How ubiquitous is adaptation? A critique of the epiphenomenist program

Biology and Philosophy

Volumn 24, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 267-280

  Van Valen, Leigh ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

Author keywords

Adaptation; Adaptive buttes; Allometry; Epiphenomena; Internal coadaptation; Neutrality; Null hypotheses; Spandrels; State space

Indexed keywords

ADAPTATION; EVOLUTIONARY THEORY; MUTATION;

EID: 60449093894     PISSN: 01693867     EISSN: 15728404     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10539-008-9142-x     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Beall CM, Song K, Elston RC, Goldstein MC (2004) Higher offspring survival among Tibetan women with high oxygen saturation genotypes residing at 4,000 m. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:14300-14304. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0405949101
2. Gans C (1979) Momentarily excessive adaptation as the basis for protoadaptation. Evolution 33:227-233. doi: 10.2307/2407379
3. Goswami A (2006) Cranial modularity shifts during mammalian evolution. Am Nat 168:270-280. doi: 10.1086/505758
4. Gould SJ, Lewontin RC (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist programme. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 205:581-598
5. Hawks J, Wang EC, Cochran GM, Harpending HS, Moyzis RK (2007) Recent acceleration of human adaptive evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:20753-20758. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0707650104
6. Hunter JP, Jernvall J (1995) The hypocone as a key innovation in mammalian evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:10718-10722. doi: 10.1073/ pnas.92.23.10718
7. Jakobson ME (1981) Physiological adaptability: The response of the house mouse to variations in the environment. In: Berry RJ (ed) Biology of the house mouse. Symp Zool Soc Lond 47: 301-335
8. Kauffman SA (1993) The origins of order: Self-organization and selection in evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford
9. King JL (1984) Selectively neutral alleles with significant phenotypic effects: A steady-state model. Evol Theory 7:72-79
10. Kurtén B (1954) Observations on allometry in mammalian dentitions; its interpretation and evolutionary significance. Acta Zool Fenn 85:1-13
11. Lande R (1976) Natural selection and random genetic drift in phenotypic evolution. Evolution 30:314-334. doi: 10.2307/2407703
12. Lewontin RC (1978) Adaptation. Sci Am 239(3):213-230
13. Lynch M (2007a) The frailty of adaptive hypotheses for the origins of organismal complexity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(supplement):8597-8604. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0702207104
14. Lynch M (2007b) The evolution of genetic networks by nonadaptive processes. Nat Rev Genet 8:803-813. doi: 10.1038/nrg2192
15. Maiorana VC (1979) Nontoxic toxins: The energetics of coevolution. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 11:387-396. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1979.tb00045.x
16. Mayr E (1974) Behavior programs and evolutionary strategies. Am Sci 62:650-659
17. Migliano AB, Vinicius L, Mirazón Lahr E (2007) Life history trade-offs explain the evolution of human pygmies. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:20216-20219. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0708024105
18. Qian B, Powers TR, Breuer KS (2007) Shape transition and propulsive force of an elastic rod rotating in a viscous fluid. arXiv:0712.0326v1, 5 pp
19. Raff RA (1996) Modularity, dissociation, and co-option. In: The shape of life. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 321-347
20. Reeve HK, Sherman PW (1993) Adaptation and the goals of evolutionary research. Q Rev Biol 68:1-32. doi: 10.1086/417909
21. Robson GC, Richards OW (1936) The variation of animals in nature. Longmans, Green, London
22. Rose MR, Lauder GJ (eds) (1996) Adaptation. Academic Press, San Diego
23. Sambucetti P, Loeschke V, Norry FM (2006) Developmental time and size-related traits in Drosophila buzzatii along an altitudinal gradient from Argentina. Hereditas 143:77-93. doi: 10.1111/ j.2006.0018-0661.01934.x
24. Schmalhausen II (1949) Factors of evolution: The theory of stabilizing selection. Blakiston, Philadelphia
25. Seilacher A (1972) Divaricate patterns in pelecypod shells. Lethaia 5:393-396. doi: 10.1111/j.1502-3931.1972.tb00862.x
26. Sulston JE, Schierenberg E, White JG, Thomson JN (1983) The embryonic cell lineage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol 100:64-119. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(83)90201-4
27. Trut LN, Dzerzhinskii FYa, Nikol'skii VS (1991) Component analysis of craniological characters of the silver fox (Vulpes fulvus Desm.) and the changes occurring within them during domestication. Sov Genet 27:1005-1013
28. Tukey JW (1962) The future of data analysis. Ann Math Stat 33:1-67. doi: 10.1214/aoms/1177704711
29. Van Valen L (1960) Nonadaptive aspects of evolution. Am Nat 94:305-308. doi: 10.1086/282132
30. Van Valen L (1974) Multivariate structural statistics in natural history. J Theor Biol 45:235-247. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(74)90053-8
31. Van Valen L (1985) Null hypotheses and prediction. Nature 314:230. doi: 10.1038/314230b0
32. Van Valen L (2003) Ovarian excess and the evolution of menopause. Evol Theory 12:131-153
33. Wake DB (1991) Homoplasy: The result of natural selection, or evidence of design limitations? Am Nat 138:543-567. doi: 10.1086/285234
34. Wilkins AS (2007) Between "design" and "bricolage": genetic networks, levels of selection, and adaptive evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:8590-8596. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0701044104
35. Williams GC (1966) Adaptation and natural selection: A critique of some current evolutionary thought. Princeton University Press, Princeton
36. Wilson DS, Wilson EO (2007a) Survival of the selfless. New Sci 196(2628):42-46. doi: 10.1016/S0262-4079(07)62792-4
37. Wilson DS, Wilson EO (2007b) Rethinking the theoretical foundations of sociobiology. Q Rev Biol 82:327-348. doi: 10.1086/522809