2.2b Fitness

Question 1

Fitness Definition

Answer 1

Fitness is an indication of an individuals ability to be successful at surviving and reproducing.

It is a measure of the tendency of some organisms to produce more surviving offspring than competing members of the same species.

Question 2

Fitness

Answer 2

It refers to the contribution made to the gene pool of the next generation by individual genotypes.
It can be defined in absolute or relative terms.

Question 3

Absolute fitness

Answer 3

Absolute fitness is the ratio between the number of individuals of a particular genotype after selection, to those before selection.

Question 4

Absolute fitness calculation

Answer 4

(frequency of a particular genotype after selection)/(frequency of a particular genotype before selection)
if = 1 it is stable, greater than one it is a increase in genotype, less than 1 conveys a decrease.

Question 5

Relative fitness definition

Answer 5

Relative fitness is the ratio of the number of surviving offspring per individual of a particular genotype to the number of surviving offspring per individual of the most successful genotype.

Question 6

Relative fitness calculation

Answer 6

(number of surviving offspring per individual of a particular genotype)/(number of surviving offspring per individual of the most successful genotype)