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In the Light of Evolution III:
Two Centuries of Darwin
Organizered by John C. Avise and Francisco J. Ayala, this meeting was held January 15-17, 2009 at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, CA.
Meeting Overview
The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of his most influential publication, On the Origin of Species, in which he developed the equally revolutionary concept that a natural but non-random process—natural selection—yields biological adaptations that otherwise can give a superficial impression of intelligent conscious design.
This colloquium brought together leading evolutionary biologists and science historians to reflect upon and commemorate the Darwinian Revolution. One goal of this symposium was to canvass modern scientific thought and research approaches regarding each of the three main categories of selection (natural, artificial, and sexual) that Darwin addressed during his career. Although Darwin is associated most often with his elucidation of natural selection in The Origin, he also thought and wrote extensively about artificial and sexual selection, as reflected for example in two other books titled, respectively, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1869) and The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). Other goals of this colloquium were to place Darwin’s seminal contributions in historical perspective, and in general to celebrate Darwin’s ongoing scientific legacy.
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I. Natural Selection: Adaptation to Nature
Introduction John C. Avise (University of California, Irvine)
Selection in Action During Speciation, Sara Via (University of Maryland)
Adaptive Radiations, Scott Hodges (UC Santa Barbara)
The corresponding evolutionary histories of euglenozoans and dinoflagellates: cascades of convergent evolution or accumulation of oddities?, Julius Lukes (Institute of Parasitology, České Budějovice)
The Genetics of Ecological Speciation - it is Different?, Dolph Schluter (University of British Columbia)
II. Artificial Selection: Adaptation to Human Demands
Chair, Dolph Schluter (University of British Columbia)
The Genetic Architecture of an Adaptive Trait: Maize Flowering Time, Ed Buckler (Cornell University)
From Wild Animals to Domestic Pets, Stephen O’Brien (National Cancer Institute)
Unnatural Selection: Human-induced Evolution in Wild Animals, Fred Allendorf (University of Montana)
Pathways of adaptive protein evolution: lessons from directed evolution, Frances Arnold (California Institute of Technology)
Keynote Lecture
Introduction, Francisco J. Ayala (University of California, Irvine)
Beyond Biology: Darwin's Revolution and Society, Daniel C. Dennett (Tufts University)
This lecture is not available until after Jan 1, 2010.
III. Sexual Selection: Adaptation to Mating Demands
Chair, Julius Lukes (Institute of Parasitology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic)
Mate Choice and Sexual Selection: What Have We Learned Since Darwin?, Adam Jones (Texas A&M)
It's About Time: Reproductive Decisions Under Ecological Constraints , Patty Gowaty (University of California, Los Angeles)
Sexual Selection and Mating Systems, Stephen Shuster (Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff)
Missing Pieces of Darwin’s Puzzle, William Eberhard (STRI Costa Rica)
Session IV: The Darwinian Legacy: 150 Years Later
Chair John C. Avise (University of California, Irvine)
Darwin and the Scientific Method, Francisco J. Ayala (University of California, Irvine)
The Darwinian Revolution , Michael Ruse (Florida State University)
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, Elliott Sober (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Darwin’s Place in the History of Science, Robert Richards (University of Chicago)
Concluding Remarks, John C. Avise (University of California, Irvine)
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