Recent growth of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) Challenges Evolution (MS)


The extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) has grown significantly over the last 10 years, with a growing number of researchers and publications adopting its framework. A 2019 review found that the number of EES-related publications had increased by over 500% in the previous decade. PubMed lists 1,047 articles on the EES over this time compared to only 184 articles on the Modern Synthesis (the theory of evolution) five times as many.This growth is likely due to a number of factors, including:

  • The development of new technologies and methods that have allowed researchers to study evolution in greater detail.

  • The emergence of new fields of research, such as evolutionary developmental biology and epigenetics, that have challenged the traditional gene-centered view of evolution.

  • A growing awareness of the limitations of the Modern Synthesis, which is largely focused on the evolution of genes and populations.

The EES offers a more comprehensive and holistic view of evolution, taking into account factors such as development, plasticity, niche construction, and cultural inheritance. This has led to a number of new insights into the evolutionary process, such as the role of developmental bias in shaping evolution, the importance of plasticity in generating new phenotypes, and the impact of organisms on their own environments.

The EES is still a developing framework, and it is not yet clear if it can be integrated into mainstream evolutionary biology or if it will develop on its own, its growth over the last 10 years suggests that it is a major force for change in the field.

In comparison, the Modern Synthesis has not seen the same level of growth in recent years. The limitations of the Modern Synthesis have become increasingly apparent in recent years, and the EES offers a potential way to address these limitations.

It is still too early to say whether the EES will eventually replace the Modern Synthesis, however increasing calls for its replacement are forthcoming.

It is clear that it is a growing force in evolutionary biology, and it is likely to have a significant impact on the field in the years to come.


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