title: Experimental macroevolution.
abstract: The convergence of several disparate research programmes raises the possibility that the long-term evolutionary processes of innovation and radiation may become amenable to laboratory experimentation. Ancestors might be resurrected directly from naturally stored propagules or tissues, or indirectly from the expression of ancestral genes in contemporary genomes. New kinds of organisms might be evolved through artificial selection of major developmental genes. Adaptive radiation can be studied by mimicking major ecological transitions in the laboratory. All of these possibilities are subject to severe quantitative and qualitative limitations. In some cases, however, laboratory experiments may be capable of illuminating the processes responsible for the evolution of new kinds of organisms.
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, McGill University, 1205 avenue docteur Penfield, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1B1 graham.bell@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016678:Genome
keywords: adaptive radiation; ancestral resurrection; ecological transition; experimental evolution; innovation; macroevolution