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• Shifting Balance Theory

• There are a number of different forces that affect evolutionary processes. Layman often think of natural selection as being the only force causing evolution but this is wrong. Genetic drift is another very important process that affect evolutionary process. Genetic drift refers to the random sampling of individual at one generation to build up the successive generation. The relative importance of drift to natural selection in driving evolution of a population depends on the effective population size. Have a look at Why is the strength of genetic drift inversely proportional to the population size?. Genetic drift can typically randomly yield a population toward a fitness valley, from which natural selection will yield the population to either come back or start climbing the opposite fitness peak. This concept is called shifting balance theory. There has been a lot of work on shifting balance theory suggesting that it well be much more common than previously thought.

• Phenotypic flexibility

• One may wrongly assumed that if a mutation occurs to make, say, a bone a big longer, then one organism would simultaneously need mutations that would make muscles, nerves and other tissues longer accordingly. In reality our developmental process is very flexible to an environmental change or to a mutational change. This flexibility is very much used in medicine and agriculture. If a bone gets a bit longer, muscle might just stretch a little more and end up developing in accordance to the new mutation. It would therefore be wrong to assume that because we are made of a complex interaction of traits, that a mutation cannot bring anything that would not be beneficial. If you are interested in the evolution of complex system you might want to have a look at the post How did the cardiovascular system evolve? for example.

• Shifting Balance Theory

• There are a number of different forces that affect evolutionary processes. Layman often think of natural selection as being the only force causing evolution but this is wrong. Genetic drift is another very important process that affect evolutionary process. Genetic drift refers to the random sampling of individual at one generation to build up the successive generation. The relative importance of drift to natural selection in driving evolution of a population depends on the effective population size. Have a look at Why is the strength of genetic drift inversely proportional to the population size?. Genetic drift can typically randomly yield a population toward a fitness valley, from which natural selection will yield the population to either come back or start climbing the opposite fitness peak. This concept is called shifting balance theory. There has been a lot of work on shifting balance theory suggesting that it well be much more common than previously thought.

• Phenotypic flexibility

• One may wrongly assumed that if a mutation occurs to make, say, a bone a big longer, then one organism would simultaneously need mutations that would make muscles, nerves and other tissues longer accordingly. In reality our developmental process is very flexible to an environmental change or to a mutational change. This flexibility is very much used in medicine and agriculture. If a bone gets a bit longer, muscle might just stretch a little more and end up developing in accordance to the new mutation. It would therefore be wrong to assume that because we are made of a complex interaction of traits, that a mutation cannot bring anything that would not be beneficial. If you are interested in the evolution of complex system you might want to have a look at the post How did the cardiovascular system evolve? for example.

This is one of the most common argument from religious extremists. Of course, I am not suggesting that you are taking an opinion-based position, you might well be genuily seeking for an understanding of the world.

The term "evolutionary midways" is not used in biology but there is a correct way to rephrase this question (see below). There are already tons of online resources that debunk this fallacy (just google your question) but I guess, I'll just quickly write one more!

Rephrasing your question in standard terms

• fitness valley
• The movement from one locally high fitness state to another might well get through a region of low fitness. This is what you call fitness valley and on the fitness landscape and this is what you are interested in.

Statements of the kind "Evolution is impossible because of intermediate state" are common from religious extremists literature. There is therefore a lot of resource online that already debunk this type of statement but I guess, I'll just quickly write one more! Of course, I am not suggesting that you are taking an opinion-based position, you might well be genuily seeking for an understanding of the world.

Fitness landscape and fitness valley

The term "evolutionary midways" is not used in biology but one can rephrase it with the concept of fitness landscape and fitness valley.

• Fitness landscape

• The fitness landscape is the function that maps fitness (generally represented in y-axis) to phenotypic trait value (typically multi-dimensional but often represented on a single axis for simplicity). Fitness landscape may also refer to the mapping from genotype to fitness but we will not be concerned with that for this answer.

• Fitness valley

• A fitness valley refers to a region of low fitness on the fitness landscape. The movement from one locally high fitness state to another locally high fitness peak might well get through a region of low fitness. This is what you call fitness valley and on the fitness landscape and this is what you are interested in.

Common question flag

It is a common question