In the Light of Evolution

In December 2006, the National Academy of Sciences sponsored a colloquium (featured as part of the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia series) on "Adaptation and Complex Design" to synthesize recent empirical findings and conceptual approaches toward understanding the evolutionary origins and maintenance of complex adaptations. Darwin's elucidation of natural selection as a creative natural force was a monumental achievement in the history of science, but a century and a half later some religious believers still contend that biotic complexity registers conscious supernatural design. In this book, modern scientific perspectives are presented on the evolutionary origin and maintenance of complex phenotypes including various behaviors, anatomies, and physiologies. After an introduction by the editors and an opening historical and conceptual essay by Francisco Ayala, this book includes 14 papers presented by distinguished evolutionists at the colloquium. The papers are organized into sections covering epistemological approaches to the study of biocomplexity, a hierarchy of topics on biological complexity ranging from ontogeny to symbiosis, and case studies explaining how complex phenotypes are being dissected in terms of genetics and development.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• Part I: INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
• 1 Darwin's Greatest Discovery: Design Without Designer--FRANCISCO J. AYALA
• Part II: EPISTEMOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO BIOCOMPLEXITY ASSESSMENT
• 2 Functional Information and the Emergence of Biocomplexity--ROBERT M. HAZEN, PATRICK L. GRIFFIN, JAMES M. CAROTHERS, and JACK W. SZOSTAK
• 3 The Theory of Facilitated Variation--JOHN GERHART and MARC KIRSCHNER
• 4 Between ‘‘Design'' and ‘‘Bricolage'': Genetic Networks, Levels of Selection, and Adaptive Evolution--ADAM S. WILKINS
• 5 The Frailty of Adaptive Hypotheses for the Origins of Organismal Complexity--MICHAEL LYNCH
• Part III: FROM INDIVIDUAL ONTOGENY TO SYMBIOSIS: A HIERARCHY OF COMPLEXITY
• 6 Emerging Principles of Regulatory Evolution--BENJAMIN PRUD'HOMME, NICOLAS GOMPEL, and SEAN B. CARROLL
• 7 Evolution of Individuality During the Transition from Unicellular to Multicellular Life--RICHARD E. MICHOD
• 8 Insect Societies as Divided Organisms: The Complexities of Purpose and Cross-Purpose--JOAN E. STRASSMANN and DAVID C. QUELLER
• 9 Symbiosis as an Adaptive Process and Source of Phenotypic Complexity--NANCY A. MORAN
• Part IV: CASE STUDIES: DISSECTING COMPLEX PHENOTYPES
• 10 Adaptive Evolution of Color Vision as Seen Through the Eyes of Butterflies--FRANCESCA D. FRENTIU, GARY D. BERNARD, CRISTINA I. CUEVAS, MARILOU P. SISON-MANGUS, KATHLEEN L. PRUDIC, and ADRIANA D. BRISCOE
• 11 Plant Domestication, a Unique Opportunity to Identify the Genetic Basis of Adaptation--JEFFREY ROSS-IBARRA, PETER L. MORRELL, and BRANDON S. GAUT
• 12 An Experimental Test of Evolutionary...read more...