Multiplicity of Time Scales in the Biological Evolution

Life on the Earth is about 4 billion years old. The evolution of the biological systems (phylogenesis) is conventionally described as Darwinian. However, the life and the evolution of individual biological systems (ontogeny) range from a few weeks for a fruit fly to thousands of years for pine trees and sponges. The time scales for biological systems are given by the reaction coefficients in the metabolism and the systems genetics. Here it is argued that the two evolutions (phylogenesis and ontogeny) are connected by the fact that the evolution of cell polarity, leading to the Cambrian explosion, is related with the metabolism. This suggests that evolution may be controlled by mechanisms other than the Darwinian, namely by Turing structures for reactions in the confined systems of cells and multicellular embryos.