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By James F. Crow and Motoo Kimura

This textbook, originally published in 1970, presents the field of population genetics, starting with elementary concepts and leading the reader well into the field. It is concerned mainly with population genetics in a strict sense and deals primarily with natural populations and less fully with the rather similar problems that arise in breading livestock and cultivated plans. The emphasis is on the behavior of genes and population attributes under natural selection where the most important measure is Darwinian fitness. This text is intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates in genetics and population biology

This book steers a middle course between completely verbal biological arguments and the rigor of the mathematician. The first two-thirds of the book do not require advanced mathematical background. An ordinary knowledge of calculus will suffice. The latter parts of the book, which deal with population stochastically, use more advanced methods.

Chapter Titles:
1. Models of population growth.
2. Randomly mating populations.
3. Inbreeding.
4. Correlation between relatives and assertive mating.
5. Selection.
6. Populations in approximate equilibrium.
7. Properties of a finite population.
8. Stochastic processes in the change of gene frequencies.
9. Distribution of gene frequencies in populations.
Appendix. Some statistical and mathematical methods frequently used in population genetics.
Bibliography.
Glossary and Index of Symbols.
Index of Names.
Index of Subjects.


James F. Crow (born 1916) is Professor Emeritus of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a pioneer and giant in the field of genetics. He is famous for his contributions through research, teaching, public service, ethical analysis, and leadership.

Professor Crow is recognized as a leader and statesman of science. He chaired the Univ. of Wisconsin Department of Medical Genetics for 5 years and the Laboratory of Genetics (that is, Genetics plus Medical Genetics) for a total of 8 years. He also served as Acting Dean of the UW Medical School for 2 years. He has been President of the Genetics Society of America and the American Society of Human Genetics.

Motoo Kimura was a Japanese biologist best known for introducing the neutral theory of molecular evolution in 1968. He became one of the most influential theoretical population geneticists. In the 1950's, he studied and worked on stochastic models at the University of Wisconsin with James F. Crow, among others. His accomplishments at Wisconsin included a general model for genetic drift, which could accommodate multiple alleles, selection, migration, and mutations. He received his PhD in 1956, before returning to Japan at the National Institute of Genetics. In 1992, Kimura received the Darwin Medal from the Royal Society, and the following year he was made a Foreign Member of the Royal Society.