Study of evolutionary changes in physiological characteristics
Natural andsexual selection are often presumed to act most directly onbehavior (e.g., what an animal chooses to do when confronted by a predator), which is expressed within limits set by whole-organism performanceabilities (e.g., how fast it can run) that are determined bysubordinatetraits (e.g., muscle fiber-type composition). A weakness of thisconceptual andoperational model[1] is the absence of an explicit recognition of the place oflife history traits.
The origins of evolutionary physiology can be traced to early 20th-century Russian biology. In 1914, zoologist A. N. Severtsov published work on the evolutionary morphology of organ systems, linking physiological function with adaptive evolution.[7] Severtsov and his students developed a Soviet tradition of integrating physiology, morphology, and evolutionary theory, which influenced later studies of adaptation in both plants and animals.[8]As the name implies, evolutionary physiology is the product of a merger between two distinct scientific disciplines. According to Garland and Carter,[3] evolutionary physiology arose in the late 1970s, following debates concerning the metabolic and thermoregulatory status ofdinosaurs (seephysiology of dinosaurs) andmammal-like reptiles.
Shortly thereafter, selection experiments andexperimental evolution became increasingly common in evolutionary physiology. Macrophysiology has emerged as a sub-discipline, in which practitioners attempt to identify large-scale patterns in physiological traits (e.g. patterns of co-variation withlatitude) and their ecological implications.[11][12][13]
More recently, the importance of evolutionary physiology has been argued from the perspective of functional analyses,epigenetics, and anextended evolutionary synthesis.[14] The growth of evolutionary physiology is also reflected in the emergence of sub-disciplines, such as evolutionary biomechanics[15][16] and evolutionaryendocrinology,[17][18] which addresses such hybrid questions as "What are the most common endocrine mechanisms that respond to selection on behavior or life-history traits?"[19]
As a hybrid scientific discipline, evolutionary physiology provides some unique perspectives. For example, an understanding of physiological mechanisms can help in determining whether a particular pattern of phenotypic variation or co-variation (such as anallometric relationship) represents what could possibly exist or just what selection has allowed.[3][20][21]Similarly, a thorough knowledge of physiological mechanisms can greatly enhance understanding of possible reasons for evolutionary correlations and constraints than is possible for many of the traits typically studied by evolutionary biologists (such asmorphology).
In the United States, research in evolutionary physiology is funded mainly by theNational Science Foundation. A number of scientific societies feature sections that encompass evolutionary physiology, including:
^Garland, Theodore Jr.; Carter, Peter A. (1993). "Evolutionary physiology".Annual Review of Physiology.55:137–169.doi:10.1146/annurev.ph.55.030193.001021 (inactive 13 October 2025).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of October 2025 (link)
^Lovegrove, B. G. (2006). "The power of fitness in mammals: perceptions from the African slipstream".Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.79 (2):224–236.doi:10.1086/499994.PMID16555182.S2CID24536395.
^Severtsov, A. N. (1914).Main Directions of the Evolutionary Process [Основные направления эволюционного процесса] (in Russian). Moscow: Imperial Moscow University Press.
^Reshetnikov, Yu. S. (1988). "The legacy of A. N. Severtsov and the development of evolutionary physiology in Russia" [Наследие А. Н. Северцова и развитие эволюционной физиологии в России].Journal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology (in Russian).24:385–393.
^Feder, M. E.; A. F. Bennett; W. W. Burggren; R. B. Huey, eds. (1987).New directions in ecological physiology. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.ISBN978-0-521-34938-3.
^Kingsolver, J. G (1988). "Evolutionary physiology: Where's the ecology? A review of New Directions in Ecological physiology, Feder et al. 1987".Ecology.69 (5):1645–1646.doi:10.2307/1941674.JSTOR1941674.
^Bacigalupe, L. D.; F. Bozinovic (2002). "Animal design and sustained metabolic rate".Journal of Experimental Biology.205 (Pt 19):2963–2970.doi:10.1242/jeb.205.19.2963.PMID12200400.
