Evolutionary Novelty and the Evo-Devo Synthesis: Field Notes

• Published in: Evolutionary biology Vol. 37; no. 2-3; pp. 93 - 99
• Main Authors: Brigandt, Ingo, Love, Alan C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Boston : Springer US 01.09.2010; Springer US; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Genetics and Genomics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Developmental Biology; Ecology; Evolution; Evolutionary Biology; Human Genetics; Life Sciences; Synthesis Paper; Interdisciplinarity; Concepts; Evolutionary novelty; Evolutionary innovation; Evolutionary developmental biology
• ISSN: 0071-3260; 1934-2845
• DOI: 10.1007/s11692-010-9083-6

Accounting for the evolutionary origins of morphological novelty is one of the core challenges of contemporary evolutionary biology. A successful explanatory framework requires the integration of different biological disciplines, but the relationships between developmental biology and standard evolutionary biology remain contested. There is also disagreement about how to define the concept of evolutionary novelty. These issues were the subjects of a workshop held in November 2009 at the University of Alberta. We report on the discussion and results of this workshop, addressing questions about (i) how to define evolutionary novelty and understand its significance, (ii) how to interpret evolutionary developmental biology as a synthesis and its relation to neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, and (iii) how to integrate disparate biological approaches in general.