Rates of Evolution

By P. Gingerich. 2009

108 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Darwin thought evolution is slow. Evolution is slow on long time scales, but the fundamental process works on a generation-to-generation scale, not long time scales. Phenotypic variation is geometric normal, with normality reflecting its underlying polygenic source; ln transformation is part of the measurement process. The natural rate unit is the haldane, particularly H0, representing change in standard deviations per generation on a timescale of one generation. When appropriately sampled, rates calculated on longer scales can be projected to a generational timescale. Empirical studies are reviewed concerning: (a) rates of polygenic mutation, (b) rates of response to human versus natural disturbance; and (c) rates of change in a classic study of punctuated equilibrium. Rate studies commonly find phenotypic change on the order of H0 = 0.1 to 0.3 standard deviations per generation. This is fast by any standard. Darwin was wrong on rates, but more right than we knew on natural selection.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/223a696323bd5ce39ef0fbf1602479bb67515cf1

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Citations in the corpus

Biodiversity and Climate Change: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecological Responses of Species and Communities (2010, background): “There is accumulating empirical evidence that evolution can proceed fast (Gingerich 2009, Reznick & Ghalambor 2001) and, more importantly, that the selective process of evolution can significantly affect population dynamics (Hanski & Saccheri 2006, Pelletier et al. 2007; see also reviews by Kokko &…”
Measuring rates of phenotypic evolution and the inseparability of tempo and mode (2012, methodology): “As Gingerich (2009) noted, Bookstein introduced an entity similar to the step variance called ‘‘reduced speed’’ which he treated as a rate parameter.”
Comparing rates of contemporary evolution in life-history traits for exploited fish stocks (2012, methodology): “This is in agreement 453 with a meta-analysis of 2151 rates by Kinnison and Hendry (2001), indicating that the range 454 reported by Gingerich (1993, 2009) may be much lower than that typically seen in 455 populations experiencing human-induced perturbations.”
Assessing the benefits and risks of translocations in changing environments: a genetic perspective (2011, background): “Recent studies of contemporary evolution have demonstrated rapid evolution of traits in a number of taxa (Hendry et al. 2008; Gingerich 2009).”