Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful

335 Pages·2011·4.202 MB·English

by  George McGhee

Convergent Evolution
Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology
Gerd B. M ü ller, G ü nter P. Wagner, and Werner Callebaut, editors
The Evolution of Cognition, edited by Cecilia Heyes and Ludwig Huber,
2000
Origination of Organismal Form: Beyond the Gene in Development and
Evolutionary Biology, edited by Gerd B. M ü ller and Stuart A. Newman,
2003
Environment, Development, and Evolution: Toward a Synthesis, edited
by Brian K. Hall, Roy D. Pearson, and Gerd B. M ü ller, 2004
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, edited
by D. Kimbrough Oller and Ulrike Greibel, 2004
Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Natural
Complex Systems, e dited by Werner Callebaut and Diego Rasskin-
Gutman, 2005
Compositional Evolution: The Impact of Sex, Symbiosis, and Modularity
on the Gradualist Framework of Evolution, by Richard A. Watson, 2006
Biological Emergences: Evolution by Natural Experiment, by Robert
G. B. Reid, 2007
Modeling Biology: Structure, Behaviors, Evolution, edited by Manfred D.
Laubichler and Gerd B. M ü ller, 2007
Evolution of Communicative Flexibility: Complexity, Creativity,
and Adaptability in Human and Animal Communication, edited by
Kimbrough D. Oller and Ulrike Greibel, 2008
Functions in Biological and Artifi cial Worlds: Comparative Philosophical
Perspectives, edited by Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes, 2009
Innovation in Cultural Systems: Contributions from Evolutionary Anthro-
pology, edited by Michael J. O ’ Brien and Stephen J. Shennan, 2009
The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited, edited by Brett Calcott and
Kim Sterelny, 2011
Transformations of Lamarckism: From Subtle Fluids to Molecular
Biology, edited by Snait B. Gissis and Eva Jablonka, 2011
Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful, by George R.
McGhee Jr., 2011
Convergent Evolution
Limited Forms Most Beautiful
George R. McGhee Jr.
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McGhee, George R.
Convergent evolution : limited forms most beautiful / George R. McGhee Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-01642-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Convergence (Biology) I. Title.
QH373.M34 2011
576.8 — dc22
2011007840
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Marae
’ S ò g a thug mi gr à dh dhuit.

Contents
Series Foreword ix
Preface: Limited Forms Most Beautiful xi
1 What Is Convergent Evolution? 1
Recognizing Convergent Evolution 1
Convergent Evolution versus Parallel Evolution? 5
Evolutionary Constraint and Convergent Evolution 7
Mimicry, Camoufl age, and Convergent Evolution 8
On the Organization of This Book 9
2 Convergent Animals 13
Locomotion 13
Carnivores: Prey Detection 30
Carnivores: Prey Capture 42
Herbivores: Plant Processing 50
Defense: Antipredator Adaptations 60
Organ Systems 66
Reproduction 81
3 Convergent Plants 93
Arborescence 93
Photoautotrophs: Light Capture 97
Photoautotrophs: Carbon Processing 101
Defense: Antiherbivore Adaptations 105
Defense: Antidehydration Adaptations 112
Reproduction 115
4 Convergent Ecosystems 135
One Ecological Role, Many Convergent Players 135
One Ecosystem Play, Many Convergent Casts of Actors 155
Isochronous and Heterochronous Ecosystem Convergence 163
A Periodic Table of Niches? 168
viii Contents
5 Convergent Molecules 177
Convergent Molecules? 177
DNA 178
Proteins and Protein Functions 189
Enzymes and Enzyme Functions 199
Convergent Evolution of Cellular and Tissue Structures? 205
6 Convergent Minds 209
Convergent Minds? 209
Problem-Solving Behavior 209
Group Behavior 228
Convergent Mentalities 238
7 Functional and Developmental Constraint in Convergent Evolution 245
Convergent Evolution in Theoretical Morphospace 246
Life as We Know It 252
Life as We Do Not Know It 253
A Periodic Table of Life? 260
8 Philosophical Implications of Convergent Evolution 265
The Argument for Unpredictability: Creative Freedom or Chaotic
Randomness? 266
The Argument for Predictability: Comforting Certainty or Depressing
Inevitability? 269
Judging the Arguments: Evolutionary Views on Trial 271
The Question of Extraterrestrial Life 276
In Conclusion: A Rewrite of Darwin ’ s View of Life 276
Appendix: A Phylogenetic Classifi cation of Life 279
References 287
Index of Common Names 303
Index of Species 309
Index of Topics 319
Series Foreword
Biology is becoming the leading science in this century. As in all other
sciences, progress in biology depends on interactions between empirical
research, theory building, and modeling. But whereas the techniques and
methods of descriptive and experimental biology have evolved dramati-
cally in recent years, generating a fl ood of highly detailed empirical data,
the integration of these results into useful theoretical frameworks has
lagged behind. Driven largely by pragmatic and technical considerations,
research in biology continues to be less guided by theory than seems
indicated. By promoting the formulation and discussion of new theoreti-
cal concepts in the bio-sciences, this series intends to help fi ll the gaps in
our understanding of some of the major open questions of biology, such
as the origin and organization of organismal form, the relationship
between development and evolution, and the biological bases of cogni-
tion and mind.
Theoretical biology has important roots in the experimental biology
movement of early-twentieth-century Vienna. Paul Weiss and Ludwig
von Bertalanffy were among the fi rst to use the term theoretical biology
in a modern scientifi c context. In their understanding the subject was not
limited to mathematical formalization, as is often the case today, but
extended to the conceptual problems and foundations of biology. It is
this commitment to a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary integration of
theoretical concepts that the present series intends to emphasize. Today
theoretical biology has genetic, developmental, and evolutionary com-
ponents, the central connective themes in modern biology, but also
includes relevant aspects of computational biology, semiotics, and cogni-
tion research, and extends to the naturalistic philosophy of sciences.
The “ Vienna Series ” grew out of theory-oriented workshops organized
by the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research
(KLI), an international center for advanced study closely associated with