The DOI matches its Crossref record; 174 of the 175 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions
Open accessAbstract
Scientific activities take place within the structured sets of ideas and assumptions that define a field and its practices. The conceptual framework of evolutionary biology emerged with the Modern Synthesis in the early twentieth century and has since expanded into a highly successful research program to explore the processes of diversification and adaptation. Nonetheless, the ability of that framework satisfactorily to accommodate the rapid advances in developmental biology, genomics and ecology has been questioned. We review some of these arguments, focusing on literatures (evo-devo, developmental plasticity, inclusive inheritance and niche construction) whose implications for evolution can be interpreted in two ways—one that preserves the internal structure of contemporary evolutionary theory and one that points towards an alternative conceptual framework. The latter, which we label the ‘extended evolutionary synthesis' (EES), retains the fundaments of evolutionary theory, but differs in its emphasis on the role of constructive processes in development and evolution, and reciprocal portrayals of causation. In the EES, developmental processes, operating through developmental bias, inclusive inheritance and niche construction, share responsibility for the direction and rate of evolution, the origin of character variation and organism–environment complementarity. We spell out the structure, core assumptions and novel predictions of the EES, and show how it can be deployed to stimulate and advance research in those fields that study or use evolutionary biology.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Environmental conditions provide feedback that alters gene expression in such ways that a unidirectional flow of information from the genome to the environment is not tenable [158].”
From Opinion: The Key Steps in the Origin of Life to the Formation of the Eukaryotic Cell (2024) · cites this paper as [158]
In the citing paper
“These informational shielding properties of MBs connect with debates regarding units of selection in evolutionary theory, in that only organismic phenotypes—and sometimes groups of organisms (Laland et al., 2015; Richerson et al., 2016)—are “visible” to natural selection with respect to phylogeny.”
From An Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) of Consciousness (2020) · cites this paper as Laland et al., 2015
Citations
Cites
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Kuhn, T. S., & Schlegel, R. (1963) · Physics Today · doi:10.1063/1.3050879 · Cited by 35,538
The genetical theory of natural selection
Fisher, R. A. (1930) · doi:10.5962/bhl.title.27468 · Cited by 17,617
THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS
McGuire, J. E. (1963) · Philosophical Books · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0149.1963.tb00813.x · Cited by 8,547
Culture and the Evolutionary Process
Griesemer, J. R., Boyd, R. T., & Richerson, P. J. (1986) · Ornithological Applications · doi:10.2307/1367778 · Cited by 7,133
Developmental Plasticity and Evolution
West-Eberhard, M. J. (2003) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195122343.001.0001 · Cited by 6,115
Evolution in Changing Environments
Levins, R. (1968) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9780691209418 · Cited by 5,401
Evolution in Changing Environments
Levins, R. (2020) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.2307/j.ctvx5wbbh · Cited by 3,387
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory
Gould, S. J. (2002) · Harvard University Press eBooks · doi:10.4159/9780674417922 · Cited by 3,176
The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes: Philosophical Papers
Lakatos, I. (1978) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511621123 · Cited by 3,045
(2003) · Cited by 2,898
Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 12
- Futuyma DJ, 1998, Evolutionary biology
- 10.2307/j.ctvjsf433 · DOI
- 10.1038/514161a · DOI
- Uller T, Challenges to evolutionary theory: development and heredity
- Futuyma DJ, 2013, Evolution
- Barton N, 2007, Evolution
- Ridley M, 2004, Evolution
- Darwin C, 1859, The origin of species
- Mayr E, 1984, The triumph of the evolutionary synthesis, Times Lit, 2, 1261
- Endler JA, 1986, The newer synthesis? Some conceptual problems in evolutionary biology, Oxford Surv. Evol. Biol, 3, 224
