Abstract

SARMIENTO M, CARLOS E. Beyond Natural Selection. Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2009, vol.14, suppl.1, pp.187-198. ISSN 0120-548X.

The explanation of the evolution of organisms through natural selection is the nucleus of the system of concepts of the biology thanks to is simplicity, its explanatory power and its coherence with an impressive amount of data. However, in some cases this model has become a by default discourse that does not allow to penetrate and discover much more complex processes. This difficulty has been pointed out by several authors and the present paper summarizes several of the alternatives or delimitations at several levels: the consequences of genetic neutralism are explored. The implications of the complex relationship between genotype and phenotype are studied since these may made difficult the use of simple genetic models for the study of evolution by natural selection. The proposal of extending a neutral model for morphological traits through the concept of functional equivalence is discussed. Some of the controversial aspects of the use of the concept of adaptation are analyzed and the insightful effect of including the phylogenetic history in the explanation of the origin of the proposed adaptive characters is discussed. The consequences of these analyses are reviewed in four areas: adaptation, species definition, phylogenetic reconstructions and conservation. At no point this document denies the value of the model of evolution by natural selection but points out the importance of alternative models strongly supported by data rigorously analyzed.

Keywords : adaptation; functional equivalence; neutralism.

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