. Biology of Peromyscus (Rodentia). Mice; Peromyscus. INTRODUCTION W. Frank Blair T":. |HE uiVERsnv ol lile, oi which his jjopuhiiion is a part, has intrigued man as far back as his written, or e\en crudely drawn, records re- veal. Pictographs ol ancient man attest to this interest. There is no reason to doubt that this interest will continue or that challenging ques- tions aboiu this diversity will remain as long as civilized man exists on the earth. Regardless oi how sophisticated our knowledge becomes con- cerning the chemical basis of life or of molecular and submolecular organization


. Biology of Peromyscus (Rodentia). Mice; Peromyscus. INTRODUCTION W. Frank Blair T":. |HE uiVERsnv ol lile, oi which his jjopuhiiion is a part, has intrigued man as far back as his written, or e\en crudely drawn, records re- veal. Pictographs ol ancient man attest to this interest. There is no reason to doubt that this interest will continue or that challenging ques- tions aboiu this diversity will remain as long as civilized man exists on the earth. Regardless oi how sophisticated our knowledge becomes con- cerning the chemical basis of life or of molecular and submolecular organization of living mate- rials, the organization of life into populations of individuals, each adapted to reproduce itself, to carry out the physiological and mechanical functions necessary to its continued existence, and necessary to its coexistence with other populations, will continue to be a superbly challenging biological phenomenon. How is this diversity achieved? How is it maintained? What are the virtually endless ways in which populations adapt to their physical and biotic environments? Why do populations become extinct? The diversity of life is so great that w^e can never hope to answer all of the questions we might pose for all of the kinds of organisms, so we look to detailed studies of representative taxa for elucidation of the principles governing diversification and maintenance of diversity. Many taxa are relatively unsuitable for this purpose, but in most of the major branches that organic evolution has produced there are outstandingly useful taxa for such investigations. Ideally, the taxon should have a good fossil record that we might know something of its evolutionary history. Ideally, it should have a considerable amount, but not an impossibly great amount, of diversification in living forms so that various stages of the evolu- tionary process are adequately represented, , from the level of genus through subgenus, species group, and species to popidations repres


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