Oct. 24-26, 2009, Yingjie Overseas Exchange Center, Peking University, Beijing, China中文版

Evolution: The Most Important Theory in Biology

Douglas J. Futuyma

State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA

Abstract

Evolution is both a fact and a theory: the most comprehensive explanation of the features and diversity of living things. It is the most important theory in biology, yet is surrounded by paradoxes. Despite the simplicity of its central concepts, evolution has a long history of misunderstandings. Despite its lack of moral or prescriptive content, evolution has been used to justify social policies that range from the admirable to the appalling. Despite the increasingly important role evolutionary principles and knowledge play in human biology, evolution is rejected bymany people in some of the most technologically advanced countries. Of all the biological disciplines, evolutionary biology has the most far-reaching philosophical implications and the most diverse applications to society. I will outline some of the major principles of evolution and will illustrate its fundamental role in biological science and some of its many applications to human affairs.

Douglas J. Futuyma

State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA

Biography

Douglas J. Futuyma is a Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. Born in New York City, he received his B.S. from Cornell University (1963) and his Ph. D. from the University of Michigan (1969). His research concerns speciation, the evolution of interactions between species, especially herbivorous insects and their host plants, and implications of evolution for ecological communities. He is the author of the textbooks Evolutionary Biology (3 editions) and Evolution (2 editions), and of Science on Trial: The Case for Evolution (1982, 1995), which concerned the conflict between science and creationism. He is the editor of Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, and has been the editor of Evolution. He has been a Guggenheim fellow and a Fulbright senior scholar, and president of the Society for the Study of Evolution, the American Society of Naturalists, and the American Institute of Biological Sciences. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996 and the U. S. National Academy of Sciences in 2006. He is an avid naturalist.