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The Spandrels of San Marco
Adaptation or Drift?
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Gould and Lewontin (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. Do not assume that every trait is an adaptation Cited more than 4000X
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The Cathedral of San Marco
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Organisms are more than collections of traits.
Are spandrels necessary architectural elements or byproducts of having adjacent arches? How many traits of living organisms are spandrels rather than adaptations? Organisms are more than collections of traits. Stephen Jay Gould, , USA Richard Charles Lewontin, 1929-present, USA
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Evolution of Adaptation
Empedocles (Agrigentum, BCE): adaptation does not require a purpose (final cause) Aristotle (Stagira, BCE): adaptation requires a purpose Paley (Natural Theology, UK, ): organisms perfectly adapted through design toward a purpose Lamarck (France, ): adaptation through increased complexity and influence of circumstances Darwin (UK, ) and Wallace (UK, ): adaptation is ‘good enough’ outcome of natural selection
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Addressing Adaptationism
Dr. Pangloss (Voltaire’s Candide) “Things cannot be other than they are… Everything is made for the best purpose. Our noses were made to carry spectacles, so we have spectacles. Legs were clearly intended for breeches, and so we wear them.”
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Adaptation Genetic change in response to changes in habitat (Red Queen Hypothesis) Co-adaptations (diversification between insects and flowering plants in Cretaceous) Compromise (e.g. sexual selection)
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Classic Research on Adaptation
Peter and Rosemary Grant (1973-present) Darwin’s finches John Arthur Endler (1980) Guppies
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Sources of Genetic Drift
Stochastic drift of alleles in a reduced breeding population Genetic Bottleneck: reduction of population, usually by some catastrophic or random event Founder Effect: a small subpopulation becomes reproductively isolated from the larger population
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Genetic Drift: Importance of Population Size
B O AB United States 42% 10% 45% 3% Chinese 31% 28% 34% 7% Blackfoot 76% ----- 24% Navajo
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Genetic Bottleneck
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Bottleneck in Prairie Chickens
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Human Bottleneck
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Founder Effect
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Polydactyly in Amish Populations
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Genetic Drift in Mice Genetic drift in inbred mouse colonies happens slowly, subtly, and is difficult to detect and control. It is caused by the same factors (Bailey 1977; Bailey DW Immunology Today 3:210-14) that lead to substrain divergence.
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Developmental Allometry: Size Matters
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Developmental Allometry of Humans
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Developmental Allometry of Humans
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Khrameeva et al Neanderthal ancestry drives evolution of lipid catabolism in contemporary Europeans. Nature Communications. 5:3584 DOI: /ncomms4584 NLS= Neanderthal-like sites GW= Genome wide LCP= Lipid Catabolism Protein
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Importance of Gould and Lewontin (1979)
Cited ~4,000X Functioned as a heuristic When we examine traits should we assume that they are adaptations or drift? G&L (1979) helped to make evolutionary biology more rigorous.
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