SSE Presidential Address - EVOLUTION 2025

The criticality of evolution: A view from 2025

Abstract:
G Evelyn Hutchinson published a slender volume of three lectures in 1965, titled The Ecological Theater and the Evolutionary Play. While the book is most famous for the description of the ecological niche, the title is as true today as it was 60 years ago. Evolutionary biology, at root, is the study of the processes driving variation in living creatures through time, and the context in which that occurs is relevant. At the same time, research and teaching of evolution takes place within a broader societal context, which itself changes over time. I will highlight the ways in which evolutionary research is addressing problems of the Anthropocene (or any other era), briefly drawing examples from diverse research projects including my own. Along the way, I ask how the societal context within which we work and teach influences what we do as scientists and teachers, and why that matters.

Carol Boggs
University of South Carolina

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