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EvoDevo and niche construction: building bridges
Author(s) -
Laland Kevin N.,
OdlingSmee John,
Gilbert Scott F.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part b: molecular and developmental evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-5015
pISSN - 1552-5007
DOI - 10.1002/jez.b.21232
Subject(s) - niche construction , niche , causation , darwinism , evolutionary developmental biology , perspective (graphical) , biology , reciprocal , evolutionary biology , epistemology , modern evolutionary synthesis , organism , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , sociology , ecology , computer science , philosophy , genetics , linguistics , artificial intelligence , gene
Evolutionary developmental biology and niche‐construction theory have much in common, despite independent intellectual origins. Both place emphasis on the role of ontogenetic processes in evolution. The same historical events shaped them, and similar philosophical and sociological barriers hindered their respective advances. Both perspectives maintain that neo‐Darwinism needs a theory of macroevolutionary variation and that such a theory can now be adduced from developmental biology. Some proponents of both EvoDevo and niche construction propose additional evolutionary mechanisms, and specify a key role for stable extra‐genetic forms of inheritance. Similarly, proponents of each lay emphasis on “reciprocal causation” in the relationship between organism and environment. We illustrate here how EvoDevo and niche construction could gain “added value” from each other, and demonstrate how the niche‐construction perspective potentially provides a useful conduit to integrate evolutionary and developmental biology. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 310B:549–566, 2008 . © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.