Abstract
Modularity is a widespread form of organization in complex systems, but its origins are poorly understood. Here, I discuss the causes and consequences of modularity in evolutionary systems. Almost all living organisms engage in sexual exchange of genes, and those that do so are organized into discrete modules we call species. Gene exchange occurs within, but not between, species. This genetic segregation allows organisms to adapt to different niches and environments, and thereby evolve complex and long-lasting ecosystems. The process that generates such modularity, speciation, is therefore the key to understanding the diversity of life. Speciation theory is a highly developed topic within population genetics and evolutionary theory. I discuss some lessons from recent progress in speciation theory for our understanding of diversification and modularity in complex systems more generally, including possible applications in genetic algorithms, artificial life and social engineering.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Simon, H.: The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press, Cambridge (1996)
Baldwin, C., Clark, K.: Design Rules: The Power of Modularity. MIT Press, Cambridge (1999)
Fleming, L., Sorenson, O.: Technology as a complex adaptive system: evidence from patent data. Research Policy 30, 1019–1039 (2001)
Ethiraj, S.K., Levinthal, D.A.: Modularity and Innovation in Complex Systems, http://ssrn.com/abstract=459920
Wagner, G.P.: Adaptation and the modular design of organisms. In: Advances in Artificial Life, pp. 317–328. Springer, New York (1995)
Wagner, G., Altenberg, L.: Perspective: Complex adaptations and the evolution of evolvability. Evolution 50, 967–976 (1996)
Sperber, D.: In defense of massive modularity. In: Dupoux, E. (ed.) Language, Brain and Cognitive Development: Essays in Honor of Jacques Mehler, pp. 47–57. MIT Press, Cambridge (2002)
Green, D.G., Sadedin, S.: Interactions matter—complexity in landscapes and ecosystems. Ecological Complexity (2005) (in press)
Green, D.G.: Emergent behaviour in biological systems. In: Green, D.G., Bossomaier, T. (eds.) Complex Systems: from Biology to Computation, pp. 24–35. IOS Press, Amsterdam (1993)
Ravasz, E., Somera, A.L., Mongru, D.A., Oltvai, Z.N., Barabási, A.L.: Hierarchical Organization of Modularity in Metabolic Networks. Science 297, 1551–1555 (2002)
Radicchi, F., Castellano, C., Cecconi, F., Loreto, V., Parisi, D.: Defining and identifying communities in networks. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 2658–2663 (2004)
Montoya, J.M., Solé, R.V.: Small world patterns in food webs. J. Theor. Biol. 214, 405–412 (2002)
Watts, D.J., Strogatz, S.H.: Collective dynamics of ’small-world’ networks. Nature 393, 440–442 (1998)
Krause, A.E., Frank, K.A., Mason, D.M., Ulanowicz, R.E., Taylor, W.W.: Compartments revealed in food-web structure. Nature 426, 282–285 (2003)
Newth, D., Lawrence, J., Green, D.G.: Emergent organization in dynamic networks. In: Namatame, A., Green, D., Aruka, Y., Sato, H. (eds.) Complex Systems 2002, pp. 229–237. Chuo University, Tokyo (2002)
Solé, R.V., Levin, S.: Preface. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357, 617–618 (2002)
Solé, R.V., Alonso, D., McKane, A.: Self-organized instability in complex ecosystems. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357, 667–681 (2002)
Levin, S.: Ecosystems and the biosphere as complex adaptive systems. Ecosystems 1, 431–436 (1998)
McGill, B.J.: A test of the unified neutral theory of biodiversity. Nature 422, 881–885 (2003)
Hubbell, S.: The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton (2001)
Volkov, I., Banavar, J.R., Hubbell, S.P., Maritan, A.: Neutral theory and relative species abundance in ecology. Nature 424, 1035–1037 (2003)
Naeem, S.: The world according to niche. Trends Ecol. E 18, 323–324 (2003)
Nee, S., Stone, G.: The end of the beginning for neutral theory. Trends Ecol. Evol. 18, 433–434 (2003)
Lovelock, J.E.: The Ages of Gaia. W.W. Norton and Company, New York (1998)
Kleidon, A.: Testing the effect of life on earth’s functioning: how Gaian is Earth? Climatic Change 52, 383–389 (2002)
