Mary Jane West-Eberhard

Mary Jane West-Eberhard is a theoretical biologist. She is author of the book "Developmental plasticity and evolution" in which she tackles the problem developmental adaptation to environmental conditions [1]. The problem she tried to solve theoretically is simple overcame by Fauceir Theory now.

I often wonder how some people are able to write a whole book around a single idea (A blog entry would have been enough :-)). Her main objection to present evolutionary thought is the obvious contradiction of variation is determined by developmental adaptation and evolution of genetic material by natural selection of those variations. Well natural selection of a genetically determined trait is a simple feedback mechanism. But such a simple feedback only happens in organisms that a quite primitive as bacteria. Higher evolved organisms contain a much larger set of intercalated feedback loops, fauceirs that might obscure such a straight relationship, but it still exists.

1. Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Developmental plasticity and evolution (Oxford University Press, 2003).