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Complex life evolved through transitions in individuality, from single cells to multicellular organisms. An ecological scaffolding framework, integrating internal and external factors, offers new insights into these evolutionary leaps.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Origin of life
  • Cellular biology

Background:

  • Complex life's evolution involves key transitions in individuality.
  • Previous explanations often focused internally on ancestral entities.
  • Understanding the shift from unicellularity to multicellularity remains a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore externalist perspectives on evolutionary transitions in individuality.
  • To introduce and apply the ecological scaffolding framework.
  • To integrate internalist and externalist explanations for evolutionary progress.

Main Methods:

  • Development of the ecological scaffolding framework.
  • Analysis of evolutionary transitions in individuality.
  • Illustration using an extended ecological scaffolding model for multicellularity.

Main Results:

  • Externalist perspectives, via ecological scaffolding, illuminate evolutionary transitions.
  • Properties of complex life forms can emerge from external scaffolds.
  • Cells can modify their environment, creating scaffolds for future individuality.

Conclusions:

  • A synthesis of internalist and externalist approaches is crucial for understanding evolutionary transitions.
  • The ecological scaffolding framework provides a novel perspective on the emergence of complex life.
  • Environmental modification by cells plays a role in the evolution of multicellular individuality.