Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics [electronic resource] / edited by Michael Lässig, Angelo Valleriani.

Molecular information and evolution -- Statistical significance and extremal ensemble of gapped local hybrid alignment -- On the design of optimization criteria for multiple sequence alignment -- Red queen dynamics and the evolution of translational redundancy and degeneracy -- A testable genotype-phenotype map: modeling evolution of RNA molecules -- Evolutionary perspectives on protein structure, stability, and functionality -- Phylogeny -- The statistical approach to molecular phylogeny: Evidence for a nonhyperthermophilic common ancestor -- Principles of cophylogenetic maps -- Accounting for phylogenetic uncertainty in comparative studies of evolution and adaptation -- The‘ shape’ of phylogenies under simple random speciation models -- The evolution of populations and species -- Fitness landscapes -- Tempo and mode in quasispecies evolution -- Multilevel processes in evolution and development: Computational models and biological insights -- Evolutionary strategies for solving optimization problems -- Review of biological ageing on the computer -- Spatio-temporal modes of speciation -- Large-scale evolution -- Food web structure and the evolution of ecological communities -- Dynamics and topology of species networks -- Modelling macroevolutionary patterns: An ecological perspective.

This set of lecture notes gives a first coherent account of a novel aspect of the living world that can be called biological information. The book presents both a pedagogical and state-of-the art roadmap of this rapidly evolving area and covers the whole field, from information which is encoded in the molecular genetic code to the description of large-scale evolution of complex species networks. The book will prove useful for all those who work at the interface of biology, physics and information science.