Summary
In this article we argue that an organismic perspective in character identification can alleviate a structural deficiency of mathematical models in biology relative to the ones in the physical sciences. The problem with many biological theories is that they do not contain the conditions of their validity or a method of identifying objects that are appropriate instances of the models. Here functionally important biological characters are introduced as conceptual abstractions derived within the context of an ontologically prior object, such as a cell or an organism. To illustrate this approach, we present an analytical method of character decomposition based on the notion of the quasi-independence of traits. Two cases are analyzed: context dependent units of inheritance and a model of character identification in adaptive evolution. We demonstrate that in each case the biological process as represented by a mathematical theory entails the conditions for the individualization of characters. Our approach also requires a conceptual re-orientation in the way we build biological models. Rather than defining a set of biological characters a priori, functionally relevant characters are identified in the context of a higher level biological process.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altenberg, L. and M. W. Feldmann (1987). “Selection, generalized transmission, and the evolution of modifier genes. I. The reduction principle.” Genetics 117: 559–572.
Baatz, M. and G. P. Wagner (1997). “Adaptive Inertia Caused by Hidden Pleiotropic Effects.” Theoretical Population Biology 51: 49–66.
Bailey, V. A. and et al. (1962). “Interaction between hosts and parasites when some host individuals are more difficult to find than others.” Journal of Theoretical Biology 3: 1–18.
Berryman, A. A. (1981). Population systems: a general introduction. New York, Academic Press.
Brandon, R. (1982). The Levels of Selection. PSA 1982: 315–323.
Brandon, R. N. (1990). Adaptation and Environment. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Brandon, R. N. (1995). Concepts and Methods in Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Bulmer, M. G. (1980). The Mathematical Theory of Quantitative Genetics. Oxford, Calderon Press.
Buss, L. (1987). The Evolution of Individuality. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Crow, J. F. and M. Kimura (1970). An Introduction to Population Genetics Theory. New York, Harper and Row.
Darwin, C. (1859). The Origin of Species. London, John Murray.
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Dawkins, R. (1982). The extended phenotype. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Endler, J. A. (1986). Natural Selection in the Wild. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Falconer, D. S. and T. F. C. Mackay (1996). Introduction to Quantitative Genetics. Edinburgh, Longman.
Fisher, R. A. (1930). The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Oxford, Calderon Press.
Gesteland, R. F., T. R. Cech, et al., Eds. (1999). The RNA world: the nature of modern RNA suggests a prebiotic RNA. Cold Spring Harbor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
Gilpin, M. and I. Hanski, Eds. (1991). Metapopulation dynamics: empirical and theoretical investigations. London, Academic Press.
Grant, P. (1989). Ecology and Evolution of Darwin’s finches. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Griffiths, P. (1997). What Emotions Really Are? The Problem of Psychological Categories. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Grisemer, J. (1999). “Reproduction and the Reduction of Genetics in Development.” unpublished manuscript.
Hanski, I. and M. Gilpin, Eds. (1997). Metapopulation biology: ecology, genetics, and evolution. San Diego, Academic Press.
Hartl, D. L. (1997). Principles of Population Genetics. Sunderland, MA, Sinauer.
Hofbauer, J. and K. Sigmund (1988). The theory of evolution and dynamical systems: mathematical aspects of selection. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Hofbauer, J. and K. Sigmund (1998). Evolutionary games and population dynamics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Hull, D. (1980). “Individuality and Selection.” Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 1: 311–332.
Kim, J. and M. Kim (2000). The mathematical Structure of Characters and Modularity: The Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology. G. P. Wagner, Academic Press: in press.
Klir, G. (1985). The Architecture of Systems Problem Solving. New York, Plenum Press.
Laubichler, M. D. (1997). Identifying Units of selection: Conceptual and Methodological Issues. Biology. PhD thesis, Yale University: vii+197.
Laubichler, M. D. (1997). “The Nature of Biological Concepts.” European Journal for Semiotic Studies 9(2): 251–276.
Laubichler, M. D. and G. P. Wagner (2000 a). “Levels of Selection in a two locus two allele system.” in preparation.
Laubichler, M. D. and G. P. Wagner (2000 b). “Organisms and Character Decomposition: Steps towards an Integrative Theory of Biology.” Philosophy of Science, Supplement 66: in press.
Lewontin, R. (1970). “The units of selection”. Ann. Rev. Ecol. System. 1: 1–14.
Lewontin, R. (1978). “Adaptation.” Scientific American 239: 156–169.
Lloyd, E. (1988). The Structure and Confirmation of Evolutionary Theory. New York, Greenwood Press.
Lynch, M. and B. Walsh (1998). Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits. Sunderland, MA, Sinauer.
Margulis, L. (1970). The Origin of Eucaryotic Cells. New Haven, Yale University Press.
Margulis, L. (1981). Symbiosis in Cell Evolution. New York, W. H. Freeman.
Margulis, L. and R. Fester, Eds. (1991). Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary Innovation. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
Maynard-Smith, J. (1989). Evolutionary Genetics. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Maynard-Smith, J. and E. Szathmary (1995). The Major Transitions in Evolution. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Miller, S. L. and L. E. Orgel (1974). The origins of life on earth. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall.
Mitton, J. (1997). Selection in natural populations. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Murdoch, W. W. and et al. (1996). “Refuge Dynamics and Metapopulation Dynamics: An experimental Test.” The American Naturalist 147(3): 424–444.
Nagylaki, T. (1992). Introduction to theoretical population genetics. Berlin, Springer.
Rosen, R. (1962). “Church’s Thesis and its Relation to the Concept of Realizability in Biology and Physics.” Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 24: 375–393.
Rosen, R. (1978). Fundamentals of Measurement and Representation of Natural Systems. New York, North Holland.
Sober, E. (1984). The nature of selection. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
Sokal, R. R. and J. F. Rohlf (1981). Biometry. The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research. New York, W. H. Freeman.
Stearns, S. C. (1992). The Evolution of Life Histories. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Wagner, G. P. (1988). “The influence of variation and of developmental constraints on the rate of multivariate phenotypic evolution.” J. evol. Biol. 1: 45–66.
Wagner, G. P. (1989). “Multivariate mutation-selection balance with constrained pleiotropic effects.” Genetics 122: 223–234.
Wagner, G. P. (1997). “The Structure of Biological Concepts and its Relation to the Dynamics of Biological Organizations.” European Journal for Semiotic Studies 9: 299–320.
Wagner, G. P. and L. Altenberg (1996). “Complex adaptations and the evolution of evolvability.” Evolution 50: 967–976.
Wagner, G. P., M. D. Laubichler, et al. (1998). “Genetic measurement theory of epistatic effects.” Genetica 102/103: 569–580.
Weinberg, R. A. (1998). One Renegade Cell: How Cancer begins. New York, Basic Books.
Weismann, A. (1892). Das Keimplasma: Eine Theorie der Vererbung. Jena, Gustav Fischer.
Williams, G. C. (1966). Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Wimsatt, W. (1980). The Unit of Selection and the Structure of the Multi-level Genome. PSA 1980: 122–186.
Wimsatt, W. C. (1999). Emergence as Non-aggregativity and the Biases of Reductionism. Natural Contradictions: Perspectives on Ecology and Change. P. J. Taylor and J. Haila: forthcoming.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wagner, G.P., Laubichler, M.D. Character identification in evolutionary biology: The role of the organism. Theory Biosci. 119, 20–40 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-000-0003-7
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-000-0003-7