Evolutionary developmental biology (
evolution of development or informally,
evo-devo) is a field of
biology that compares the
developmental processes of different
organisms to determine the ancestral relationship between them, and to discover how developmental processes
evolved. It addresses the origin and evolution of
embryonic development; how modifications of development and developmental processes lead to the production of novel features, such as the evolution of
feathers; the role of
developmental plasticity in evolution; how
ecology impacts development and evolutionary change; and the developmental basis of
homoplasy and
homology.