FOGEG

FOGEG (Foundations of Genetics and Evolution Group) is an informal association of four of us (L to R: Amitabh Joshi, JNCASR; Sutirth Dey, IISER Pune; T. N. C. Vidya, JNCASR; N. G. Prasad, IISER Mohali) and we get together to work on foundational conceptual issues in evolutionary biology and genetics from time to time, having a lot of fun, and taking a break from our more usual work of evolutionary and ecological dynamics in bacteria (SD) and flies (SD, AJ, NGP), or the social organization and ecology of Asian elephants (TNCV). Sometimes our students join in, too.

The preprint of our 2017 article critiquing the more extravagant claims of niche construction proponents attracted a lot of attention and is in Altmetrics top 5% most discussed articles (top 1% among articles posted on bioRxiv) (LINK). The Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, has also blogged about this work (https://indiadst.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/indian-contribution-to-debates-on-the-conceptual-foundations-of-evolutionary-biology/).

Ongoing work includes a reconceptualization of selection and Darwinian fitness, addressing the micro- and macro-evolution dichotomy through examining changing phenotypic spaces, rethinking the role of the individual in evolutionary explanation, challenging the historiography of the 'gene's eye view of evolution', and critically examining the ongoing debates between proponents of the Modern Synthesis and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, respectively.


FOGEG Publications

Prasad, N. G., Dey, S., Joshi, A. and T. N. C. Vidya. 2015. Rethinking inheritance, yet again: inheritomes, contextomes and dynamic phenotypes. Journal of Genetics 94: 367-376. (LINK)

Gupta, M., Prasad, N. G., Dey, S., Joshi, A. and T. N. C. Vidya. 2017. Niche construction in evolutionary theory: the construction of an academic niche? Journal of Genetics 96: 491-504. (LINK) (VIDEO ABSTRACT)

Gupta, M., Prasad, N. G., Dey, S., Joshi, A. and T. N. C. Vidya. 2017. Feldman et al. do protest too much, we think. Journal of Genetics 96: 509-511. (LINK)

Vidya, T. N. C., Dey, S., Prasad, N. G. and Joshi, A. 2023a. The Darwinian core of evolutionary theory and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: similarities and differences. Pgs. 271-328 in Evolutionary Biology: Contemporary and Historical Reflections upon Core Theory (eds. T. E. Dickins and B. J. A. Dickins), Springer series – Evolutionary Biology: New Perspectives on its Development (by invitation) (preprint at https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/3688/).

Vidya, T. N. C., Dey, S., Prasad, N. G. and Joshi, A. 2023b. Causes and consequences of selection: a commentary on Baedke and Fabregas-Tejeda. Pgs. 151-157 in Evolutionary Biology: Contemporary and Historical Reflections upon Core Theory (eds. T. E. Dickins and B. J. A. Dickins), Springer series – Evolutionary Biology: New Perspectives on its Development (by invitation).

Vidya, T. N. C., Dey, S., Prasad, N. G. and Joshi, A. 2023c. Why evolution is bigger than all of us: a reply to Smocovitis. Pgs. 335-339 in Evolutionary Biology: Contemporary and Historical Reflections upon Core Theory (eds. T. E. Dickins and B. J. A. Dickins),Springer series – Evolutionary Biology: New Perspectives on its Development (by invitation).


Pictures of FOGEG at work: this is why we call this 'Happy Science'