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Degeneracy: a link between evolvability, robustness and complexity in biological systems

Overview of attention for article published in Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling, February 2010
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Among the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#17 of 287)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (95th percentile)
  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source

Mentioned by

blogs
2 blogs
twitter
10 X users
facebook
3 Facebook pages
wikipedia
8 Wikipedia pages
googleplus
1 Google+ user

Citations

dimensions_citation
155 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
306 Mendeley
citeulike
6 CiteULike
connotea
2 Connotea
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Title
Degeneracy: a link between evolvability, robustness and complexity in biological systems
Published in
Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling, February 2010
DOI 10.1186/1742-4682-7-6
Pubmed ID
Authors

James M Whitacre

Abstract

A full accounting of biological robustness remains elusive; both in terms of the mechanisms by which robustness is achieved and the forces that have caused robustness to grow over evolutionary time. Although its importance to topics such as ecosystem services and resilience is well recognized, the broader relationship between robustness and evolution is only starting to be fully appreciated. A renewed interest in this relationship has been prompted by evidence that mutational robustness can play a positive role in the discovery of adaptive innovations (evolvability) and evidence of an intimate relationship between robustness and complexity in biology.This paper offers a new perspective on the mechanics of evolution and the origins of complexity, robustness, and evolvability. Here we explore the hypothesis that degeneracy, a partial overlap in the functioning of multi-functional components, plays a central role in the evolution and robustness of complex forms. In support of this hypothesis, we present evidence that degeneracy is a fundamental source of robustness, it is intimately tied to multi-scaled complexity, and it establishes conditions that are necessary for system evolvability.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 306 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 9 3%
United Kingdom 7 2%
Germany 3 <1%
France 3 <1%
Chile 2 <1%
Hungary 2 <1%
Japan 2 <1%
Australia 1 <1%
India 1 <1%
Other 8 3%
Unknown 268 88%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 72 24%
Researcher 69 23%
Professor > Associate Professor 24 8%
Professor 23 8%
Student > Bachelor 22 7%
Other 63 21%
Unknown 33 11%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 92 30%
Computer Science 34 11%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 30 10%
Engineering 20 7%
Neuroscience 18 6%
Other 74 24%
Unknown 38 12%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 27. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 October 2023.
All research outputs
#1,426,774
of 25,559,053 outputs
Outputs from Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling
#17
of 287 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,778
of 103,497 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling
#4
of 6 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,559,053 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 94th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 287 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 103,497 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 6 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 2 of them.