Reticulation

Reticulate evolution in biology occurs through various mechanisms and processes, including symbiosis, symbiogenesis, lateral gene transfer, hybridization, and infectious heredity. In language and culture, reticulation occurs through processes of friendly or hostile contact, imitation, borrowing, or theft. During reticulation, information is exchanged horizontally, within communities, rather than vertically, from one generation to the next. Nonetheless, horizontal exchange can have significant consequences on evolution. 

I study the scientific roots and etymological origins of concepts such as symbiosis and symbiogenesis, how reticulate evolution challenges traditional Neo-Darwinian theories on biological evolution, and how symbiosis theory can be universalized just like natural selection theory has been universalized to study language and sociocultural evolution, I'm also very interested in how reticulate evolution requires us to understand evolution at a community level and how biological reticulation impacts sociocultural evolution.

Major papers on reticulate evolution

History of Symbiosis. (2025). With Aurore Franco-Ricord and Ombre Tarragnat. Reference Module in Life Sciences. In: Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, 2nd Edition, Elsevier (forthcoming)

History of Symbiogenesis. (2025). With Aurore Franco-Ricord and Ombre Tarragnat. Reference Module in Life Sciences. In: Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, 2nd Edition, Elsevier (forthcoming)

Reticulate evolution underlies synergistic trait formation in human communities. (2022). With Anton Sukhoverkhov. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 32 (1).

Non-genetic inheritance: Evolution above the organismal level. (2021). With Anton Sukhoverkhov. BioSystems, 200: 104325.

Testing the (Neo-)Darwinian Principles against Reticulate Evolution: How Variation, Adaptation, Heredity and Fitness, Constraints and Affordances, Speciation, and Extinction Surpass Organisms and Species. (2020). Information 11 (7), 352.

Symbiogenesis, History of. (2016). In: Kliman, R.L. (ed) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology (261-271). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Symbiosis, History of. (2016). In: Kliman, R.L. (ed) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology (272-281). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Introducing Universal Symbiogenesis. (2012). In: O. Pombo et al. (eds.), Special Sciences and the Unity of Science. 89-111. Dordrecht: Springer.

Universal symbiogenesis: a genuine alternative to universal selectionist accounts. (2007) Symbiosis 44: 167-181. 

Evolutionary epistemology and the origin and evolution of language: Taking symbiogenesis seriously. (2004). N. Gontier et al. (eds.), Evolutionary Epistemology, Language and Culture, Springer. 195–226.