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

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.