The Evolution of Sex through the Baldwin Effect

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the haploid-diploid cycle of eukaryotic sex is an example of the Baldwin effect, with landscape ruggedness influencing its evolutionary benefits and mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel explanation linking the haploid-diploid cycle to the Baldwin effect and uses the NK model to analyze how landscape ruggedness affects its utility.

Findings

Varying landscape ruggedness changes the benefit of the haploid-diploid cycle.

Pre-meiotic doubling and recombination benefits depend on landscape ruggedness.

The Baldwin effect provides a unifying perspective on the evolution of sex.

Abstract

This paper suggests that the fundamental haploid-diploid cycle of eukaryotic sex exploits a rudimentary form of the Baldwin effect. With this explanation for the basic cycle, the other associated phenomena can be explained as evolution tuning the amount and frequency of learning experienced by an organism. Using the well-known NK model of fitness landscapes it is shown that varying landscape ruggedness varies the benefit of the haploid-diploid cycle, whether based upon endomitosis or syngamy. The utility of pre-meiotic doubling and recombination during the cycle are also shown to vary with landscape ruggedness. This view is suggested as underpinning, rather than contradicting, many existing explanations for sex.