Towards a new evolutionary synthesis

New concepts and information from molecular developmental biology, systemat ics, geology and the fossil record of all groups of organisms, need to be i ntegrated into an expanded evolutionary synthesis. These fields of study sh ow that large-scale evolutionary phenomena cannot be understood solely on t he basis of extrapolation from processes observed at the level of modern po pulations and species. Patterns and rates of evolution are much more varied than had been conceived by Darwin or the evolutionary synthesis, and physi cal factors of the earth's history have had a significant, but extremely va ried, impact on the evolution of life.