A conceptual framework of evolutionary novelty and innovation

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Developmental biology
• Macroevolution

Background:

• Resurgent interest in evolutionary novelty and innovation since 1990.
• Mechanistic approaches and deep homology studies inform evolutionary biology.
• Contrasting views on novelty: ecological opportunity vs. behavior, plasticity, and sequence space access.

Purpose of the Study:

• Distinguish evolutionary novelty from innovation.
• Propose a conceptual framework for understanding novelty and innovation.
• Clarify definitional issues and attributes of novelties.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and conceptual analysis.
• Distinction between novelty (origin of new traits) and innovation (clade success).
• Analysis of fossil record evidence for macroevolutionary lags.

Main Results:

• Novelty and innovation are distinct concepts, with novelty potentially preceding innovation.
• Fossil record shows lags between trait origin and clade success.
• A five-stage framework proposed: potential, formation, refinement, exploitation, and establishment of innovations.

Conclusions:

• Novelty definitions should focus on radicality, independent of clade history.
• Ecological opportunity and 'hopeful monsters' lack strong empirical support.
• The proposed framework applies to biological, cultural, and social innovation.