Evolutionary developmental biology

Part of a series on
Evolutionary biology
Darwin's finches by John Gould
Index Introduction Main Outline Glossary Evidence History
Processes and outcomes Population genetics Variation Diversity Mutation Natural selection Adaptation Polymorphism Genetic drift Gene flow Speciation Adaptive radiation Co-operation Coevolution Coextinction Divergence Convergence Parallel evolution Extinction
Natural history Origin of life Common descent History of life Timeline of evolution Human evolution Phylogeny Biodiversity Biogeography Classification Evolutionary taxonomy Cladistics Transitional fossil Extinction event
History of evolutionary theory Overview Renaissance Before Darwin Darwin Origin of Species Before synthesis Modern synthesis Molecular evolution Evo-devo Current research History of speciation History of paleontology (timeline)
Fields and applications Applications of evolution Biosocial criminology Ecological genetics Evolutionary aesthetics Evolutionary anthropology Evolutionary computation Evolutionary ecology Evolutionary economics Evolutionary epistemology Evolutionary ethics Evolutionary game theory Evolutionary linguistics Evolutionary medicine Evolutionary neuroscience Evolutionary physiology Evolutionary psychology Experimental evolution Phylogenetics Paleontology Selective breeding Speciation experiments Sociobiology Island biogeography Systematics Universal Darwinism
Social implications Evolution as fact and theory Social effects Creation–evolution controversy Theistic evolution Objections to evolution Level of support
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Evolutionary developmental biology interprets development in the light of evolution and modern genetics. It is called for short 'evo-devo'.

In On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin proposed evolution through natural selection, a theory central to modern biology. Darwin recognised the importance of embryonic development in the understanding of evolution:^[1]

"We can see why characters derived from the embryo should be of equal importance with those derived from the adult, for a natural classification of course includes all ages".^[2]

Ernst Haeckel (1866) proposed that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny", that is, the development of the embryo of every species (ontogeny) repeats the evolutionary development of that species (phylogeny).^[1] Haeckel's concept explained, for example, why humans, and indeed all vertebrates, have gill slits and tails early in embryonic development. His theory has since been largely discredited.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Bowler 2003, pp. 170, 190–191 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBowler2003 (help)
2. ↑ Darwin, Charles (1859). On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray. pp. 439–430. ISBN 0801413192.