- Oyama S, 1985, The ontology of information: developmental systems and evolution
- O'Brien M, 2011, Cultural niche construction. Special edition of biological theory
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 901–1,000 of 1,002
Brown, G. R., & Laland, K. N. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198908203.003.0004 · Cited by 1
Self-citationLaland, K. N. (2016) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2016.09.003 · Cited by 1
Self-citation“In God We Trust; All Others, Bring Data”
Yamagishi, M. E. B. (2017) · SpringerBriefs in mathematics · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-62689-5_4 · Cited by 1
Controversy in Evolutionary Theory: A multilevel view of the issuesPreprint
Ellis, G. (2018) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1803.10789 · Cited by 1
Uller, T. (2018) · Evolution · doi:10.1111/evo.13576 · Cited by 1
Self-citationMetabolic Cost of Rapid Adaptation of Single Yeast CellsPreprint
Woronoff, G., Nghe, P., Baudry, J., Boitard, L., Braun, E., Griffiths, A. D., & Bibette, J. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/564419 · Cited by 1
A Genetic Programming System with an Epigenetic Mechanism for Traffic Signal ControlPreprint
Ricalde, E. (2019) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1903.03854 · Cited by 1
Usefulness of a Concept Called Autonomous SelectionPreprint
Solon, I. S. (2019) · Preprints.org · doi:10.20944/preprints201907.0285.v1
Evolution of the Mutation Rate in Sexual Species
Romero‐Mujalli, D., & Tiedemann, R. (2021) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470015902.a0029080 · Cited by 1
Plinio, S. D., & Ebisch, S. J. H. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/2s6c9
The Evolution of Human Life Course
Suman, F. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198813781.013.10 · Cited by 1
Natural Computational Architectures for Cognitive Info-CommunicationPreprint
Dodig-Crnković, G. (2021) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2110.06339 · Cited by 1
Laland, K. (2018) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aau1392 · Cited by 15
Self-citationCognition in eco, cognition in vitro - Mesure, explication, et contextualité en sciences cognitivesPreprint
GUÉNIN--CARLUT, A. (2020) · OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/86cwf · Cited by 1
Albertson, R. C. (2018) · Evolution & Development · doi:10.1111/ede.12274 · Cited by 1
Fuentes, A. (2017) · The International Encyclopedia of Primatology · doi:10.1002/9781119179313.wbprim0429 · Cited by 1
Dynamically Engaged Smiling Predicts Cooperation Above and Beyond Average Smiling LevelsPreprint
Danvers, A. F., & Shiota, M. N. (2017) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/6gt9b · Cited by 1
Meena, M., Swapnil, P., Barupal, T., Sharma, K., & Jain, T. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_500 · Cited by 1
Werner, M. S., Loschko, T., King, T. D., Theska, T., Franz‐Wachtel, M., Maček, B., & Sommer, R. J. (2022) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2022.07.21.500386 · Cited by 1
An introduction to the Special Issue honouring Susan A. Foster
Wund, M. A., & Stevens, D. R. (2023) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.03.003 · Cited by 1
Brown, G. R., & Laland, K. N. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198908203.003.0007 · Cited by 1
Self-citationBiosemiotics as an Ongoing Endeavour
Švorcová, J. (2025) · Biosemiotics · doi:10.1007/s12304-025-09604-2 · Cited by 1
Studying the evolution of bacterial micro-organisms by modeling and numerical simulation approaches
Rocabert, C. (2017) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/273b3895z1c44z4ed9z9eccze815e1fa7c7f · Cited by 1
Augustine on Original Sin and Sexual Difference
Loumagne Ulishney, M. (2022) · Original Sin and the Evolution of Sexual Difference · doi:10.1093/oso/9780192870704.003.0003
Japyassú, H. F. (2015) · Science & Education · doi:10.1007/s11191-015-9777-3
Análise empírica e filosófica em livros-texto de ecologia: níveis de organização e teoria evolutiva
Ricardo, C., & dos Reis, M. (2015) · Filosofia e História da Biologia
Fuentes, A., & Kissel, M. (2016) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x15000102
Barrett, L., & Stulp, G. (2016) · Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews · doi:10.1002/evan.21490
Darwinian Evolution: Process or Pattern?
