Evolution Flashcards
Natural Selection
Differential survival and reproduction of organisms as a result of the heritable differences between them
Sexual Selection
The component of natural selection that acts on traits that influence an organism’s ability to obtain a mate, resulting in differential reproductive success
Adaptation
Biological traits that help an individual to survive and reproduce in its habitat.
- Perform a specific function.
Adaptive Functions of mental activity
Selective attention, memory encoding, memory retrieval
Four Basic Mechanisms of Evolution
Natural Selection
mutation
genetic drift
migration
3 Essential Components of Natural Selection
- Individual Differences, variation in traits
- Differential Reproduction
- Heritability
Stabilizing Selection
Selection against any sort of departure from the species-typical adaptive design.
- Bird Beak size example
Darwinian Fitness
Average reproductive success of a genotype relative to alternative genotypes
Evolution
Change in gene frequencies over generations, in part due to the introduction of new gene variants via mutations
Inter vs Intra-Sexual Selection
Inter: Female Choice
Intra: Male Competition
Social Behaviours
Cooperation: Both you and recipient benefit
Altruism: recipient benefit, you cost
Selfish: You benefit, recipient cost
Spite: Both you and recipient cost
Eusocial Hymenoptera
most individuals spend their lives serving the colony without reproducing.
- Includes all ants, some bees, and some wasps.
Direct, Indirect and Inclusive Fitness
D: Fitness from personal reproduction
ID: Fitness from the reproduction of close generic relatives
IN: - Direct Fitness + Indirect Fitness= Inclusive fitness
Relatedness
Probability that actor and recipient share gene in question. Depends how genes were inherited.
- more likely to be closest with your grandmother over your grandfather
Cues of Kinship
Mother’s association, co-residence with other children
Ex. squirrel alarm call
