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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Royal Society Open Science

A niche construction-based approach to evolution by natural selection without reproduction—proof of concept and implications

  • François Papale1
  • Yuri Kulish2
  • Joseph Bielawski2
  • Louis-Patrick Haraoui3,4,5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Philosophy, McGill University 1 , Montreal, Québec, Canada
  2. 2Department of Biology, Dalhousie University 2 , Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  3. 3Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Université de Sherbrooke 3 , Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
  4. 4Centre de recherche Charles-Le Moyne, CISSS Montérégie-Centre 4 , Greenfield Park, Québec, Canada
  5. 5Healthy Microbiomes in a Changing World, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research 5 , Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Abstract

In past decades, conceptual analysis has established that evolution by natural selection (ENS) can occur without reproduction (Bouchard 2008 Philos. Sci. 75, 560–570 (doi:10.1086/594507); Papale, 2021 Synthese 198, 10 429–10 455 (doi:10.1007/s11229-020-02729-6)). The aim of this paper is to provide a computational proof of concept for this theoretical advance and to start assessing some of its conceptual upshots. To do so, we designed an agent-based model that introduces and defends a niche construction-based account of ENS without reproduction (ENSwR, pronounced like ‘answer’). Our results provide a computationally tractable proof of concept for ENSwR and a basis to reflect on some of its conceptual implications for debates regarding the origins of life. First, conceptual analysis suggests that ENSwR provides a novel explanatory framework that supports origins of life theories in which autocatalytic sets (ACSs) of chemical reactions play a central role (Xavier, Kauffman 2022 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 380, 20210244 (doi:10.1098/rsta.2021.0244)). Second, through a discussion of the hydrothermal vent theory for the origins of life, we show that ENSwR will contribute to explaining the evolutionary origins of reproduction.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{papale2026niche,
  title = {{A niche construction-based approach to evolution by natural selection without reproduction—proof of concept and implications}},
  author = {François Papale and Yuri Kulish and Joseph Bielawski and Louis-Patrick Haraoui},
  journal = {Royal Society Open Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1098/rsos.260737},
  url = {https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/10/260737/483647/A-niche-construction-based-approach-to-evolution},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - A niche construction-based approach to evolution by natural selection without reproduction—proof of concept and implications
AU  - François Papale
AU  - Yuri Kulish
AU  - Joseph Bielawski
AU  - Louis-Patrick Haraoui
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
JO  - Royal Society Open Science
DO  - 10.1098/rsos.260737
UR  - https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/10/260737/483647/A-niche-construction-based-approach-to-evolution
AB  - In past decades, conceptual analysis has established that evolution by natural selection (ENS) can occur without reproduction (Bouchard 2008 Philos. Sci. 75, 560–570 (doi:10.1086/594507); Papale, 2021 Synthese 198, 10 429–10 455 (doi:10.1007/s11229-020-02729-6)). The aim of this paper is to provide a computational proof of concept for this theoretical advance and to start assessing some of its conceptual upshots. To do so, we designed an agent-based model that introduces and defends a niche construction-based account of ENS without reproduction (ENSwR, pronounced like ‘answer’). Our results provide a computationally tractable proof of concept for ENSwR and a basis to reflect on some of its conceptual implications for debates regarding the origins of life. First, conceptual analysis suggests that ENSwR provides a novel explanatory framework that supports origins of life theories in which autocatalytic sets (ACSs) of chemical reactions play a central role (Xavier, Kauffman 2022 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 380, 20210244 (doi:10.1098/rsta.2021.0244)). Second, through a discussion of the hydrothermal vent theory for the origins of life, we show that ENSwR will contribute to explaining the evolutionary origins of reproduction.
SN  - 2054-5703
ER  -