Dollo's law

Dollo's law

Dollo's Law or Dollo's Principle is a hypothesis proposed by French-born Belgian paleontologist Louis Dollo (1857-1931) in 1890 that states that evolution is not reversible. This law was first stated by Dollo in this way: "An organism is unable to return, even partially, to a previous stage already realized in the ranks of its ancestors." [Dollo, quoted in "Evolution: Ammonites Indicate Reversal," in "Nature", March 21, 1970] . According to this hypothesis a structure or organ that has been lost or discarded through the process of evolution will not reappear in that line of organisms.

According to Richard Dawkins, the law is "really just a statement about the statistical improbability of following exactly the same evolutionary trajectory twice (or, indeed, any particular trajectory), in either direction." [cite book | first = Richard | last = Dawkins | authorlink = Richard Dawkins | title = The Blind Watchmaker | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. | location = New York | origyear = 1986 | year = 1996 | id = ISBN 0-393-31570-3 ] Stephen Gould viewed the idea less strictly, suggesting that "irreversibility" forecloses certain evolutionary pathways once broad forms have emerged: " [For example] , once you adopt the ordinary body plan of a reptile, hundreds of options are forever closed, and future possibilities must unfold within the limits of inherited design." [Gould, Stephen J. [1993] (2007) "Eight little piggies," Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-099-50744-4]

ee also

*Entropy and life
*Irreversibility

References

External links

* [http://www.corante.com/loom/archives/000796.html The Loom: Recoil From Dollo's Law]
* [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=45421 Dollo's Law and the Death and Resurrection of Genes]


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  • Dollo's law of irreversibility — (also known as Dollo s law and Dollo s principle) is a hypothesis proposed in 1893[1] by French born Belgian paleontologist Louis Dollo which states that evolution is not reversible. This hypothesis was first stated by Dollo in this way: An… …   Wikipedia

  • Dollo's law — ▪ biology       biological principle, formulated about 1890 by Louis Dollo, a French born Belgian paleontologist, that evolution is not reversible; i.e., structures or functions discarded during the course of evolution do not reappear in a given… …   Universalium

  • dollo's law — ˈdä(ˌ)lōz noun Usage: usually capitalized D Etymology: after Louis Dollo died 1931 Belgian paleontologist : a generalization in biology: characters lost in the course of evolution are never regained in the original form …   Useful english dictionary

  • Dollo's law — phyletic development is irreversible, i.e., reversion to an ancestral peculiarity (atavism) is impossible …   Medical dictionary

  • Louis Dollo — Louis Dollo …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Louis Dollo — Infobox Scientist name = PAGENAME box width = image size =150px caption = PAGENAME birth date = December 7, 1857 birth place = death date = 1931 death place = residence = |citizenship = French nationality = Belgian ethnicity = field =… …   Wikipedia

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  • Dollosches Gesetz — Das Dollo sche Gesetz der Irreversibilität der Entwicklung bezieht sich auf das biologische Fachgebiet der Evolution und besagt, dass eine gewisse Komplexität, einst verloren gegangen, keinesfalls in einem phylogenetisch jüngeren Organismus… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Dollosches — Das Dollo sche Gesetz der Irreversibilität der Entwicklung bezieht sich auf das biologische Fachgebiet der Evolution und besagt, dass eine gewisse Komplexität, einst verloren gegangen, keinesfalls in einem phylogenetisch älteren Organismus… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Devolution (biology) — In common parlance, devolution , de evolution , or backward evolution is the notion that a species can change into a more primitive form. Biologically, it is a misnomer because evolution does not have a direction or motive. So, its reverse is not …   Wikipedia

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