Maladaptive transitions in complexity

Abstract

Abstract The chapter broadens the attribution of maladaptation to more general traits, arguing that the evolution of complexity increases the risk of maladaptation because major evolutionary transitions use genes in the building blocks of new individualities, despite those genes retaining their evolutionary potential. The widely accepted view that biological complexity is adaptive is challenged on the basis that observable complexity is ambiguous, as an efficient result or an inefficient method. These alternatives are linked to individual- and gene-centred perspectives on evolution by natural selection. The major evolutionary transitions framework is identified as presenting an adaptive explanation of complexity, as contrasted against an alternative nonadaptive explanation. Despite an adaptive premise from the division of labour, the major evolutionary transitions are re-evaluated as a maladaptive explanation of complexity, drawing upon examples of different individualities including eukaryotic cells, multicellularity, and eusociality. Counterarguments from the competition of old and new individualities, the suppression of old individualities, and species selection are discussed. Ultimately, it is argued that complexity is likely to have adaptive and maladaptive elements.