Book excerpt: Polyploidy plays an important role in biological diversity, trait improvement, and plant species survival. Understanding the evolutionary phenomenon of polyploidy is a key challenge for plant and crop scientists. This book is made up of contributions from leading researchers in the field from around the world, providing a truly global review of the subject. Providing broad-ranging coverage, and up-to-date information from some of the world’s leading researchers, this book is an invaluable resource for geneticists, plant and crop scientists, and evolutionary biologists.