Every biological system is the outcome of its evolution; therefore, the deciphering of its evolutionary history is of tremendous importance to understand the biology of a system.

Since 1997 scientists of different disciplines have held an annual "Evolutionary Biology Meeting" at Marseille (France) in order to discuss their research developments, exchange ideas and start collaborations. Consisting of the most representative talks of the 11th meeting, this book provides an up-to-date overview of evolutionary concepts and how these concepts can be applied to a better understanding of various biological aspects. It is divided into the following four parts: Modelization of Evolution - Concepts in Evolutionary Biology - Knowledge - Applied Evolutionary Biology.

This book is an invaluable source of information not only for evolutionary biologists, but also for biologists in general.

Contents Part I Modelization of Evolution 1 Rate of Adaptation of Large Populations Feng Yu and Alison Etheridge 2 A Phylogenetic Mixture Model for Heterotachy Andrew Meade and Mark Pagel Part II Concepts in Evolutionary Biology 3 Accelerated Evolution of Genes of Recent Origin Macarena Toll-Riera, José Castresana, and M. Mar Albà 4 Life-Cycle Features of Tumour Cells Jekaterina Erenpreisa and Mark S Cragg 5 General Evolutionary Regularities of the Organic and Social Life Valeria I. Mikhalevich 6 Old and New Concepts in Evodevo Margherita Raineri Part III Knowledge 7 Overturning the Prejudices About Hydra and Metazoan Evolution Hiroshi Shimizu 8 The Search for the Origin of Cnidarian Nematocysts in Dinoflagellates Jung Shan Hwang, Satoshi Nagai, Shiho Hayakawa, Yasuharu Takaku, and Takashi Gojobori Part IV Applied Evolutionary Biology 9 A Possible Relationship Between the Phylogenetic Branch Lengths and the Chaetognath rRNA Paralog Gene Functionalities: Ubiquitous, Tissue-Specific or Pseudogenes Roxane-Marie Barthélémy, Michel Grino, Pierre Pontarotti, Jean-Paul Casanova, and Eric Faure 10 Mode and Tempo of matK: Gene Evolution and Phylogenetic Implications Khidir W. Hilu and Michelle M. Barthet 11 Phylogeography and Conservation of the Rare South African Fruit Chafer Ichnestoma stobbiai (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Ute Kryger and Clarke H. Scholtz 12 Nothing in Medicine Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution. A Review Bernard Swynghedauw 13 An Overview of Evolutionary Biology Concepts for Functional Annotation: Advances and Challenges Anthony Levasseur and PierrePontarotti Subject Index