The Interaction of Research Systems in the Evo-devo Juncture

Abstract

Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo) research is made up of many overlapping intersections among specialties, including genetics, developmental biology, cell biology, morphology, paleontology, and behavior. Often, an intersection develops into a specialty in its own right, but Evo-devo remains a juncture: a place where many specialties interact, but where integration among them is limited. It has been a locus of debates, as well as a place of cooperative production. This paper considers this pattern of incomplete integration of specialties from a sociological perspective. There are at least two kinds of reason for this pattern. First, technical disputes and incompatibilities of many kinds slow or block the integration of different approaches into a single, more comprehensive view. At the same time, the juncture is held together over time by a network of connections among the lines of research that comprise it. My emphasis here is on the pattern of connections and incompatibilities in Evo-devo, rather than on specific research issues. In particular, the ways in which research is organized exerts important influences on the manner and extent of specialty integration. Second, relations among sponsors, hosts, associations, and the research they support sometimes make it more difficult or more unlikely for cross-specialty research programs to collaborate or integrate effectively. I describe some of the institutional and organizational constraints that shape and limit the course of intersections and specialties, with special attention to the course of events in Evo-devo research and its current state of affairs.