Conceituando espécie: uma discussão a partir do quadro conceitual de Darwin

Matheus de Mesquita Silveira; Heloísa Allgayer

doi:10.47456/sofia.v14i1.47718

Authors

Matheus de Mesquita Silveira UNISINOS – Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5774-6554
Heloísa Allgayer SAP Labs Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2597-6750

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47456/sofia.v14i1.47718

Keywords:

Darwin, species, evolutionism, morphology, physiology

Abstract

This article investigates the Darwinian concept of species and its consequences for classifying living beings. In his formulation of evolutionary theory, Darwin (1872) introduces the concept of species as segments of population lineages. In this perspective, natural selection acts gradually and produces slight variations in individuals over time. The author links the evolutionary component with the idea that the species consists of taxonomic classification, in which strongly marked varieties are the central criterion for classifying descendant lineages. Later formulations of evolutionism maintained these components but sought to replace the classification criterion with more objective bases. The result was a proliferation of definitions and consequent controversy on the topic. The article argues that the historical inadequacies of Darwin's definition contributed to the emergence of this discussion. In conclusion, an argument in favor of natural selection will be developed based on the discussion between physiology and morphology as mechanisms for the emergence of new species.

Author Biographies

Matheus de Mesquita Silveira, UNISINOS – Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos

Professor do PPG Filosofia na Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (2024-atual); Coordenador do grupo X-Lab: philosophy, ethology and cognition (2015-atual); Pesquisador associado no International Wolf Center (2011-atual); Pós-Doutor em Etologia pelo International Wolf Center, Doutor em filosofia pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos com intercâmbio na City University of New York; Mestre em filosofia pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos com intercâmbio na Universidad de Buenos Aires; Bacharel e Licenciado em filosofia pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos; Especialização em etologia de canídeos pelo International Wolf Center.
Heloísa Allgayer, SAP Labs Brasil

Custom Code Management BTP ABAP na SAP Labs Brasil (2023-atual); Pesquisadora associada a Associação Brasileira de Filosofia e História da Biologia; Pós-Doutora em Filosofia pela Universidade de Caxias do Sul; Doutora em biologia pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Mestre em filosofia pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos; Bacharel e Licenciada em biologia pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos; Especialização em Big Data, Data Science e Data Analytics.

References

BATES, H. W. 1863. A naturalist on the river Amazons. In: Busk, G.; Currey, F. Huxley, T. H.; McDonnell, R.; Sclater, P. L.; Carpenter, W. B.; Reay Greene, J.; Lubbock, J.; Oliver, D.; Thomson, W.; Wright, E. P. (eds.) The Natural History Review: a Quarterly Journal of Biological Sciences. London: Hodges & Smith, 385-389.

BATESON, W. 1913. Problems of Genetics. New Haven: Yale University Press.

BATESON, W. 1922. Evolutionary faith and modern doubts. Science 55: 55-61.

BIRCHLER, J. A.; YAO, H.; Chudalayandi, S.; Vaiman, D.; Veitia, R. A. 2010. Heterosis. Plant Cell. 22: 2105-2112.

BLAIR, W. F. 1955. Mating call and stage of speciation in the Microhylid olivacea - M. carolinensis complex. Evolution 9: 469-480.

BUFFON, G. L. 1764. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi. Paris: Honoré Champion.

CHETVERIKOV, S. S. 1926. О некоторых моментах эволюционного процесса с точки зрения современной генетики. Journal of Experimental Biology, Series A 2: 3–54.

COYNE, J.A. & ORR, H. A. 2004. Speciation. Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.

CRACRAFT. J. 1989. Speciation and its ontology: the empirical consequences of alternative species concepts for understanding patterns and processes of differentiation. In: Otte, D.; Endler, J.A.; (eds.) Speciation and its Consequences. Sunderland: Sinauer Associates, 28-59.

CURTSINGER, J. W. 2001. Senescence: Genetic Theories. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, p. 13897–13902.

DARWIN, C. 1871. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray.

DARWIN, C. 1872. The origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray.

DASMAHAPATRA, K. K.; ELIAS, M.; HILL, R. I.; HOFFMANN, J. I.; MALLET, J. 2010. Mitochondrial DNA barcoding detects some species that are real, and some that are not. Molecular Ecology Resources 10: 264-273.

DOBZHANSKY, T. 1937. Genetics and the Origin of Species. New York: Columbia University Press.

DRÈS, M.; MALLET, J. 2002. Host races in plant-feeding insects and their importance in sympatric speciation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences 357: 471-492.

FARIA, L. C. B. 2011. Existências de Códigos Corretores de Erros e Protocolos de Comunicação em Sequencias de DNA. Tese (Doutorado em Engenharia Elétrica) - Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-SP.

GAVRILETS, S. 2004. Fitness Landscapes and the Origin of Species. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

GRANT, V. 1966. The selective origin of incompatibility barriers in the plant genus, Gilia. American Naturalist 100: 99-118.

HENDRY, A. P.; NOSIL, P.; RIESEBERG, L. H. 2007. The speed of ecological speciation. Functional Ecology 21: 455-464.

