Natural/sexual/kin selection, neutral theory, modern and extended evolutionary synthesis.
Evolution Mechanisms
Sexual selection
Darwin 1871: selection arising from mate competition (intrasexual) or mate choice (intersexual). Drives exaggerated traits (peacock tail,…
Kin selection / Hamilton's rule
Hamilton 1964: altruistic allele spreads when rb > c (r: genetic relatedness, b: recipient benefit, c: actor cost). Explains eusociality,…
Modern synthesis
1920s-1940s unification of Darwinian selection with Mendelian genetics (Fisher, Haldane, Wright, Dobzhansky, Mayr, Simpson, Stebbins).…
Extended evolutionary synthesis
Post-2000 proposal (Laland, Pigliucci, Odling-Smee) to expand the Modern Synthesis with niche construction, developmental plasticity,…
Punctuated equilibrium
Eldredge-Gould 1972: species spend most of their existence in stasis, with rapid morphological change concentrated at speciation events.…
Convergent evolution
Independent evolution of similar traits in unrelated lineages under similar selective pressures. Examples: camera eye (vertebrate,…
Exaptation
Gould-Vrba 1982: trait that currently serves a function different from the one for which it was selected. Examples: feathers…
Red Queen hypothesis
Van Valen 1973: species must continuously evolve just to maintain fitness against co-evolving antagonists (parasites, predators). Explains…
Genetic hitchhiking
Neutral or mildly deleterious alleles linked to a selected locus increase in frequency. Background selection + selective sweeps reduce…
Genetic load
Average fitness reduction relative to optimal genotype. Haldane-Muller mutation load, segregation load, substitution load. Sets limits on…
Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection framework
Fisher 1930: 'The rate of increase in fitness of any organism at any time is equal to its genetic variance in fitness at that time.' dW/dt…
Evolutionary game theory framework
Maynard Smith & Price 1973: replicator-dynamics dx_i/dt = x_i (f_i(x) - ⟨f⟩) selects evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) — strategies…
Van Valen Red Queen law (constant extinction)
Van Valen 1973 'A New Evolutionary Law': constant extinction probability over time; species must continually adapt just to maintain fitness…
Darwin-Wallace (1858)
Darwin-Wallace 1858 + Origin 1859; foundational text in evolutionary biology; modern modern-synthesis 1930s-1940s.
Drift (Wright 1931)
S Wright 1931 genetic-drift; modern Lynch-Conery 2003 mutation-effective-population-size hypothesis.
Kin selection (Hamilton 1964)
W Hamilton 1964 inclusive-fitness rB > C; modern Foster-Wenseleers 2006 + multi-level selection debate.
Group selection (Wynne-Edwards 1962)
V Wynne-Edwards 1962 + modern multi-level Wilson-Sober 2007; controversial; modern social-genetic-basis evolution.
Genetic assimilation (Waddington 1953)
C Waddington 1953 genetic-assimilation; modern epigenetic-inheritance + evo-devo plasticity-led extension.
Plasticity-led (Pigliucci 2010)
Pigliucci-Müller 2010 + Levis-Pfennig 2016 plasticity-first; modern evo-devo + EES + sticklebacks.
Evolvability (Wagner-Altenberg 1996)
G Wagner-L Altenberg 1996 evolvability + modularity; modern ML-driven evolvability metrics + cancer-evolution.
Epistasis (Weinreich 2006)
Weinreich-Delaney-Depristo-Hartl 2006 mutational-landscape; modern adaptive-walks + accessible-paths analysis.
HGT (Doolittle 1999)
W F Doolittle 1999 + Soucy 2015 prokaryotic horizontal-gene-transfer; modern pan-genome + supertree.
Convergent evolution (Conway-Morris 2003)
S Conway-Morris 2003 'Life's Solution'; modern eyes + flight + venoms + sociality 40+ independent evolutionary events.
Punctuated equilibrium (1972)
Eldredge-Gould 1972 punctuated-equilibrium; modern continuous-vs-burst paleontological + molecular tests.