There is Grandeur in This View of Life: The Bio-Philosophical Implications of Convergent Evolution

摘要

Interest in the evolutionary theoretical implications of convergent evolution has surged over the last decade, in part due to accessible monographs (such as Conway Morris 2003) that have drawn attention to this important and under-investigated evolutionary phenomenon. Just how ubiquitous is convergent evolution in the history of life, and what does the frequency of convergence tell us about the constraints on macroevolution as it has unfolded on Earth and as it might do in other nooks and crannies of the habitable universe?