Mutation and evolution

Tag: theory

  • Updates to Mutation, Randomness and Evolution

    Most recent update: 3 November, 2023, initial version. See the change-log at the bottom for details. This is an ongoing list of updates and corrections to Mutation, Randomness and Evolution, including typographic errors, as well as substantive errors and updates to knowledge. Typos and glitches The following mistakes (given in…

  • Understanding the Mutational Landscape Model

    This post started out as a wonky rant about why a particular high-profile study of laboratory adaptation was mis-framed as though it were a validation of the mutational landscape model of Orr and Gillespie (see Orr, 2003), when in fact the specific innovations of that theory were either rejected, or not tested critically.…

  • Constructive neutral evolution on Sandwalk

    The interesting things at Sandwalk always seem to happen when I’m not looking.  On Sunday, while I was out west taking the offspring to start university at UBC, Larry Moran posted a blog on Constructive Neutral Evolution that has elicited almost 200 comments.  Alas, many of the comments are not particularly…

  • The surprising case of origin-fixation models

    In a recent QRB paper with David McCandlish, we review the form, origins, uses, and implications of models (e.g., the familiar K = 4Nus) that represent evolutionary change as a 2-step process of (1) the introduction of a new allele by mutation, followed by (2) its fixation or loss. What could…

  • The Great Non-Debate on Evolutionary Theory (Nature, Oct 2014)

    Some of you may have noticed a recent exchange in Nature on the question of whether evolutionary biology needs a re-think. The online article does not make clear the alignments of the listed authors, but those arguing in favor of a re-think are: Kevin Laland, Tobias Uller, Marc Feldman, Kim Sterelny, Gerd B. Müller, Armin Moczek, Eva Jablonka,…

  • Theory vs. Theory

    What does it mean to invoke “evolutionary theory”? Is “neo-Darwinism” (or “Darwinism”) a theory, a school of thought, or something else? What gives a theory structure and meaning?  Can a theory change and, if so, how much?  What is the relationship between mathematical formalisms and other statements of “theory”? Who…