Organizers:  John C. Avise and Francisco J. Ayala

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Publications
PNAS May 15, 2007; 104 (Suppl 1)

This meeting was held at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, CA on December 1-2, 2006. 

Meeting Overview
Darwin’s elucidation of natural selection was one of the great intellectual achievements in the history of science, revolutionizing thought not only in biology but also in philosophical and ideological realms. No longer were explanations for the origin and marvelous adaptations of organisms to be sought in terms of supernatural or extranatural causation. A century-and-a-half after Darwin, the challenge of understanding nature’s complex design remains in many regards in its infancy.  For example, only recently has it become possible to conduct whole-genome analyses in ways that may permit the discovery of heretofore unspecified structural and regulatory genes contributing to the molecular assembly of complex organismal phenotypes. Scientific progress is occurring on many empirical and conceptual fronts.  New discoveries in paleontology and developmental biology have significantly improved our understanding of the intermediate stages of seemingly complex evolutionary transitions.  Recent developments in evolutionary genetic theory, such as formal network analysis, have opened exciting new avenues for exploring the geneses and maintenance of biological complexity at the levels of genetic and metabolic pathways.

Scientific advances are coming at a time of resurgent societal interest in supernatural explanations for biological complexity. The goal of the colloquium is to synthesize recent empirical findings and conceptual approaches towards understanding the evolutionary origins and maintenance of complex adaptations.