• Character based: new construc+on elements of a body plan (not homologous to pre-‐exis+ng structure) • Process based: novelty should involve a transi+on between adap+ve peaks and a breakdown of ancestral developmental constraints so that new sorts of varia+on are generated (Halgrimsson et a. 2012 J. Exp. Zool)
search through a space of “the adjacent possible” (Kaufmann, Wagner) • This is only the appropriate metaphor in which the underlying network dynamics are rela3vely simple • If the network is complex, constructed from the interac3on of agents, than search is not the appropriate metaphor
• Rapid appearance of crown group bilaterians • Expansion of ecological networks • Puta3ve link to increased oxygen in marine environments • The Cambrian explosion represents the construc3on of a design space
• Specify the spa3al domain of a part of the developing embryo, oUen a regional pabern • The kernels are dedicated to development and are not re-‐used elsewhere • Interference with the func3on of any gene will destroy kernel func3on • This forces subsequent evolu3onary change either upstream or downstream of the kernel
of developmental regulatory interac3ons • Changes in some parts of regulatory networks are easier than in others • Some types of changes, par3cularly the establishment of kernels, appears to have been easier early in metazoan evolu3on; these kernels are now highly refractory to modifica3on
dis3nct (contrast with varia3on on established themes) • Innova+on occurs when inven3ons become economically or ecologically significant Invention & Innovation Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950
environmental segng (physical, gene3c, ecologic) • Actualized by gene3c and developmental innova3ons leading to a new clade • Refined by further developmental and ecological changes • Realized as innova3ons by ecological expansion and evolu3onary success
path from genotype to phenotype • Primacy of gene3c inheritance • Selec3on within popula3ons as primary driver of evolu3on • Opportunis3c • Uniformitarian
phenotype (evo-‐devo) • Mul3ple forms of inheritance • Mul3ple levels of selec3on • Important roles for muta3on and driU in addi3on to selec3on • Macroevolu3onary lags • Non-‐uniformitarian
cultural or technological systems? – Similar processes of varia3on, inheritance and selec3on and driU occur in all systems – Understanding processes in one may shed light on the others – Goal is to build models of innova3on that span different systems