Speaker
Description
Evolutionary predictions can only be as good as the models on which they are based. Traditionally, evolutionary models are kept as simple as possible, with the idea that simple models are more easily tractable and that their conclusions are more general and robust. These models tend to focus on how selection acts on the phenotype and on the phenotypic response patterns to environmental stimuli, thereby largely neglecting the (epi-)genetic, physiological, and behavioural mechanisms underlying these phenotypes and responses. With the advent of mechanism-oriented fields like evo-devo or evolutionary systems biology this attitude is slowly changing. To synthesize these developments, I propose a new, mechanism-oriented framework that views the architecture of adaptation, rather than the resulting responses, as the primary target of natural selection. By means of general arguments and concrete example studies, I will demonstrate that this change in perspective has major implications: (1) it may lead to fundamentally different predictions concerning the course and outcome of evolution; (2) it sheds new light on the emergence and maintenance of genetic and phenotypic variation; and (3) it provides a new perspective on the speed of evolution and the potential of organisms to adapt to novel environmental conditions.
