Prevalence of modularly varying goals (MVG) in biology

Ascertain how frequently biological environments exhibit modularly varying goals and whether the frequency of such variation is sufficient to drive the evolution of modular networks.

Background

The MVG hypothesis posits that modularity evolves when environments change in ways that recombine recurring subproblems, facilitating reuse and rapid adaptation. Computational studies show MVG can promote modularity, but its empirical prevalence in nature is uncertain.

The authors explicitly question how common such modular environmental variation is and whether it occurs frequently enough to shape the evolution of modular architectures.