Heuristics and Biases in Evolutionary Biology

Approaching science by considering the epistemological virtues which scientists see as constitutive of good science, and the way these virtues trade-off against one another, makes it possible to capture action that may be lost by approaches which focus on either the theoretical or institutional level. Following Wimsatt (1984) I use the notion of heuristics and biases to help explore a case study from the history of biology. Early in the 20th century, mutation theorists and natural historians fought over the role that isolation plays in evolution. This debate was principally about whether replication was the central scientific virtue (and hence the ultimate goal of science to replace non-experimental evidence with experimental evidence) or whether consilience of inductions was the central virtue (and hence, as many kinds of evidence as possible should be pursued).     

Evolutionary Developmental Biology: the Interaction of Developmental Biology,Evolutionary Biology,Paleontology, and Genomics

Paleontological Journal - Evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) formed due to the interactions of evolutionary biology, paleontology, and comparative genomics, analyzes the interrelations...     

History of Evolutionary Developmental Biology

Russian Journal of Developmental Biology - Foundations of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) were laid by K. von Baer, the author of the law of embryonic similarity in various animal...     

Methodological Problems in Evolutionary Biology. XII. Against Evolutionary Ethics

Evolutionary ethics has recently become popular again. Some of its representatives elaborate new attempts to derive ethics from evolutionary biology. The attempts, like previous ones, fail because they commit the naturalistic fallacy. Premises from evolutionary biology together with normative premises also do not justify ethical principles. Other representatives argue that evolutionary considerations imply that ethics cannot be justified at all. Their arguments presuppose an unacceptable form of foundationalism. In principle, evolutionary biology might explain some aspects of morality, but in practice explanations are hard to come by. All this does not imply that evolutionary theory is irrelevant in normative settings. To the contrary, it may help us devise guidelines in environmental policy and health care policy. It is to be hoped that evolutionary ethicists will divert their research efforts to the elaboration of such guidelines.     

鸟类羽色多态现象：概念及其进化机制假说

多态现象对了解物种的遗传、变异和进化有着重要意义,鸟类羽色多态现象的进化机制,是多态现象研究中非常重要的内容。鸟类羽色多态现象的进化机制假说主要有：分化选择假说、异类选择假说和非随机性交配假说等。本文对鸟类羽色多态现象的概念和以上进化机制假说进行了综述,并针对鸟类羽色多态现象进化机制研究中存在争议的问题及研究的不足提出了自己的看法。     

鸟类羽色多态现象:概念及其进化制假说

多态现象对了解物种的遗传、变异和进化有着重要意义,鸟类羽色多态现象的进化机制,是多态现象研究中非常重要的内容.鸟类羽色多态现象的进化机制假说主要有分化选择假说、异类选择假说和非随机性交配假说等.本文对鸟类羽色多态现象的概念和以上进化机制假说进行了综述,并针对鸟类羽色多态现象进化机制研究中存在争议的问题及研究的不足提出了自己的看法.     

动物线粒体假基因的识别及其在进化生物学中的应用

在真菌、昆虫、无脊椎动物和脊椎动物等许多分类单元中,都已发现mtDNA序列的核转座现象。在PCR扩增时,往往同时扩增出mtDNA和细胞核中线粒体假基因(Numts),Numts混淆系统发育和群体遗传研究,得出错误的结果。本文综述了Numts的检查和避免的方法,以及在进化生物学研究中的应用进展。     

发育重演律与生物进化

发育重演律是生物个体发育的一般规律,该规律认为生物个体的发育是类囊胚不断形成和演化的过程,并认为生物进化亦是类囊胚不断形成和演化的过程.因类囊胚层级不断增加而导致的生物体结构复杂程度提高的演化为纵向进化,而不能提高生物体复杂程度的演化为横向演化,生物的纵向进化具有周期性.生物种系进化与个体发育之间具有严格的对应关系,一个物种经历的纵向进化的周期数与该物种所属个体完成发育所经历的细胞分化的周期数相等.