Toman Jan, Flegr Jaroslav
Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Philosophy and History of Sciences, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Vinicna 7, 128 00 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
J Theor Biol. 2017 Dec 21;435:29-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.09.004. Epub 2017 Sep 9.
Natural selection is considered to be the main process that drives biological evolution. It requires selected entities to originate dependent upon one another by the means of reproduction or copying, and for the progeny to inherit the qualities of their ancestors. However, natural selection is a manifestation of a more general persistence principle, whose temporal consequences we propose to name "stability-based sorting" (SBS). Sorting based on static stability, i.e., SBS in its strict sense and usual conception, favours characters that increase the persistence of their holders and act on all material and immaterial entities. Sorted entities could originate independently from each other, are not required to propagate and need not exhibit heredity. Natural selection is a specific form of SBS-sorting based on dynamic stability. It requires some form of heredity and is based on competition for the largest difference between the speed of generating its own copies and their expiration. SBS in its strict sense and selection thus have markedly different evolutionary consequences that are stressed in this paper. In contrast to selection, which is opportunistic, SBS is able to accumulate even momentarily detrimental characters that are advantageous for the long-term persistence of sorted entities. However, it lacks the amplification effect based on the preferential propagation of holders of advantageous characters. Thus, it works slower than selection and normally is unable to create complex adaptations. From a long-term perspective, SBS is a decisive force in evolution-especially macroevolution. SBS offers a new explanation for numerous evolutionary phenomena, including broad distribution and persistence of sexuality, altruistic behaviour, horizontal gene transfer, patterns of evolutionary stasis, planetary homeostasis, increasing ecosystem resistance to disturbances, and the universal decline of disparity in the evolution of metazoan lineages. SBS acts on all levels in all biotic and abiotic systems. It could be the only truly universal evolutionary process, and an explanatory framework based on SBS could provide new insight into the evolution of complex abiotic and biotic systems.
自然选择被认为是推动生物进化的主要过程。它要求被选择的实体通过繁殖或复制的方式相互依存地产生，并且后代要继承其祖先的特质。然而，自然选择是一个更普遍的持久性原则的表现形式，我们建议将其时间上的后果命名为“基于稳定性的分选”（SBS）。基于静态稳定性的分选，即严格意义上和通常概念中的SBS，有利于那些增加其持有者持久性的特征，并作用于所有物质和非物质实体。被分选的实体可以相互独立地产生，不需要繁殖，也不必表现出遗传性。自然选择是基于动态稳定性的SBS分选的一种特殊形式。它需要某种形式的遗传，并且基于自身复制速度与其消亡速度之间最大差异的竞争。因此，严格意义上的SBS和选择具有明显不同的进化后果，本文对此进行了强调。与具有机会主义性质的选择不同，SBS能够积累即使是暂时有害但对被分选实体的长期持久性有利的特征。然而，它缺乏基于有利特征持有者优先繁殖的放大效应。因此，它的作用比选择慢，通常无法产生复杂的适应性。从长期来看，SBS是进化中的决定性力量——尤其是在宏观进化中。SBS为众多进化现象提供了新的解释，包括有性生殖的广泛分布和持久性、利他行为、水平基因转移、进化停滞模式、行星稳态、生态系统对干扰的抵抗力增强，以及后生动物谱系进化中差异的普遍下降。SBS作用于所有生物和非生物系统的各个层面。它可能是唯一真正普遍的进化过程，基于SBS的解释框架可以为复杂的非生物和生物系统的进化提供新的见解。
