Evolution of Evolution Processes--evolving mutation rates, evolution of natural selection, evolution of new inheritance mechanisms,

Hiddenness and Alterity Hamlet and the Police State

by Nizar Zouidi

Resource Competition and Reproduction in Karo Batak Villages

by Geoff Kushnick

G. Kushnick
Human Nature 21:62-81 (2010)
doi: 10.1007/s12110-010-9082-4

When wealth is heritable, parents may manipulate family size to optimize the trade-off between more relatively poor... more When wealth is heritable, parents may manipulate family size to optimize the trade-off between more relatively poor offspring and fewer relatively rich ones, and channel less care into offspring that compete with siblings. These hypotheses were tested with quantitative ethnographic data collected among the Karo Batak—patrilineal agriculturalists from North Sumatra, Indonesia, among whom land is bequeathed equally to sons. It was predicted that landholding would moderate the relationship between reproductive rate and parental investment on one hand, and the number of same-sex siblings on the other, among boys but not girls. The predicted interaction effect was observed in interbirth intervals and immunizations, but only a trace of the effect was detected in age-five mortality. The study raises questions about the coevolution of human behavior and social structure.

Mechanistic Constraints on Evolutionary Outcomes

by Tudor Baetu

Philosophy of Science, 79(2): 276-294

Understanding the role mechanistic constraints play in shaping evolution can relieve the tension between the generally... more Understanding the role mechanistic constraints play in shaping evolution can relieve the tension between the generally accepted intuition that there are no strict laws in biology and empirical findings showing that evolutionary processes are biased towards preferred outcomes. Mechanistic constraints explain why some evolutionary outcomes are more probable than others, and allow for predictions in specific lineages. At the same time, mechanistic constraints are neither necessary, nor universal in the way laws are traditionally characterized: they remain contingent on the past evolution of the biological mechanisms underpinning them, and only constrain the future evolution of the organisms possessing them.

Function and Organization: Comparing the Mechanisms of Protein Synthesis and Natural Selection

by Phyllis Illari

With Jon Williamson
Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 279–291
10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.07.001

In this paper, we compare the mechanisms of protein synthesis and natural selection. We identify three core elements... more In this paper, we compare the mechanisms of protein synthesis and natural selection. We identify three core elements of mechanistic explanation: functional individuation, hierarchical nestedness or decomposition, and organization. These are now well understood elements of mechanistic explanation in fields such as protein synthesis, and widely accepted in the mechanisms literature. But Skipper and Millstein have argued (2005) that natural selection is neither decomposable nor organized. This would mean that much of the current mechanisms literature does not apply to the mechanism of natural selection. We take each element of mechanistic explanation in turn. Having appreciated the importance of functional individuation, we show how decomposition and organization should be better understood in these terms. We thereby show that mechanistic explanation by protein synthesis and natural selection are more closely analogous than they appear—both possess all three of these core elements of a mechanism widely recognized in the mechanisms literature.

Diversity of extinct and living actinistian fishes (Sarcopterygii)

by Richard Cloutier

Authors: Cloutier, R. & P.L. Forey
Year: 1991
Reference: Environmental Biology of Fishes, 32: 59-74

A total of 121 actinistian species belonging to 47 genera and 17 undetermined actinistians is reported from the... more A total of 121 actinistian species belonging to 47 genera and 17 undetermined actinistians is reported from the literature. There are 69 valid speciesw ith fair assessmento f their phylogenetic position; 21 valid species with poor assessment of their phylogenetic position; 31 actinistian incertae sedis; and 18 taxa that had been identified incorrectly as actinistians or are nomen nuda. The fossil record of the actinistians covers a history of approximately 380 million years. The greatest diversity occurred during the Scythian (Early Triassic).

La selezione di gruppo: dibattito aperto nella teoria dell'evoluzione

by Emanuele Serrelli

Sober E, Serrelli E (2009). La selezione di gruppo: dibattito aperto nella teoria dell'evoluzione. Interview to Elliott Sober. Pikaia il portale dell'evoluzione (http://www.pikaia.eu), Oct 28, 2009. ISSN 1827-8647 http://hdl.handle.net/10281/9831

«We all reject naïve group selection – one should not simply assume that traits evolve because they are good of the... more «We all reject naïve group selection – one should not simply assume that traits evolve because they are good of the group. But it’s a legitimate hypothesis when you state how to test and possibly support it. So we think it’s an important addition in the mix of ideas that evolutionary biology uses in understanding nature».

References

Elliott Sober & David Sloan Wilson (1998), Unto others: The evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Michael Ruse (2000), The Evolution Wars: A Guide to the Controversies, Santa Barbara: ABC CLIO. Paperback, Rutgers University Press, 2001.
Michael Ruse (2000). Review of Sober and Wilson, Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior. Ethics 110 (2):443-445.
On Hamilton:
Emanuele Coco (2008), Egoisti, malvagi, generosi. Storia naturale dell'altruismo, Bruno Mondadori.
On species selection:
Niles Eldredge (1985), Unfinished Synthesis, Oxford University Press, New York.
Stephen Jay Gould, Niles Eldredge (1988), "Species selection: its range and power", Nature 334, 19.
Elisabeth A. Lloyd, Stephen Jay Gould (1993), Evolution "Species selection on variability", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 90, pp. 595-599.
Stephen Jay Gould (2002), trad. it. La struttura della teoria dell'evoluzione, Codice Edizioni, Torino, 2003.
Samir Okasha (2006), Evolution and the Levels of Selection, Oxford University Press.
Elliott Sober (2008), Evidence and Evolution. The Logic Behind the Science, Cambridge University Press.
Massimo Pigliucci (2007), “Do we need an extended evolutionary synthesis?”, Evolution 61: 2743-2749, 2007.

A role for ecology in male mate discrimination of immigrant females in Calopteryx damselflies?

by Maren Wellenreuther

Domestication as innovation: the entanglement of techniques, technology and chance in the domestication of cereal crops

by Dorian Fuller

World Archaeology 42(1): 13-28

Archaeological data reveal slow rates of evolution during plant domestication

by Dorian Fuller

in Evolution. Co-authored with Michael Purugganan

Domestication is an evolutionary process of species divergence in which morphological and physiological changes result... more Domestication is an evolutionary process of species divergence in which morphological and physiological changes result from the cultivation/tending of plant or animal species by a mutualistic partner, most prominently humans. Darwin used domestication as an analogy to evolution by natural selection although there is strong debate on whether this process of species evolution by human association is an appropriate model for evolutionary study. There is a presumption that selection under domestication is strong and most models assume rapid evolution of cultivated species. Using archaeological data for 11 species from 60 archaeological sites, we measure rates of evolution in two plant domestication traits—nonshattering and grain/seed size increase. Contrary to previous assumptions, we find the rates of phenotypic evolution during domestication are slow, and significantly lower or comparable to those observed among wild species subjected to natural selection. Our study indicates that the magnitudes of the rates of evolution during the domestication process, including the strength of selection, may be similar to those measured for wild species. This suggests that domestication may be driven by unconscious selection pressures similar to that observed for natural selection, and the study of the domestication process may indeed prove to be a valid model for the study of evolutionary change.