Talking Evolution

Session

Niche construction

26 Sept 2018, 14:00

2. Keynote: The Extended Synthesis: A Human Evolution Perspective

Kevin Laland

26/09/2018, 14:00

This talk will have two parts. In the first, I will provide a brief general introduction to the logic and objectives of the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES). I will describe why it was proposed, how it can be of service, and why expanded inheritance, developmental bias, plasticity and niche construction were selected as foci. I will go on to briefly sketch what it is about each of these...

3. Conditions for evolution by natural selection and niche construction

Liz Pasztor

26/09/2018, 15:30

Lewontin`s (2010) four metaphor-free conditions for evolution explain neither diversification nor niche construction in themselves. Adding two more assumptions – one about the necessity of regulated population growth (“limitedness”) and another about the constraints on emerging variations (“interdependence”) – may explain both. Model-independent derivation of the conditions for competitive...

4. Perspectives on programmed cell death in microbial communities: group selection, niche construction and phenotypic plasticity

Pierre Durand

26/09/2018, 15:45

Programmed cell death (PCD) increases the fitness of multicellular organisms via tissue homeostasis and organismal development. In unicellular organisms, however, PCD takes on additional evolutionary significance because the cell is the organism. Here, the definition of ‘true’ PCD in unicells as “an adaptation to abiotic and biotic environmental stress” is adopted and justified with empirical...

5. Let the concept of eco-evolutionary feedbacks be mechanistic!

Blake Matthews

26/09/2018, 16:00

Feedbacks between heritable trait change and the dynamics of populations, communities, and ecosystems are central to evolutionary ecology. Models of these feedbacks require a strong understanding of the ecological dynamics of natural selection, and the effects of trait distributions on these dynamics. Multiple theoretical frameworks have been proposed to study feedbacks that vary in their...

6. Discussion Niche Construction/ Ecological Adaptation

Arina Maltseva (Poster), Christoph Gahr (Poster), Karina Vanadzina (Poster), Kevin Laland (discussion panel)

26/09/2018, 16:15

Mini-Talks of poster presenters Karina Vanadzina, Arina Maltseva, Christoph Gahr