ABSTRACT
The material covers a number of key areas which are necessary to understanding the nature of the evolutionary process. We begin by looking at some basic ideas of heredity and how variation occurs in interbreeding populations. From here we look at the gene in more detail and then consider how it can undergo change. The next section looks at aspects of population thinking needed to appreciate selection. This is crucial to an appreciation of Darwinian mechanisms of evolution. The chapter concludes with selected references to further information. In order to keep this contribution within its size limits, the material is primarily about the biology of higher plants and animals.
