Evolvability: progress and key questions

Abstract

Since the 1990s, evolutionary biologists have recognized the importance of explaining the ability of biological systems to evolve and how this ability itself evolves. This recognition of the need to explain evolvability emerged from an awareness that the kind and the amount of heritable variation available for natural selection require explanation. The concept of evolvability is now the focus of many research programs in diverse subdisciplines within evolutionary biology. In the present article, we first review and synthesise progress made in evolvability research. We then present key questions to set an agenda for future research on evolvability, identify challenges to answer these questions, and discuss opportunities to apply results from the evolvability research to conservation biology.