HILÁRIO, S.; GONÇALVES, M. F. M.; ALVES, A. 2021. Using Genealogical Concordance and Coalescent-Based Species Delimitation to Assess Species Boundaries in the Diaporthe eres Complex. Journal of Fungi 7: 507.

HOELZEL, A. R.; HEY, J.; DAHLHEIM, M. E.; NICHOLSON, C.; BURKANOV, V.; BLACK, N. 2007. Evolution of population structure in a highly social top predator, the killer whale. Molecular Biology and Evolution 24: 1407-1415.

HUELSENBECK, J. P.; ANDOLFATTO, P. 2007. Inference of population structure under a Dirichlet process model. Genetics 175: 1787-1802.

HUXLEY, T.H. 1860. Darwin on the origin of species. Westminster Review 17: 541-570.

HUXLEY, T.H. 1887. On the reception of the 'Origin of Species'. In: Darwin, F. (ed.) The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: Including an Autobiographical Chapter & Edited by his Son - Volume 2. London: John Murray, 179-204.

JOHNSON, N. A. 2008. Direct selection for reproductive isolation: the Wallace effect. In: Smith, C.H.; Beccaloni, G. (eds.) Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russell Wallace. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 114-124.

JORDAN, K. 1905. Der Gegensatz zwischen geographischer und nichtgeographischer Variation. Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie 83: 151-210.

KOTTLER, M. J. 1985. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace: two decades of debate over natural selection. In: Kohn, D. (ed.) The Darwinian Heritage. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 367-432.

KREMENTSOV, N. L. 1994. Dobzhansky and Russian entomology: the origin of his ideas on species and speciation. In: Adams, M. B. (ed.) The Evolution of Theodosius Dobzhansky. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 31-48.

LOVEJOY, A. O. 1968. The argument for organic evolution before The Origin of Species, 1830-1858. In: Glass B, Temkin O, Straus WL, eds. Forerunners of Darwin: 1745-1859. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins Press, 356-414.

MALLET, J. 1995. A species definition for the Modern Synthesis. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 10: 294-299.

MALLET, J. 2008b. Mayr's view of Darwin: was Darwin wrong about speciation? Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 95: 3-16.

MALLET, J. 2010a. Group selection and the development of the biological species concept. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 365: 1853-1863.

MALLET, J. 2010b. Why was Darwin's view of species rejected by 20th Century biologists? Biology and Philosophy 25: 497-527.

MAYR, E. 1963. Animal Species and Evolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

ORR, H. A. 2009. Testing natural selection. Scientific American 300: 44-51.

OWEN, R. 1859. On the classification and geographical distribution of the Mammalia, being the lecture on Sir Robert Reade's foundation, delivered before the University of Cambridge, in the Senate-House, May 10, 1859. To which is added an appendix "on the gorilla," and "on the extinction and transmutation of species". London: John Parker & Son.

PECCOUD, J.; OLLIVIER, A.; PLANTAGENEST, M.; SIMON, J. C. 2009. Adaptive radiation in the pea aphid complex through gradual cessation of gene flow. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 7495-7500.

PINZÓN, J. H.; LAJEUNESSE, T. C. 2011. Species delimitation of common reef corals in the genus Pocillopora using nucleotide sequence phylogenies, population genetics and symbiosis ecology. Molecular Ecology 20:311-25.

PRITCHARD, J. K.; STEPHENS, M.; DONNELLY, P. 2000. Inference of population structure using multilocus genotype data. Genetics 155: 945-959.

REGNER, A. C. K. 2006. The evolution of the philosophy of biology. Biology and Philosophy 21: 437–442.

RICE, W. R. 1984. Disruptive selection on habitat preference and the evolution of reproductive isolation: a simulation study. Evolution 38, 1251–1260.

ROMANES, G. J. 1886. Physiological selection; an additional suggestion on the Origin of Species. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 19: 337-411.

RUSE, M. 1987. Biological species: natural kinds, individuals, or what? British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38: 225-242.

WAGNER, M. 1868. Darwin'sche theorie und das migrationsgesetz der organismen. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.

WALLACE, A. R. 1889. Darwinism: an exposition of the theory of natural selection with some of its applications. London: Macmillan & Co.

WALLACE, A. R. 1916. Alfred Russel Wallace: letters and reminiscences. Ed. J. Marchant. New York: Harper.

WEISROCK, D. W.; RASOLOARISON, R. M.; FIORENTINO, I.; RALISON, J. M.; GOODMAN, S. M.; KAPPELER, P. M.; YODER, A. D. 2010. Delimiting species without nuclear monophyly in Madagascar's mouse lemurs. PloS One 5: e9883.

WILSON, D. S.; WILSON, E. O. 2007. Rethinking the theoretical foundation of sociobiology. Quarterly Review of Biology 82: 327-348.

YANG, Z.; RANNALA, B. 2010. Bayesian species delimitation using multilocus sequence data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107: 9264-9269.

ZENG, Y. F.; LIAO, W. J.; PETIT, R. J.; ZHANG, D. Y. 2010. Exploring species limits in two closely related Chinese oaks. PloS One 5: e15529.