Natural Selection and biological fitness and Evolutionary gems

What does Natural selection require?

Variation in traits

Differential reproduction

Heredity

End result

What does a genotypes fitness include?

The ability to survive, find a mate, produce offspring = leave its genes in the next generation

Fitness is not

The strongest and healthiest

live longer does not equal fitter

Fitness is

How well an organism reproduces within its lifetime

What does evolution act upon?

Individuals/genes

Selfish herd behaviour

individuals move to the middle of the herd in order to use others bodies to protect

Kin selection (inclusive fitness)

the evolutionary strategy that favours the reproductive success of an organisms relative (William Hamilton)

c

c = fitness cost to actor

b= the sum benefits to recipients affected by the behaviour

r = the average coefficient of relatedness between the actor and recipients

What is the naturalistic fallacy

the idea that what is found in nature is good

Infanticide

act of killing an infant

When does infanticide occur

when males compete for access to females - polygynous mating systems e.g. lions/baboons

What is an evolutionary modification?

A behaviour

A protein

An anatomical feature

What is an evolutionary adaptation?

better evasion of predators

better function at body temperature

allows the organism to access a new resource