Definitions Flashcards
Adaptation
The variant of a trait with the highest fitness
Also the physical process
Fitness
A measurable feature of alleles, genotypes, or traits of individuals predictive of their future numerical representation
Fishers theorem
Increase in average fitness of a population due to natural selection is equal to the genetic variance of fitness in the same population
Absolute fitness
The number of offspring produced by an organism with a given allele
Plasticity
The adaptability of an organism to changes in its environment or differences between its various habitats
Behavioural syndrome
A suite of correlated behaviours expressed either within a given behavioural context or across different contexts
Evolutionary stable strategy
If fitness payoffs are related to the frequency of strategies in a population, this can lead to the stable coexistence of behavioural types
Quorum
The probability of an animal exhibiting a particular behaviour is an increasing function of the number of conspecifics already performing this behaviour
Relatedness (r)
The probability that a gene in one individual is identical to a gene in another individual
Multiple gene interactions
Interactions between genes at 2+ loci so phenotype differs from what would be expected if loci were expressed independently
Indirect genetic effects
The effects of genes expressed in social partners
Reaction norms
For a given genotype, there are different expressions of phenotype depending on the environment
Activational plasticity
The differential activation of an underlying network in different environments
Immediate
Developmental plasticity
The development of different networks in different environments
Such as change in synaptic weight as a result of an experience
Adaptive evolution
A change in phenotype across generations accompanied by changes in the frequency of relevant genes
