Evolutionary developmental biology

Evolutionary developmental biology studies how changes in embryonic development and gene regulation produce evolutionary changes in organisms and their traits.

Hox genes: A family of genes that encode transcription factors specifying body-region identities along an animal's head-to-tail axis. Changes in their expression can alter the placement and identity of body structures.
Embryogenesis: The process by which an embryo forms and develops from a fertilized egg. It is the developmental process whose evolutionary changes the field investigates.
Darwin's finches: A group of Galápagos birds whose beak forms and ecological differences became central examples in evolutionary biology. Changes in beak development help explain how ecological adaptation produces different forms.
Ernst Haeckel: A nineteenth-century German biologist who studied evolution and proposed the biogenetic law linking embryonic development to ancestry. His influential but flawed ideas made development central to early debates about evolution.
Evolutionary novelty: A trait or structure that is evolutionarily new relative to an organism's ancestors. Developmental systems can generate new structures by modifying or reusing existing processes.
Gene regulatory network: A system of interacting genes and regulatory molecules that controls patterns of gene expression. Evolutionary changes in network connections can reshape developmental outcomes.
Developmental biology: The study of how organisms grow and develop, from fertilization through maturity. Evolutionary developmental biology combines its questions and methods with evolutionary explanation.
Stick insect: An insect whose body often resembles a twig or leaf, providing camouflage from predators. Its repeated evolution of elongated forms connects developmental patterning with camouflage.
Walter Garstang: A British zoologist who challenged the idea that embryonic development simply recapitulates evolutionary history. His critique helped establish that developmental change can redirect evolutionary pathways.
Evolvability: The capacity of a biological system to generate heritable variation on which evolution can act. Developmental architecture influences which variations arise and can be inherited.

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