环境在适应中的作用:从“筛子”到“能动者”

The Role of Environment in Adaptation:From A “Sifter” to An “Agent”

适应是进化生物学中的重要概念。伴随着进化生物学的三次理论综合,人们对适应的认识发生了变化,环境在适应中的作用也发生了变化。在第一次综合(达尔文进化论)和第二次综合(现代综合论)中,适应分别是生物体的性状和生物体的基因对环境的适应,环境在达尔文式适应和现代综合论式适应中均发挥着独立的"筛子"作用。在第三次综合(进化发育生物学)中,适应不再是性状或者基因对环境的适应,而是生物体整个发育过程的适应,环境在进化发育生物学式适应中既发挥影响又受到影响,发挥着"能动者"作用。本文拟通过讨论环境在各式适应中从"筛子"到"能动者"的作用转变,揭示出进化生物学中进化观的转变--从分离的、静态的进化观到整体的、动态的发育进化观,突出环境视角对进化生物学研究的重要性。

Adaptation (or Evolution) is a key concept in Evolutionary Biology. With three theoretical syntheses in the Evolutionary Biology,the interpretation of adaptation changed. The role of environment in adaptation changed as well. First,in the Darwinian Evolution (the first synthesis) and the Modern Synthesis (the second synthesis),adaptation involves traits and genes which adapted to the environment. Accordingly,the environment acted as a"sifter". Second,in the third synthesis (which called Evolutionary Developmental Biology),adaptation involves the whole developmental processes of organisms and the environment worked as an"agent"here. There is an interaction effect between the environment and the organism’s development. So in this article,the change of the evolutionary views in Evolutionary Biology,which refers to a shift from the separated and still thought of evolution to the whole and dynamic view of development evolution,has been revealed by appealing to the transformation of the role of environment in different sorts of adaptations. Moreover,the significance of the perspective of environment in Evolutionary Biology will be highlighted.