Akkerhuis, G. A. J. M. J. O., Spijkerboer, H. P., & Koelewijn, H.-P. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43802-3_4
Reflections on the Graph Representation of Darwinian Evolution
van Straalen, N. M., & Gremmen, B. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43802-3_5
Peters, W. S. (2017) · Human Genetics & Embryology · doi:10.4172/2161-0436.1000138
Ornithology from the Flatlands
Piersma, T. (2015) · Ardea · doi:10.5253/arde.v103i2.a0
Falk, R. (2017) · History, philosophy and theory of the life sciences · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-57345-8_8
Turtles, monsters and the revised evolutionary theory
Ferreira, G. S. (2017) · Evolution & Development · doi:10.1111/ede.12226
The Dangerous Battles Over Sex and Gender
Brown, G. R. (2017) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2017.10.003
Site-specific plasticity and demography determine litter size in a population of white-footed mice
Morris, D. W. (2018) · Evolutionary ecology research
The Generalized Theory of Evolution, January 31–February 3, 2018, Dusseldorf
Suman, F. (2018) · Journal for General Philosophy of Science · doi:10.1007/s10838-018-9413-4
Sex differences in social learning : exploring the links with risk aversion and confidence
Brand, C. O. (2017) · St Andrews Research Repository (St Andrews Research Repository)
Evolution of the seed habit: Is niche construction a missing component?
Eriksson, O. (2018) · Ideas in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.4033/iee.2018.11.1.n
A Phenomenological Interpretation of Organisms
Huang, Z. Y. (2018) · ERA: Education and Research Archive (University of Alberta) · doi:10.7939/r3th8c31w
Neuroplasticity, neural reuse, and the language module
Zerilli, J. (2017) · ANU Open Research (Australian National University) · doi:10.25911/5d6c3c60dbf51
Parzer, H. F., & Stansbury, M. (2018) · The American history teacher · doi:10.1525/abt.2018.80.8.561
Causadías, J. M., Telzer, E. H., & Gonzales, N. A. (2017) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119181361.fmatter
Creative Minds and Nature Myths
Laland, K. N. (2018) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.5406/amerjpsyc.131.4.0513
Self-citationThe Biological Anthropocene: rethinking novelty organisms, interactions, and evolutionPreprint
Rodrigues, P. J. F. P., & Lira, C. F. (2018) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1812.05662
Is High Fidelity Imitation Necessary for Cumulative Culture? An Analysis of the Ratchet Argument
Elettra, F. (2018) · Open Access Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka (Figshare) · doi:10.26686/wgtn.19288292
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0008
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0002
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0004 · Cited by 1
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0001
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0010
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0005
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0003
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0006
Sir Patrick Bateson FRS. 31 March 1938—1 August 2017
Laland, K. N., & Rose, S. (2019) · Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society · doi:10.1098/rsbm.2018.0040
Self-citationLyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0007
Lyons, N. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190941260.003.0009
Darwinizing debunking arguments
Davies, P. S. (2019) · Ratio · doi:10.1111/rati.12231 · Cited by 1
Design Problems in Life and AI
Otsuka, J. (2019) · Journal of the Japan Association for Philosophy of Science · doi:10.4288/kisoron.46.2_71
Avaliação dos efeitos da exposição ambiental paterna no fenótipo da prole de camundongos Swiss.
Hoffmann, L. B. (2019) · Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo) · doi:10.11606/d.42.2019.tde-20022019-094440
Wagner, G. P., & Tomlinson, G. (2019) · Preprints.org · doi:10.20944/preprints201904.0266.v1
The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis Facilitates Evolutionary Models of Culture ChangePreprint
Smith, C. M., Gabora, L. M., & Gardner-O'Kearney, W. (2018) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1812.00143
Life history and dispersal timing evolve in response to metapopulation connectednessPreprint
Masier, S., & Bonte, D. (2018) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/476093
ADN, métabolisme et individualité dans la biologie philosophique de Hans Jonas
Dheur, S., & Saupe, S. J. (2019) · Bulletin d’histoire et d’épistémologie des sciences de la vie · doi:10.3917/bhesv.262.0223
THE CONCEPT OF THE IMAGO DEI: COHERENCE WITH EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE?
