Research projects

The research program comprises 22 research projects organised across four interconnected themes. The projects have been designed to produce results that will support or reject the EES claims about constructive development and reciprocal causation. The program of research will provide multiple tests of all EES predictions, and make a number of additional contributions.

 

 

     

  1. Conceptual issues

    2. 1. The EES in historical focusInfo

    2. The EES in philosophical focusInfo

     

  2. Evolutionary innovations

    3. 3. How evolution learns from experienceInfo

    4. Developmental bias and the origin of adaptive variationInfo

    5. The role of developmental plasticity in innovation and diversification of Onthophagus beetlesInfo

    6. Evolution and ontogeny of complex group adaptationInfo

    7. The origins of organismal complexityInfo

    8. Plasticity and house building in social insectsInfo

     

  3. Inclusive inheritance

    4. 9. The evolution of inclusive heredity through the genomic interactions of symbiontsInfo

    10. Adaptation through genes without change to the genome: host adaptation via change in its microbiome compositionInfo

    11. Evolution of extra-genetic inheritance: a life-cycle perspectiveInfo

    12. Extra-genetic inheritance and adaptation to novel environmentsInfo

    13. Adaptation through niche construction and microbiome function in Onthophagus beetlesInfo

     

  4. Evolutionary diversification

    5. 14. An experimental test of plasticity-led evolutionInfo

    15. Plasticity and adaptive radiation in Anolis lizardsInfo

    16. Phenotypic plasticity, developmental bias and evolutionary diversification in butterfliesInfo

    17. Plasticity as a bridge between micro- and macroevolutionInfo

    18. Adaptive trends and parallel evolution generated by niche constructionInfo

    19. Niche construction, plasticity and the diversity of coral reef faunaInfo

    20. Niche construction and evolutionary diversity in experimental marine microbial communitiesInfo

    21. Macro-evolutionary dynamics of niche constructionInfo

    22. Ecosystem networks and system-level functionsInfo

 

EES predictions

Click on a prediction to see which research projects are designed to test it.

  1. phenotypic accommodation can precede, rather than follow, genetic change, in adaptive evolution
  2. novel phenotypic variants will frequently be directional and functional
  3. novel, evolutionarily consequential, phenotypic variants will frequently be environmentally induced in multiple individuals
  4. strikingly different novel phenotypes can occur, either through mutation of a major regulatory control gene expressed in a tissue-specific manner, or through facilitated variation
  5. repeated evolution in isolated populations may be due to convergent selection and/or developmental bias
  6. in addition to selection, adaptive variants are propagated through repeated environmental induction, non-genetic inheritance, learning and cultural transmission
  7. rapid phenotypic evolution can be frequent and can result from the simultaneous induction and selection of functional variants
  8. taxonomic diversity will sometimes be better explained by features of developmental systems (evolvability, constraints) than features of environments
  9. heritable variation will be systematically biased towards variants that are adaptive and well-integrated with existing aspects of the phenotype
  10. niche construction will be systematically biased towards environmental changes that are well suited to the constructor’s phenotype, or that of its descendants, and enhance the constructor’s, or its descendant’s, fitness
  11. repeated evolution in isolated population may be due to niche construction
  12. ecosystem stability, productivity and dynamics critically dependent on niche construction/ecological inheritance
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