Beyond Equilibria: The Neglected Role of History in Ecology and Evolution

Abstract

Research in ecology and evolution today often emphasizes an equilibrium view of dynamical systems, to the point where historical explanations are largely ignored. Such views are especially prominent in the mathematical modeling of such systems where “solving” a model means finding and characterizing the stability of its equilibria. I argue that history is far too important in biology to be discounted in this way. I then outline a number of different “flavors” of history, by which I mean potentially overlapping ways in which history can play a critical role in biological processes. I illustrate these flavors with examples from the ecological and evolutionary literature, and demonstrate that adding an explicitly historical perspective leads to a deeper understanding of the relevant biology.

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