Introduction to “What Salamander Biologists Have Taught Us About Evo–Devo”

James Griesemer has delivered groundbreaking analyses of evolutionary biology for four decades using a combination of historical, sociological, and philosophical tools. A primary area of interest has been the relationship between evolution and development. In “What Salamander Biologists Have Taught Us About Evo–Devo,” Griesemer explores David Wake’s taxon-based research for understanding evolutionary processes that was facilitated by a distinctive kind of multi-dimensional model (a model clade). By introducing new analytic categories, such as packages of problems and phenomena or the notion of selective export, Griesemer advances our comprehension of how biologists strategically generalize across different domains and levels of organization while keeping in view historical contingency, ultimately showing how multidisciplinary communities of inquiry mind the gap between development and evolution.