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R ussian comparative embryology takes form: a conceptual metamorphosis toward “evo‐devo”
Author(s) -
Mikhailov Alexander T.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
evolution and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1525-142X
pISSN - 1520-541X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-142x.2011.00518.x
Subject(s) - evolutionary developmental biology , biology , assertion , embryology , perspective (graphical) , epistemology , focus (optics) , developmental genetics , heterochrony , metamorphosis , evolutionary biology , cognitive science , philosophy , ecology , ontogeny , genetics , larva , psychology , computer science , regulation of gene expression , physics , artificial intelligence , gene , optics , programming language
SUMMARY This essay recapitulates major paths followed by the R ussian tradition of what we refer to today as evolutionary developmental biology (“evo‐devo”). The article addresses several questions regarding the conceptual history of evolutionary embryological thought in its particularly R ussian perspective: (1) the assertion by the St . P etersburg academician W olff regarding the possible connections between environmental modifications during morphogenesis and the “transformation” of species, (2) the discovery of shared “principles” underlying animal development by v on B aer, (3) the experimental expression of B aer's principles by K owalevsky and M echnikoff, (4) S evertsov's theory of phylembryogenesis, (5) F ilatov's approach to the study of evolution using comparative “developmental mechanics”, and (6) S hmalgausen's concept of “stabilizing” selection as an attempt to elucidate the evolution of developmental mechanisms. The focus on comparative evolutionary embryology, which was established by K owalevsky and M echnikoff, still continues to be popular in present‐day “evo‐devo” research in R ussia.