Introduction: The Place of Population Genetics in Evolutionary Biology

Without the theory of evolution there would be no science called “biology”. Biology would not be one discipline, but a catchall name for a very varied set of disciplines, that all, in some way or other, studied the properties of living beings. Many of those disciplines contributed to the synthetic theory of evolution. This theory derives its strength from its roots in so many diverse fields; as it was possible to build one theory of evolution from blocks from several fields, evolutionary biology came to occupy a central and unifying place among the (sub)disciplines. The unification of all of biology into one science, by the providing of a major explanatory framework, forms the unassailable strength of the synthetic theory.