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A quantitative formulation of biology's first law.

Publication ,  Journal Article
McShea, DW; Wang, SC; Brandon, RN
Published in: Evolution; international journal of organic evolution
June 2019

The zero-force evolutionary law (ZFEL) states that in evolutionary systems, in the absence of forces or constraints, diversity and complexity tend to increase. The reason is that diversity and complexity are both variance measures, and variances tend to increase spontaneously as random events accumulate. Here, we use random-walk models to quantify the ZFEL expectation, producing equations that give the probabilities of diversity or complexity increasing as a function of time, and that give the expected magnitude of the increase. We produce two sets of equations, one for the case in which variation occurs in discrete steps, the other for the case in which variation is continuous. The equations provide a way to decompose actual trajectories of diversity or complexity into two components, the portion due to the ZFEL and a remainder due to selection and constraint. Application of the equations is demonstrated using real and hypothetical data.

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Published In

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution

DOI

EISSN

1558-5646

ISSN

0014-3820

Publication Date

June 2019

Volume

73

Issue

6

Start / End Page

1101 / 1115

Related Subject Headings

  • Probability
  • Models, Biological
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Biology
  • Biological Evolution
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0603 Evolutionary Biology
  • 0602 Ecology
 

Citation

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McShea, D. W., Wang, S. C., & Brandon, R. N. (2019). A quantitative formulation of biology's first law. Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution, 73(6), 1101–1115. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13735
McShea, Daniel W., Steve C. Wang, and Robert N. Brandon. “A quantitative formulation of biology's first law.Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution 73, no. 6 (June 2019): 1101–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13735.
McShea DW, Wang SC, Brandon RN. A quantitative formulation of biology's first law. Evolution; international journal of organic evolution. 2019 Jun;73(6):1101–15.
McShea, Daniel W., et al. “A quantitative formulation of biology's first law.Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution, vol. 73, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 1101–15. Epmc, doi:10.1111/evo.13735.
McShea DW, Wang SC, Brandon RN. A quantitative formulation of biology's first law. Evolution; international journal of organic evolution. 2019 Jun;73(6):1101–1115.
Journal cover image

Published In

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution

DOI

EISSN

1558-5646

ISSN

0014-3820

Publication Date

June 2019

Volume

73

Issue

6

Start / End Page

1101 / 1115

Related Subject Headings

  • Probability
  • Models, Biological
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Biology
  • Biological Evolution
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0603 Evolutionary Biology
  • 0602 Ecology