Lenton, T.M., van Oijen, M.: Gaia as a complex adaptive system. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357, 683–695 (2002)
Poulin, R., Guegan, J.-F.: Nestedness, anti-nestedness, and the relationship between prevalence and intensity in ectoparasite assemblages of marine fish: a spatial model of species coexistence. Int. J. Parasitol. 30, 1147–1152 (2000)
Mayr, E.: Systematics and the origin of species. Columbia University Press, N.Y. (1942)
Avise, J.C., Walker, D.: Abandon all species concepts? A response. Conservation Genetics 1, 77–80 (2000)
Hendry, A.P., Wenburg, J.K., Bentzen, P., Volk, E.C., Quinn, T.P.: Rapid evolution of reproductive isolation in the wild: evidence from introduced salmon. Science 290, 516–518 (2000)
Gould, S.J.: The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. Bellknap Press, Cambridge (2002)
Dawkins, R.: The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, New York (1976)
Gould, S.J., Eldredge, N.: Punctuated equilibrium comes of age. Nature 366, 223 (1993)
Bordenstein, S.R., O’Hara, F.P., Werren, J.H.: Wolbachia-induced incompatibility precedes other hybrid incompatibilities in Nasonia. Nature 409, 707–710 (2001)
Orr, H.A.: The population genetics of speciation: the evolution of hybrid incompatibilities. Genetics 139, 1805–1813 (1995)
Turelli, M., Barton, N.H., Coyne, J.A.: Theory and speciation. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16, 330–342 (2001)
Via, S.: Sympatric speciation in animals: the ugly duckling grows up. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16, 318–390 (2001)
Endler, J.A.: Geographic Variation, Speciation and Clines. Princeton University Press, Princeton (1977)
Gavrilets, S.: Models of speciation: what have we learned in 40 years? Evolution 57, 2197–2215 (2003)
Crosby, J.L.: The evolution of genetic discontinuity: computer models of the selection of barriers to interbreeding between subspecies. Heredity 25, 253–297 (1970)
Guldemond, J.A., Dixon, A.F.G.: Specificity and daily cycle of release of sex pheromones inaphids: A case of reinforcement? Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 52, 287–303 (1994)
Via, S., Hawthorne, D.J.: The genetic architecture of ecological specialization: correlated gene effects on host use and habitat choice in pea aphids. Am. Nat. 159, S76–S88 (2002)
Engeszer, R.E., Ryan, M.J., Parichy, D.M.: Learned social preference in zebrafish. Current Biology 14, 881–884 (2004)
Palestrini, C., Rolando, A.: Differential calls by carrion and hooded crows (Corvus corone corone and C. c. cornix) in the Alpine hybrid zone. Bird Study 43, 364–370 (1996)
Irwin, D.E., Price, T.: Sexual imprinting, learning and speciation. Heredity 82, 247–354 (1999)
Spencer, H.G., McArdle, B.H., Lambert, D.M.: A theoretical investigation of speciation by reinforcement. Am. Nat. 128, 241–262 (1986)
Schluter, D.: Trends Ecol. Evol. 16, 372–380 (2001)
Dieckmann, U., Doebeli, M.: On the origin of species by sympatric speciation. Nature 400, 354–357 (1999)
Doebeli, M., Dieckmann, U.: Evolutionary branching and sympatric speciation caused by different types of ecological interactions. Am. Nat. 156, S77–S101 (2000)
Kondrashov, A.S., Kondrashov, F.A.: Interactions among quantitative traits in the course of sympatric speciation. Nature 400, 351–354 (1999)
Gavrilets, S.: Waiting time to parapatric speciation. Proc. Royal Soc. Lond. B 256, 2483–2492 (2000)
Fisher, R.A.: The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1930)
Darwin, C.: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Murray, London (1871)
Lande, R.: Models of speciation by sexual selection on polygenic traits. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 3721–3725 (1981)
Lande, R.: Rapid origin of sexual isolation and character divergence in a cline. Evolution 36, 213–223 (1982)
Higashi, M., Takimoto, G., Yamamura, N.: Sympatric speciation by sexual selection. Nature 402, 523–526 (1999)
Takimoto, G., Higashi, M., Yamamura, N.: A deterministic genetic model for sympatric speciation by sexual selection. Evolution 54, 1870–1881 (2000)
