General Introduction to the Symposium on Evolutionary Developmental Biology: Paradigms, Problems, and Prospects

This symposium undertakes to examine some historical background relevant to the renaissance in biological studies linking evolution and development, to review the current status of research in this rapidly changing area (especially the problem of forging links between disciplines that have gone in divergent directions), to address the benefits and difficulties that arise from molecular studies of the relationship between evolution and development, and to help set the research agenda in evolutionary developmental biology in the next few years. Rather than introducing the individual contributions that follow, this paper aims to set some historical background for the topics they cover. I argue that old questions about the relationship of development to evolution, raised by such figures as William Bateson and Richard Goldschmidt, remain relevant to contemporary work, though they require major reformulation in light of subsequent developments. Many older questions, long set aside as intractable, remain open. Recently developed techniques may enable us to answer some of them. Accordingly, I suggest, it is worth reviewing the work of several historical figures in setting current research agendas.