General introduction to the symposium on evolutionary developmental biology: Paradigms, problems, and prospects

SYNOPSIS. This symposium undertakes to examine some historical background r elevant to the renaissance in biological studies linking evolution and deve lopment, to review the current status of research in this rapidly changing area (especially the problem of forging links between disciplines that have gone in divergent directions), to address the benefits and difficulties th at arise from molecular studies of the relationship between evolution and d evelopment, and to help set the research agenda in evolutionary development al biology in the next few years. Rather than introducing the individual co ntributions that follow, this paper aims to set some historical background for the topics they cover. I argue that old questions about the relationshi p of development to evolution, raised by such figures as William Bateson an d Richard Goldschmidt, remain relevant to contemporary work, though they re quire major reformulation in light of subsequent developments. Many older q uestions, long set aside as intractable, remain open. Recently developed te chniques may enable us to answer some of them. Accordingly, I suggest, it i s worth reviewing the work of several historical figures in setting current research agendas.