 | The Great Tree of Life The Great Tree of Life is a concise, approachable treatment that surveys the concept of the Tree of Life, including chapters on its historical introduction and cultural connection. The Tree of Life is a metaphor used to describe the relationships between organisms, both living and extinct. It has been widely recognized that the relationship between the roughly 10 million species on earth drives the ecological system. This work covers options on how to build the tree, demonstrating its utility in drug discovery, curing disease, crop improvement, conservation biology and ecology, along with tactics on how to respond to the challenges of climate change. This book is a key aid on the improvement of our understanding of the relationships between species, the increasing and essential awareness of biodiversity, and the power of employing modern biology to build the tree of life. Dr Douglas E. Soltis is a Distinguished Professor in the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Department of Biology at the University of Florida. He has over 400 published papers and eight books. He was president of the Botanical Society of America (1999-2000) and has received the Centennial Award and the Distinguished Fellow Award from the Botanical Society of America, the Asa Gray Award from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the Stebbins Medal from the International Association for Plant Taxonomy, and the Darwin-Wallace Medal from the Linnean Society of London. Dr. Pamela S. Soltis is a Distinguished Professor and Curator in the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. She has over 400 published papers and eight books. She served as president of the Society of Systematic Biologists (2004-07), the Botanical Society of America (2006-09), is currently the President-Elect of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, and has received the Centennial Award and the Distinguished Fellow Award from the Botanical Society of America, the Asa Gray Award from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the Stebbins Medal from the International Association for Plant Taxonomy, and the Darwin-Wallace Medal from the Linnean Society of London. |
