Front Matters

This version of the textbook that you are using this semester is being modified by me (Lisa McDonald). I’m starting with Michi Tobler’s original textbook and making changes to make it appropriate for a 300-level course for students like you. As I revise chapters throughout the semester, they will become available to you. If links are broken (or unavailable) for future chapters, that is because I have not finished adapting them to our class.

If you see broken links that should be working, please let me know through email or in class. I’ll fix them as soon as I know that there is an issue.

Acknowledgments

From Michi Tobler:

I alternate teaching K-State’s Evolution course with Tom Platt, and over the years, John Coffin, Ryan Greenway, Madison Nobrega, and Libby Wilson have served as graduate teaching assistants. They have all made immeasurable contributions to the development of the learning materials included here. I especially thank Madison Nobrega for her relentless editing; her input has greatly improved this text. Emily G. Finch from the Center for the Advancement of Digital Scholarship at the Kansas State University Libraries and Greg Dressman, Director of Enterprise Server Technologies at Kansas State University, provided critical logistical support.

This Open Educational Resource (OER) was made possible with the support of a grant from the The Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative at Kansas State University.

Last but not least, many thanks to the past students at K-State. It was your input that lead to this resource and that helps me to continuously improve it. Especially, the following people have graciously provided feedback on writing and content: Shaun Baughman, Caroline Gatschet, Aaron George, Karisa Leonard, Kate Odgers, and Andy Su.

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material provided you give the original author credit (attribution), you are not using the material for commercial purposes (NonCommerical), and you distribute your work under the same license as the original (ShareAlike).

If you would like to adopt and use this resource in any way, feel free to contact Michi Tobler to obtain a copy of all source files.

About the Author

Michi Tobler is a Professor in the Division of Biology at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS. His research focuses on mechanisms of adaptation and speciation, primarily using extremophile fishes as study systems. You can learn more about his research on his lab website: https://sulfide-life.info/.