THERE'S NO EVOLUTION WITHOUT CO-EVOLUTION: DIALECTICS AND DUALISM DRIVE DIVERSITY

摘要

HUGH PATERSON was one of evolutionary biology's finest 20th century thinkers, combining erudition, strong logic, and a deep knowledge and love of nature in his theorising. He is best known for his development of the Recognition Concept of species (RC; Paterson 1985, 1993), all too often dismissed erroneously as 'just another version of the Biological Species Concept' (BSC; Groves 2012; Zachos 2016). The RC, however, was only the most visible aspect of Paterson's world view. Trained in evolutionary genetics, he avoided most of its reductionist pitfalls. His appreciation of the co-evolution of Earth and life led him to a clear understanding of the operation of natural selection, and the co-construction of species and habitats. In this way, his thinking approached that of Lewontin (1983): i.e. that evolution is a constant interplay among organisms of all kinds. Niches do not pre-exist species: they are constructed by them (Odling-Smee et al. 2013). They are neither vacated by extinction, nor invaded in a drive for diversification (Masters and Rayner 1993).