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Conceptual Change in Biology pp 111–127Cite as

Homoplasy, a Moving Target

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science ((BSPS,volume 307))

Abstract

My goal is to present my perspectives on a 50-year exploration of homoplasy in salamanders, using the 1981 Dahlem conference on Evolution and Development (Bonner 1982) as a centerpiece. I summarize my early work on homoplasy and show how it was relevant to the planning of the original conference. I then examine how the conference influenced my later studies, and now, with a 30-year retrospective on the original conference, I will attempt to set some future goals. Because I was involved in planning the original conference, I also present some reflections.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I used the term “differential metamorphosis” for this mode of evolution. Although the term did not “take,” I use it here to refer to the phenomenon.

  2. 2.

    Gould, too, argued in favor of contingency, as in his famous metaphor about how replaying the tape of life would have a very different outcome (Gould 1989).

  3. 3.

    Admittedly, I have contributed to these discussions, having devoted some effort in sorting out terms related to heterochrony (Alberch et al. 1979).

  4. 4.

    E.g., all species of Bolitoglossa have incompletely developed tarsal elements (Alberch and Alberch 1981; Wake 1991).

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Acknowledgments

I thank Alan Love for his successful efforts to organize and find funding for our conference, and for the participants for their stimulating presentations and discussion. Marvalee Wake has discussed many of the issues addressed in this paper with me over the years, and she has given me valuable feedback on the manuscript. I thank Rasmus Winther for constructive comments on the manuscript. George Oster refreshed my memories concerning the origins of the 1981 Dahlem conference. My research has been funded by the National Science Foundation throughout my career. I have benefited enormously from my interactions with gifted graduate and postdoctoral students, and with colleagues, first at the University of Chicago, and since 1969, at the University of California at Berkeley.

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  1. Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    David B. Wake

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Correspondence to David B. Wake .

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Alan C. Love

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Wake, D.B. (2015). Homoplasy, a Moving Target. In: Love, A. (eds) Conceptual Change in Biology. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 307. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9412-1_5

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