Rapid evolution or epigenetics? (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, April 06, 2011, 14:33 (4980 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: A new botanical report suggests a kind of punctuated equilibrium in flowering plants:
 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110329134343.htm-In addition to the evidence for punctuated equilibrium, this seems to me once more to point to intelligent and inventive mechanisms within the organisms themselves ... my counter to David's theory of pre-programming: -"Just as a company creates new, better versions of a product to increase market share and pad its bottom line, an international team of researchers led by Brown University has found that plants tinker with their design and performance before flooding the environment with new, improved versions of themselves."-"Smith believes some triggers for the speciation explosion could have been internal, such as building a better flower or learning how to grow faster and thus outcompete other plants. The winning edge could also have come from the arrival of pollinating insects or changes in climate. The team plans to investigate these questions."-It's the reference to "internal triggers" that particularly intrigues me. I'd suggested an analogy with the intelligence of insect colonies, and by coincidence yesterday's Guardian carried a tiny article:-"Bees are taking emergency measures to protect their hives from pesticides, according to experts. The creatures are sealing up hive cells full of pollen to put them out of use and protect the rest from their contents. The pollen in the sealed-up cells has been found to contain much higher levels of pesticides and other potentially harmful chemicals than the pollen stored in neighbouring cells, which is used to feed young bees."-This will not, of course, lead to innovation, but my comparison here is with intelligent cooperation WITHIN organisms, which may lead to adaptations or innovations. I'm fully aware that such inventive, intelligent mechanisms are highly unlikely to come into existence by chance. My tentative suggestion is that in the course of evolution they do not follow a pre-ordained programme (David's version) and they do not depend on random mutations (the Darwinian version), but themselves initiate and develop changes from within.