Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The concept of the adaptive landscape
- 2 Modelling natural selection in adaptive landscapes
- 3 Modelling evolutionary phenomena in adaptive landscapes
- 4 The concept of the theoretical morphospace
- 5 Analysing the role of adaptive evolution in theoretical morphospaces
- 6 Analysing evolutionary phenomena in theoretical morphospaces
- 7 Evolutionary constraint in theoretical morphospace
- 8 Evolutionary development in theoretical morphospace
- 9 There is much to be done …
- References
- Index
7 - Evolutionary constraint in theoretical morphospace
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The concept of the adaptive landscape
- 2 Modelling natural selection in adaptive landscapes
- 3 Modelling evolutionary phenomena in adaptive landscapes
- 4 The concept of the theoretical morphospace
- 5 Analysing the role of adaptive evolution in theoretical morphospaces
- 6 Analysing evolutionary phenomena in theoretical morphospaces
- 7 Evolutionary constraint in theoretical morphospace
- 8 Evolutionary development in theoretical morphospace
- 9 There is much to be done …
- References
- Index
Summary
Our results strongly support the hypothesis that the essential elements of organic structure are highly constrained by geometric rules, growth processes, and the properties of materials. This suggests that, given enough time and an extremely large number of evolutionary experiments, the discovery by organisms of ‘good’ designs – those that are viable and that can be constructed with available materials – was inevitable and in principle predictable.
Thomas and Reif (1993, p. 342)Potential causes of empty morphospace
One surprising revelation of many actual theoretical morphospace analyses is the degree to which the morphospace is empty. Empty morphospace is not simply a conceptual model, a heuristic construct in visualizing the potential evolution of life. It is an empirical reality, and part of the power of theoretical morphospace analysis is the ability of this type of analysis to reveal empty morphospace to us (McGhee, 1999, 2001a). The subsequent analysis of empty morphospace involves the concept of evolutionary constraint, the concept that there are limits to the spectrum of possible evolutionary change. We shall examine the potential causes of evolutionary constraint in this chapter.
Some confusion exists at present concerning the concept of evolutionary constraint, and the various types of constraint (see the reviews of Maynard Smith et al., 1985; Antonovics and van Tienderen, 1991; McKitrick, 1993; Schwenk, 1995; Blomberg and Garland, 2002; Cubo, 2004). One group of potential constraints has been variously called developmental, architectural, fabricational, constructional, ontogenetic and morphogenetic.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Geometry of EvolutionAdaptive Landscapes and Theoretical Morphospaces, pp. 108 - 151Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006