Mastodawn

RationalWiki May 18, 2023

Non-Darwinian #evolution is any mechanism which tends to downplay the role of natural selection in evolution. It also may reject gradualism, sexual selection or any other aspect of Darwinian evolution.

It should be remembered that "alternative medicine" which actually works is called "medicine". The same care needs to be taken with "Non-Darwinian evolution" — if it were generally accepted it would be part of the Modern Synthesis.

Historian of science Peter J. Bowler has written on non-Darwinian evolution in detail. According to Bowler, non-Darwinian theories of evolution were widely accepted in the late 19th century and focused attention on conceptual issues that have now been reopened by evolutionary developmental biology. Non-Darwinian evolution was proposed because many scientists did not believe natural selection was powerful enough to explain evolution.

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#RationalWiki #CharlesDarwin #modernsynthesis
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Non-Darwinian_evolution

Non-Darwinian evolution

Non-Darwinian evolution is any mechanism which tends to downplay the role of natural selection in evolution. It also may reject gradualism, sexual selection or any other aspect of Darwinian evolution.

RationalWiki

PJ Dec 31, 2022

I believe none of the stated reasons for revisiting “#Darwin’sDangerousIdea” in this most-read Guardian article of 2022 will have any effect on how “#ModernSynthesis” explains #Evolution.

For example:

1️⃣ “The study of the way organisms alter their environment in order to reduce the normal pressure of natural selection – think of beavers building dams” only shows that #NaturalSelection favors beavers genetically programmed to build better dams.

2️⃣ “The Senegal bichir adapting to land in a single generation” and dung beetles growing larger wings in cold weather only show the co-producing relationship between nature and nurture and the known fact that the same set of genes (genotype) will produce slightly different phenotypes in different environments. It surely does not explain speciation.

and lastly

3️⃣ I really don’t see the difference between passing to the next generation randomly as opposed to artificially induced mutations. Natural selection will “weed out” one and the other the same way.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/28/do-we-need-a-new-theory-of-evolution

Do we need a new theory of evolution?

The long read: A new wave of scientists argues that mainstream evolutionary theory needs an urgent overhaul. Their opponents have dismissed them as misguided careerists – and the conflict may determine the future of biology

The Guardian

Show thread

rsp Dec 25, 2022

@arlin @BehavEcol Which makes me wonder, what is the "true" story? In other words, if one were to ignore Mayr, Hull, Cain, etc. (if they had never existed) and wrote an accurate account of the development of biological classification/systematics, what would that history be? Has it been written? 2/2

#ErnstMayr
#ModernSynthesis

Joanna Masel Nov 22, 2022

New #preprint led by @arlin, with contributions by me and others. https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/4705/ It's a criticism of writings by @EvolOdonata , which in our view misrepresent the latest #science (both #theory and empirical work) on how #MutationBias influences #adaptation. #evolution #ModernSynthesis

Misrepresenting biases in arrival: a comment on Svensson (2022)

Radical Anthropology Nov 13, 2022

Useful piece here on the recent controversies in #evolutionarytheory between Modern synthesis and Extended evolutionary synthesis. From Erik Svensson

#evolution #Modernsynthesis #Extendedevolutionarysynthesis

https://theconversation.com/the-study-of-evolution-is-fracturing-and-that-may-be-a-good-thing-186580?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=bylinetwitterbutton

The study of evolution is fracturing – and that may be a good thing

There is more to evolution than the genes species inherit.

The Conversation

Andrew Hipp Nov 12, 2022

A great review of the importance of Clausen, Keck & Hiesey's work on our understanding of #evolution, and their connection to (and neglect in) the #modernSynthesis.

Dissects their perfection of common garden #experiments, and contributions to our understanding of #adaptation ("one of the first field verifications of #localAdaptation by #naturalSelection"), #plasticity, #speciation, #polyploidy, #genetic architecture of trait variation.

And an excellent read.

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/420540

Evolution in Changing Environments: The

The studies of Clausen, Keck, and Hiesey (CKH) have been widely cited as exemplars of ecotypic differentiation in textbooks and in the primary literature. However, the scope of their findings and achievements is significantly greater than this. In this paper we analyze the research program of CKH, highlighting their major findings during the years when the modern synthesis of evolution was taking shape. That synthesis, curiously, drew little from their examples, although their studies at the Carnegie Institution represent conceptual and methodological work that is still relevant. The works of CKH not only embodied the principles of the nascent synthesis, but often provided needed supporting data. Their classic work, especially on Achillea and Potentilla, produced abundant evidence on population differentiation of many quantitative traits and plant phenotypes, as well as demonstrating the now commonly reported distinction between environmental and genetic determination of traits. Their ecological genetic investigations of quantitative traits in plants were in sharp contrast to contemporaneous animal studies on adaptation that focused on discrete polymorphisms-with correspondingly little influence of the environment on phenotypic expression. Of utmost importance was the demonstration by CKH of adaptive differentiation by natural selection and their approaches to understanding the genetic structure of populations.

The Quarterly Review of Biology

Lynn Chiu Nov 7, 2022

My latest #ecoevo publication is an intro to the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, commissioned by the John Templeton Foundation. It is a 60 pg document that lays out the assumptions of the #ModernSynthesis according to the #EES, the diverse origins of the EES in multiple disciplines, and the current status & objections to the #extendedsynthesis. A friendly & illustrated review for anyone interested in knowing what it's all about.

https://www.templeton.org/discoveries/extended-evolutionary-synthesis

#evolution #evobio #evolutionarybiology