The emerging structure of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: where does Evo-Devo fit in?

Abstract

The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) debate is gaining ground in contemporary evolutionary biology. In parallel, a number of philosophical standpoints have emerged in an attempt to clarify what exactly is represented by the EES. For Massimo Pigliucci, we are in the wake of the newest instantiation of a persisting Kuhnian paradigm; in contrast, Telmo Pievani has contended that the transition to an EES could be best represented as a progressive reformation of a prior Lakatosian scientific research program, with the extension of its Neo-Darwinian core and the addition of a brand-new protective belt of assumptions and auxiliary hypotheses. Here, we argue that those philosophical vantage points are not the only ways to interpret what current proposals to 'extend' the Modern Synthesis-derived 'standard evolutionary theory' (SET) entail in terms of theoretical change in evolutionary biology. We specifically propose the image of the emergent EES as a vast network of models and interweaved representations that, instantiated in diverse practices, are connected and related in multiple ways. Under that assumption, the EES could be articulated around a paraconsistent network of evolutionary theories (including some elements of the SET), as well as models, practices and representation systems of contemporary evolutionary biology, with edges and nodes that change their position and centrality as a consequence of the co-construction and stabilization of facts and historical discussions revolving around the epistemic goals of this area of the life sciences. We then critically examine the purported structure of the EES-published by Laland and collaborators in 2015-in light of our own network-based proposal. Finally, we consider which epistemic units of Evo-Devo are present or still missing from the EES, in preparation for further analyses of the topic of explanatory integration in this conceptual framework.

Phenotypic Plasticity & Evolution

“…The philosophy of biology community has welcomed the controversy between the EES and SET camps as a testing ground for ideas about research programs and paradigm shifts (Fábregas-Tejeda and Vergara-Silva 2018;Lewens 2019), and as with the debates among evolutionists, there are a diversity of opinions. In both fields, many arguments revolve around 'virtue-based' disputes (Buskell 2020): are plasticity's effects 'likely' enough, or 'significant' or 'strong' enough Baedke et al 2020).…”

“…A full view sees new phenotypes produced via new mutation or exposure to new 'environments' (including new genetic backgrounds, new developmental milieus, and new external conditions), followed by processes that sort such variation-selection, drift, and gene flow (see e.g. Fábregas-Tejeda and Vergara-Silva 2018).…”

“…Extended evolutionary synthesis (EES). Driven by a perception that standard evolutionary theory provides an incomplete theoretical scope, the EES proposes to include topics such as evo-devo, evolvability, niche construction, and non-genetic inheritance, and to take into account reciprocal causation (i.e., where identities of causes and effects are fluid; Svensson 2018) and contextdependence (see Müller 2007;Fábregas-Tejeda and Vergara-Silva 2018).…”

EvoDevo: An Ongoing Revolution?

“…described by some adherents to an EES is oddly different from the research literature that has made the most substantial progress in evolutionary developmental biology" [47] (p. 8). So, Futuyma endorses the hoxological approaches [Carroll, Davidson], stating that "mechanistic understanding of gene action, of regulatory circuits, of the conservation of elements in the "genetic toolkit," and their association with different downstream genes are rapidly deepening our understanding of evolutionary changes in form" [116] (p. 54). According to this, EvoDevo/Hoxology implement and complete the ST with mechanical causes able to link macroevolution to microevolution.…”

Variação intraespecífica e efeito da temperatura no estabelecimento do fenótipo durante a ontogenia de Astyanax lacustris (Lütken, 1875) (Osteichthyes: Characidae)

“…Conceitos relacionados à Teoria Evolutiva. Adaptado de (Fábregas-Tejeda & Vergara-Silva, 2018) e (Pigliucci & Muller, 2010). .................................................................................. 24 Figura 2 Esquema ilustrando os processos envolvidos no estabelecimento de variantes fenotípicas e o papel do ambiente em mecanismos de desenvolvimento e evolução por Seleção Natural.…”