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Edelaar P, Otsuka J, Luque VJ. A generalised approach to the study and understanding of adaptive evolution. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:352-375. [PMID: 36223883 PMCID: PMC10091731 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Evolutionary theory has made large impacts on our understanding and management of the world, in part because it has been able to incorporate new data and new insights successfully. Nonetheless, there is currently a tension between certain biological phenomena and mainstream evolutionary theory. For example, how does the inheritance of molecular epigenetic changes fit into mainstream evolutionary theory? Is niche construction an evolutionary process? Is local adaptation via habitat choice also adaptive evolution? These examples suggest there is scope (and perhaps even a need) to broaden our views on evolution. We identify three aspects whose incorporation into a single framework would enable a more generalised approach to the understanding and study of adaptive evolution: (i) a broadened view of extended phenotypes; (ii) that traits can respond to each other; and (iii) that inheritance can be non-genetic. We use causal modelling to integrate these three aspects with established views on the variables and mechanisms that drive and allow for adaptive evolution. Our causal model identifies natural selection and non-genetic inheritance of adaptive parental responses as two complementary yet distinct and independent drivers of adaptive evolution. Both drivers are compatible with the Price equation; specifically, non-genetic inheritance of parental responses is captured by an often-neglected component of the Price equation. Our causal model is general and simplified, but can be adjusted flexibly in terms of variables and causal connections, depending on the research question and/or biological system. By revisiting the three examples given above, we show how to use it as a heuristic tool to clarify conceptual issues and to help design empirical research. In contrast to a gene-centric view defining evolution only in terms of genetic change, our generalised approach allows us to see evolution as a change in the whole causal structure, consisting not just of genetic but also of phenotypic and environmental variables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pim Edelaar
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Carretera Utrera km.1, 41013, Seville, Spain.,Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Thunbergsvägen 2, SE-75238, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jun Otsuka
- Department of Philosophy, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Hommachi, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.,RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, 1-4-1 Nihonbashi, Tokyo, 103-0027, Japan
| | - Victor J Luque
- Department of Philosophy, University of Valencia, Av. de Blasco Ibáñez, 30, 46010, València, Spain
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Abstract
We discuss approaches to the study of the evolution of music (sect. R1); challenges to each of the two theories of the origins of music presented in the companion target articles (sect. R2); future directions for testing them (sect. R3); and priorities for better understanding the nature of music (sect. R4).
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel A Mehr
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, , https://, https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/epl
- Data Science Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington6012, New Zealand
| | - Max M Krasnow
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, , https://, https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/epl
| | - Gregory A Bryant
- Department of Communication, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095, , http://gabryant.bol.ucla.edu
- Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095, USA
| | - Edward H Hagen
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA98686, USA. , https://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/hagen
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3
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Garcia-Costoya G, Fromhage L. Realistic genetic architecture enables organismal adaptation as predicted under the folk definition of inclusive fitness. J Evol Biol 2021; 34:1087-1094. [PMID: 33934419 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Revised: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
A fundamental task of evolutionary biology is to explain the pervasive impression of organismal design in nature, including traits benefiting kin. Inclusive fitness is considered by many to be a crucial piece in this puzzle, despite ongoing discussion about its scope and limitations. Here, we use individual-based simulations to study what quantity (if any) individual organisms become adapted to maximize when genetic architectures are more or less suitable for the presumed main driver of biological adaptation, namely cumulative multi-locus evolution. As an expository device, we focus on a hypothetical situation called Charlesworth's paradox, in which altruism is seemingly predicted to evolve, yet altruists immediately perish along with their altruistic genes. Our results support a recently proposed re-definition of inclusive fitness, which is concerned with the adaptive design of whole organisms as shaped by multi-locus evolution, rather than with selection for any focal gene. They also illustrate how our conceptual understanding of adaptation at the phenotypic level should inform our choice of genetic assumptions in abstract simplified models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillermo Garcia-Costoya
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland.,Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Lutz Fromhage
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland
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Radzvilavicius A. Beyond the "selfish mitochondrion" theory of uniparental inheritance: A unified theory based on mutational variance redistribution. Bioessays 2021; 43:e2100009. [PMID: 33729620 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202100009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
"Selfish" gene theories have offered invaluable insight into eukaryotic genome evolution, but they can also be misleading. The "selfish mitochondrion" hypothesis, developed in the 90s explained uniparental organelle inheritance as a mechanism of conflict resolution, improving cooperation between genetically distinct compartments of the cell. But modern population genetic models provided a more general explanation for uniparental inheritance based on mutational variance redistribution, modulating the efficiency of both purifying and adaptive selection. Nevertheless, as reviewed here, "selfish" conflict theories still dominate the literature. While these hypotheses are rich in metaphor and highly intuitive, selective focus on only one type of mitochondrial mutation limits the generality of our understanding and hinders progress in mito-nuclear evolution theory. Recognizing that uniparental inheritance may have evolved-and is maintained across the eukaryotic tree of life-because of its influence on mutational variance and improved selection will only increase the generality of our evolutionary reasoning, retaining "selfish" conflict explanations as a special case of a much broader theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arunas Radzvilavicius
- Department of Philosophy and Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Grafen A. A simple completion of Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:735-742. [PMID: 33520161 PMCID: PMC7820154 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 07/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection shows that the part of the rate of change of mean fitness that is due to natural selection equals the additive genetic variance in fitness. Fisher embedded this result in a model of total fitness, adding terms for deterioration of the environment and density dependence. Here, a quantitative genetic version of this neglected model is derived that relaxes its assumptions that the additive genetic variance in fitness and the rate of deterioration of the environment do not change over time, allows population size to vary, and includes an input of mutational variance. The resulting formula for total rate of change in mean fitness contains two terms more than Fisher's original, representing the effects of stabilizing selection, on the one hand, and of mutational variance, on the other, making clear for the first time that the fundamental theorem deals only with natural selection that is directional (as opposed to stabilizing) on the underlying traits. In this model, the total (rather than just the additive) genetic variance increases mean fitness. The unstructured population allows an explanation of Fisher's concept of fitness as simply birth rate minus mortality rate, and building up to the definition in structured populations.
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Henshaw JM, Morrissey MB, Jones AG. Quantifying the causal pathways contributing to natural selection. Evolution 2020; 74:2560-2574. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.14091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan M. Henshaw
- Institute of Biology I University of Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau 79104 Germany
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Idaho Moscow Idaho 83844
| | | | - Adam G. Jones
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Idaho Moscow Idaho 83844
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Lehtonen J, Okasha S, Helanterä H. Fifty years of the Price equation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190350. [PMID: 32146888 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jussi Lehtonen
- Faculty of Science, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006 New South Wales, Australia
| | - Samir Okasha
- Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Heikki Helanterä
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Pentti Kaiteran katu 1, 5 90014, Oulu, Finland
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