Adaptive radiation, which results when a single ancestral species gives
rise to many descendants, each adapted to a different part of the
environment, is possibly the single most important source of biological
diversity in the living world. One of the best-studied examples involves
Caribbean Anolis lizards. With about 400 species, Anolis has played
an important role in the development of ecological theory and has become
a model system exemplifying the integration of ecological, evolutionary,
and behavioral studies to understand evolutionary diversification. This
major work, written by one of the best-known investigators of Anolis,
reviews and synthesizes an immense literature. Jonathan B. Losos
illustrates how different scientific approaches to the questions of
adaptation and diversification can be integrated and examines
evolutionary and ecological questions of interest to a broad range of
biologists.