Setting a gold standard for integrative evolutionary biology

摘要

Longitudinal studies of organisms in the wild are the gold standard for understanding the complexity and dynamics of the evolutionary process. Still, data from long-term field studies are rare and hold a special place in the literature. The Snowbird is an edited volume by Ellen Ketterson and Jonathan Atwell focused on a songbird that has become a workhorse for integrative longterm research: the dark-eyed junco. As the title indicates, the snowbird, or junco, is front and center of this compilation, which documents research that began in the early 1900s. However, this book is much more than an exploration of a particular bird: it is an authoritative example of howto do integrative biology thoroughly, and thoroughly well.