Editing Punctuated equilibrium (section)

== History ==

Punctuated equilibrium originated as a logical consequence of [[Ernst Mayr]]'s concept of [[Founder effect|genetic revolutions]] by [[allopatric speciation|allopatric]] and especially [[peripatric speciation]] as applied to the fossil record. Although the sudden appearance of species and its relationship to speciation was proposed and identified by Mayr in 1954,<ref name=Mayr1954 /> [[history of science|historians of science]] generally recognize the 1972 Eldredge and Gould paper as the basis of the new [[paleobiology|paleobiological]] research program.<ref name="Mayr1992">[[Ernst Mayr|Mayr, Ernst]] (1992). "Speciational Evolution or Punctuated Equilibria." In Albert Somit and Steven Peterson ''The Dynamics of Evolution''. New York: Cornell University Press, pp. 21-48.</ref><ref>Shermer, Michael (2001). ''The Borderlands of Science''. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. [https://www.docdroid.net/29yd6nq/michael-shermer-the-paradox-of-the-paradigm.pdf 97-116.]{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>Geary, Dana (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=6iVOHEVeSFMC&pg=PA127 "The Legacy of Punctuated equilibrium."] In Warren D. Allmon et al. ''Stephen Jay Gould: Reflections on His View of Life''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 127-145.</ref><ref>Prothero, D. (2007). [https://archive.org/details/evolutionwhatfos00prot_0/page/78 "Punk eek, Transitional Formsand Quote Miners."] In ''Evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters''. New York: Columbia University Press, pp.&nbsp;78–85.</ref> Punctuated equilibrium differs from Mayr's ideas mainly in that Eldredge and Gould placed considerably greater emphasis on stasis, whereas Mayr was concerned with explaining the [[Morphology (biology)|morphological]] discontinuity (or "sudden jumps")<ref>Schindewolf, Otto (1936). ''Paldontologie, Entwicklungslehre und Genetik''. Berlin: Borntraeger.</ref> found in the fossil record.<ref name="Mayr1992"/> Mayr later complimented Eldredge and Gould's paper, stating that evolutionary stasis had been "unexpected by most evolutionary biologists" and that punctuated equilibrium "had a major impact on paleontology and evolutionary biology."<ref name=Mayr1992 />

A year before their 1972 Eldredge and Gould paper, [[Niles Eldredge]] published a paper in the journal ''[[Evolution (journal)|Evolution]]'' which suggested that gradual evolution was seldom seen in the fossil record and argued that Ernst Mayr's standard mechanism of [[allopatric speciation]] might suggest a possible resolution.<ref name=eldredge1971 />

The Eldredge and Gould paper was presented at the [[Geological Society of America|Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America]] in 1971.<ref name=pe1972/> The symposium focused its attention on how modern [[microevolution]]ary studies could revitalize various aspects of paleontology and macroevolution. Tom Schopf, who organized that year's meeting, assigned Gould the topic of speciation. Gould recalls that "Eldredge's 1971 publication [on [[Paleozoic]] [[trilobite]]s] had presented the only new and interesting ideas on the paleontological implications of the subject—so I asked Schopf if we could present the paper jointly."<ref name="StructureofEvolutionaryTheory">{{cite book |last=Gould |first=S. J. |author-link=Stephen Jay Gould |date=2002 |title=The Structure of Evolutionary Theory |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-00613-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/structureofevolu00goul/page/775 775] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/structureofevolu00goul/page/775 }}</ref> According to Gould "the ideas came mostly from Niles, with yours truly acting as a sounding board and eventual scribe. I coined the term ''punctuated equilibrium'' and wrote most of our 1972 paper, but Niles is the proper first author in our pairing of Eldredge and Gould."<ref name=Opus200>[[Stephen Jay Gould|S. J. Gould]] (1991). [http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_opus200.html "Opus 200"] ''Natural History'' 100 (August): 12-18.</ref> In his book ''Time Frames'' Eldredge recalls that after much discussion the pair "each wrote roughly half. Some of the parts that would seem obviously the work of one of us were actually first penned by the other—I remember for example, writing the section on Gould's snails. Other parts are harder to reconstruct. Gould edited the entire manuscript for better consistency. We sent it in, and Schopf reacted strongly against it—thus signaling the tenor of the reaction it has engendered, though for shifting reasons, down to the present day."<ref>[[Niles Eldredge|Eldredge, Niles]] (1985) ''Time Frames: The evolution of punctuated equilibria''. Princeton: [[Princeton University Press]], p. 120.</ref>

John Wilkins and Gareth Nelson have argued that French architect [[Pierre Trémaux]] proposed an "anticipation of the theory of punctuated equilibrium of Gould and Eldredge."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilkins |first1=John S. |last2=Nelson |first2=G. J. |year=2008 |title=Trémaux on species: A theory of allopatric speciation (and punctuated equilibrium) before Wagner |url=http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/3881/1/Tremaux-on-species.pdf |journal=History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences |volume=30 |issue=2|pages=179–206 |pmid=19203015 }}</ref>