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Monday Seminar: Oct. 23, Douglas S. Robertson on "Feedback and Chaos in Darwinian Evolution"4pm in Biosciences West (map), Room 301 Host: John Pepper Dr. Robertson will be available for appointments on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. If you would like to meet with him, please sign up at the reception desk (BSW 310) or contact John Pepper at jpepper1@email.arizona.edu. |
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Talk Abstract Chaos theory provides the natural mathematical framework for the development of numerical models for Darwinian evolution. These models show that the conceptually simple idea of natural selection for increased fitness will produce complicated and strongly counter-intuitive results. Perhaps the most counter-intuitive result is that selection for increasing individual fitness will cause the fitness of populations to decrease. This general decrease in fitness will drive nearly all species to extinction on timescales of a few millions of years, exactly as is observed in the fossil record. A variety of other evolutionary conundrums are also easily explained including Cope's Rule (that all species tend to evolve toward larger size), overspecialization, and the patterns that led to speculation about orthogenesis and racial senescence. Further, the patterns that Eldridge and Gould called "punctuated equilibrium," which Gould used to argue for non-Darwinian selection mechanisms, are seen instead to be a natural outcome of the mathematics of pure Darwinian selection. Natural selection will be shown to be a mathematically unstable process, and understanding the consequences of this unavoidable instability is essential for correctly interpreting the patterns of the development of species that are observed in the fossil record. |
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