Brookfield John F Y
School of Biology, Institute of Genetics, Queens Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.
Biol Lett. 2009 Feb 23;5(1):44-6. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0639.
The concept of 'evolvability' is increasingly coming to dominate considerations of evolutionary change. There are, however, a number of different interpretations that have been put on the idea of evolvability, differing in the time scales over which the concept is applied. For some, evolvability characterizes the potential for future adaptive mutation and evolution. Others use evolvability to capture the nature of genetic variation as it exists in populations, particularly in terms of the genetic covariances between traits. In the latter use of the term, the applicability of the idea of evolvability as a measure of population's capacity to respond to natural selection rests on one, but not the only, view of the way in which we should envisage the process of natural selection. Perhaps the most potentially confusing aspects of the concept of evolvability are seen in the relationship between evolvability and robustness.
“可进化性”的概念在进化变化的考量中日益占据主导地位。然而，对于可进化性的概念存在多种不同的解释，这些解释在应用该概念的时间尺度上有所不同。对一些人来说，可进化性表征了未来适应性突变和进化的潜力。另一些人则用可进化性来描述种群中存在的遗传变异的本质，特别是性状之间的遗传协方差方面。在后一种对该术语的使用中，将可进化性概念作为衡量种群对自然选择反应能力的一种度量，其适用性基于我们应该如何设想自然选择过程的一种观点，但并非唯一观点。可进化性概念最可能令人困惑的方面或许体现在可进化性与稳健性之间的关系上。