Evans, A. H. (2019) · Scriptura · doi:10.7833/118-1-1547
Wild Justice, Justice as Virtue, and Natural Law
DEANE‐DRUMMOND, C. E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843344.003.0007
Mens of geen mens? Een filosofie van de posthuman
Wobbes, T. (2019) · doi:10.3990/1.9789402817171
Conclusions: Towards Wisdom Practices
DEANE‐DRUMMOND, C. E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843344.003.0011
DEANE‐DRUMMOND, C. E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843344.003.0002
DEANE‐DRUMMOND, C. E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843344.003.0004
Persons in Multispecies Communities
DEANE‐DRUMMOND, C. E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843344.003.0010
Domestication—Including Animals in Building Virtue
DEANE‐DRUMMOND, C. E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843344.003.0008
Capability Theory, Just Institutions, and Communitarian Conscience
DEANE‐DRUMMOND, C. E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843344.003.0009
Life in a Multispecies Commons
DEANE‐DRUMMOND, C. E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843344.003.0006
El ideal de unificación en biología: el caso de la síntesis evolutiva extendida
Lamas, S. G. (2019) · Revista de Humanidades de Valparaíso · doi:10.22370/rhv2019iss14pp275-286
Darwin, the Modern Synthesis, and a New Biology
Torday, J. S., & Miller, W. L. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-38133-2_2
Phenotype, Niche Construction, and Natural Cellular Engineering
Torday, J. S., & Miller, W. B. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-38133-2_11
The Primacy of the Unicellular State
Torday, J. S., & Miller, W. B. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-38133-2_10
Fundamentos del psicoanálisis relacional: Filogenia y ontogenia
Cortina, M. (2020) · Clínica e Investigación Relacional · doi:10.21110/19882939.2020.140101
Die Theorie der Nischenkonstruktion
Lange, A. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-60915-6_5
Evo-Devo – das Beste aus zwei Welten
Lange, A. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-60915-6_3
Lange, A. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-60915-6_9
Die Erweiterte Synthese der Evolutionstheorie
Lange, A. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-60915-6_6
Views on the Moral Status of Animals
Zuolo, F. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-49509-1_4
Walsh, D. M. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33038-9_98-1
The Historiography of Modern Evolutionary Biology
Borrello, M. E. (2020) · Historiographies of science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-74456-8_5-1
How Can We Teach Philosophy of Science to Biologists?
Kampourakis, K., & Uller, T. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108648981.016
Self-citationSocial Neuroscience in Global Mental Health
Kohrt, B. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.024 · Cited by 1
Literary Analysis and Weak Theories
Moses, O. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.022
Experience-Dependent Plasticity in the Hippocampus
West, G. L., & Bohbot, V. D. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.019
Judgment, normativity and the subject
Cooper, A. (2020) · Thesis Eleven · doi:10.1177/0725513620975643
Goethe's Spirit Haunts a New Dynamic Biology
Sassoon, J. (2020) · Goetheanum · doi:10.18756/edn.113.5
Los conceptos de herencia y de variación hereditaria
Caponi, G. (2020) · ENDOXA · doi:10.5944/endoxa.46.2020.27588
Zerilli, J. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190067885.003.0003
Zerilli, J. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190067885.003.0002
Zerilli, J. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190067885.003.0006
Zerilli, J. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190067885.003.0008
Metadata
- Authors
- Laland, K. N., Uller, T., Feldman, M. W., Sterelny, K., Müller, G. B., Moczek, A., Jablonka, E., & Odling-Smee, J.
- Affiliations
- University of St Andrews (GB)
- Lund University (SE)
- Stanford University (US)
- Australian National University (AU)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- Mansfield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Corresponding author
- Laland, Kevin N.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2015-08-22
- Volume
- 282
- Issue
- 1813
- Pages
- 20151019
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC4632619
- OpenAlex
- W2103794982
- Cited by
- 1,399
- References
- 175
- Citations by year
- 2026: 90 · 2025: 99 · 2024: 129 · 2023: 179 · 2022: 148 · 2021: 149 · 2020: 189 · 2019: 136 · 2018: 106 · 2017: 105 · 2016: 57 · 2015: 9
- FWCI
- 41.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Keywords
- Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, Modern Synthesis, evolutionary developmental biology, developmental plasticity, niche construction, developmental bias, evolutionary theory
- MeSH terms
- Archaea, Ecology, Biological Evolution, Models, Biological, Developmental Biology, Bacterial Physiological Phenomena, Genomics, Eukaryota
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
