A Virtue Made of Necessity: Is the Increasing Hierarchical Complexity of Sexual Clades an Inevitable Outcome of Their Declining (Macro)evolutionary Potential?

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F18%3A10383825" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/18:10383825 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11692-018-9462-y" target="_blank" >https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11692-018-9462-y</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11692-018-9462-y" target="_blank" >10.1007/s11692-018-9462-y</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

A Virtue Made of Necessity: Is the Increasing Hierarchical Complexity of Sexual Clades an Inevitable Outcome of Their Declining (Macro)evolutionary Potential?

Original language description

The increasing maximal hierarchical complexity of organisms is one of the best-supported macroevolutionary trends. The nature and causes of this trend, as well as several accompanying macroevolutionary phenomena are, however, still unclear. In this theoretical article, we propose that the cause of this trend could be the increasing pressure of species selection, which results from the gradual decrease of (macro)evolutionary potential (i.e. the probability of producing major evolutionary innovations). As follows from the Theory of Frozen Evolution, this process is an inevitable consequence of the sorting of genes, traits, and their integrated groups (modules) based on their contextually dependent stability. In turn, this causes effectively unchangeable elements of genetic architecture to accumulate during the existence of evolutionary lineages. Although (macro)evolutionary potential can be partially restored by several processes, a profound restoration of (macro)evolutionary potential is probably possible only by means of a transition to a higher level of hierarchical complexity. However, the accumulation of contextually more stable elements continues even on this higher level. This leads to the integration of the modular character of composite organisms and a repeated pressure to increase the level of hierarchical complexity. Our model explains all components of McShea&apos;s Evolutionary Syndrome, i.e. the trend of increasing the hierarchical complexity of organisms, the growth of variability among elements on the immediately lower level, and their gradual machinification. This pattern should be characteristic of sexual eukaryotes and especially their complex representatives. Our model also sheds new light on several related macroevolutionary phenomena, such as the gradual acceleration of the trend or the striking difference between pre-Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic evolution.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10602 - Biology (theoretical, mathematical, thermal, cryobiology, biological rhythm), Evolutionary biology

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2018

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Evolutionary Biology

ISSN

0071-3260

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

45

Issue of the periodical within the volume

4

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

21

Pages from-to

374-394

UT code for WoS article

000449506400002

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85055097319