Kawata, M., Yoshimura, J.: Speciation by sexual selection in hybridizing populations without viability selection. Evol. Ecol. Res. 2, 897–909 (2000)
Panhuis, T.M., Butlin, R., Zuk, M., Tregenza, T.: Sexual selection and speciation. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16, 364–371 (2001)
Dobzhansky, T.: Genetics and the Origin of Species. Columbia University Press, New York (1937)
Lerena, P.: Sexual preferences: dimension and complexity. In: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Society for Adaptive Behavior. From Animals to Animats, vol. 6. MIT Press, Paris (2000)
Tomkins, J.L., Radwan, J., Kotiaho, J.S., Tregenza, T.: Genic capture and resolving the lek paradox. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19, 323–328 (2004)
Day, T.: Sexual selection and the evolution of costly female preferences: spatial effects. Evolution 54, 715–730 (2000)
Jiggins, C.D., Mallet, J.: Bimodal hybrid zones and speciation. Trends Ecol. Evol. 15, 250–255 (2000)
Howard, D.J.: Reinforcement: origin, dynamics and fate of an evolutionary hypothesis. In: Harrison, R.G. (ed.) Hybrid Zones and the Evolutionary Process, pp. 46–69. Oxford University Press, New York (1993)
Kirkpatrick, M., Ravigné, V.: Speciation by natural and sexual selection: models and experiments. Am. Nat. 159, S22–S35 (2002)
Kirkpatrick, M.: Reinforcement and divergence under assortative mating. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 267, 1649–1655 (2000)
Fontana, W., Schnabl, W., Schuster, P.: Physical aspects of evolutionary optimization and adaptation. Phys. Rev. A 40, 3301–3321 (1989)
Cantú-Paz, E., Kamath, C.: On the use of evolutionary algorithms in data mining. In: Abbass, H.A., Sarker, R.A., Newton, C.S. (eds.) Data Mining: A Heuristic Approach. Idea Group Publishing (2001)
Ray, T.S.: An approach to the synthesis of life. In: Langton, C., Taylor, C., Farmer, J.D., Rasmussen, S. (eds.) Artificial Life II. Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, vol. X, pp. 371–408. Addison-Wesley, Redwood City (1991)
Adami, C.: On modeling life. Artificial Life I, 429–438 (1994)
Adami, C., Yirdaw, R., Seki, R.: Critical exponent of species-size distribution in evolution. In: Adami, C., Belew, R., Kitano, H., Taylor, C. (eds.) Artificial Life VI, pp. 221–227 (1998)
Wilke, C.O., Adami, C.: Interaction between directional epistasis and average mutational effects. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 268, 1469–1474 (2001)
Wilke, C.O., Wang, J.L., Ofria, C., Lenski, R.E., Adami, C.: Evolution of digital organisms at high mutation rate leads to survival of the flattest. Nature 412, 331–333 (2001)
Ofria, C., Wilke, C.O.: Avida: a software platform for research in computational evolutionary biology. Artificial Life 10, 191–229 (2004)
Barton, N.H.: The dynamics of hybrid zones. Heredity 43, 341–359 (1979)
Barton, N.H., Hewitt, G.M.: Analysis of hybrid zones. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 16, 113–148 (1985)
Sadedin, S.: Niche differentiation destabilises tension zones (in prep.)
Barabasi, A.-L., Albert, R., Jeong, H.: Scale-free characteristics of random networks: the topology of the world-wide web. Physica A 281, 69–77 (2000)
Marchiori, M., Latora, V.: Harmony in the small world. Physica A 285, 539–546 (2000)
Farkas, I., Derenyi, I., Jeong, H., Neda, Z., Oltvai, Z.N., Ravasz, E., Schubert, A., Barabasi, A.-L., Vicsek, T.: Networks in life: scaling properties and eigenvalue spectra. Physica A 314, 25–34 (2002)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sadedin, S. (2005). Selection, Space and Diversity: What Can Biological Speciation Tell Us About the Evolution of Modularity?. In: Wang, L., Chen, K., Ong, Y.S. (eds) Advances in Natural Computation. ICNC 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3611. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11539117_153
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11539117_153
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-28325-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31858-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)