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Unit Of Selection
A unit of selection is a biological entity within the hierarchy of biological organization (for example, an entity such as: a self-replicating molecule, a gene, a cell, an organism, a group, or a species) that is subject to natural selection. There is debate among evolutionary biologists about the extent to which evolution has been shaped by selective pressures acting at these different levels. There is debate over the relative importance of the units themselves. For instance, is it group or individual selection that has driven the evolution of altruism? Where altruism reduces the fitness of ''individuals'', individual-centered explanations for the evolution of altruism become complex and rely on the use of game theory, for instance; see kin selection and group selection. There also is debate over the definition of the units themselves, and the roles for selection and replication, and whether these roles may change in the course of evolution. Fundamental theory Two usefu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilson's Matryoshka Doll Multilevel Selection Model
Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson *Wilson (footballer, born 1927), Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender *Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rodrigues de Moura Júnior, Brazilian goalkeeper *Wilson (footballer, born 1985), full name Wilson Rodrigues Fonseca, Brazilian forward *Wilson (footballer, born 1975), full name Wilson Roberto dos Santos, Brazilian centre-back Places Australia *Wilson, South Australia * Wilson, Western Australia * Wilson Inlet, Western Australia * Wilson Reef, Queensland * Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, Australia, and hence: :*Wilsons Promontory Islands Important Bird Area :*Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse :*Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park :*Wilsons Promontory National Park Canada * Wilson Avenue (Toronto), Ontario ** Wilson (TTC) subway station ** Wilson Subway Yard Poland * Wilson Square (''Plac Wilsona''), in W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Maynard-Smith
John Maynard Smith (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J. B. S. Haldane. Maynard Smith was instrumental in the application of game theory to evolution with George R. Price, and theorised on other problems such as the evolution of sex and signalling theory. Biography Early years John Maynard Smith was born in London, the son of the surgeon Sidney Maynard Smith, but following his father's death in 1928, the family moved to Exmoor, where he became interested in natural history. Quite unhappy with the lack of formal science education at Eton College, Maynard Smith took it upon himself to develop an interest in Darwinian evolutionary theory and mathematics, after having read the work of old Etonian J. B. S. Haldane, whose books were in the school's library despit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retrotransposon
Retrotransposons (also called Class I transposable elements or transposons via RNA intermediates) are a type of genetic component that copy and paste themselves into different genomic locations (transposon) by converting RNA back into DNA through the reverse transcription process using an RNA transposition intermediate. Through reverse transcription, retrotransposons amplify themselves quickly to become abundant in eukaryotic genomes such as maize (49–78%) and humans (42%). They are only present in eukaryotes but share features with retroviruses such as HIV, for example, discontinuous reverse transcriptase-mediated extrachromosomal recombination. These retrotransposons are regulated by a family of short non-coding RNAs termed as PIWI -element induced wimpy testisinteracting RNAs (piRNAs). piRNA is a recently discovered class of ncRNAs, which are in the length range of ~24-32 nucleotides. Initially, piRNAs were described as repeat-associated siRNAs (rasiRNAs) because of thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meiotic Drive
Meiotic drive is a type of intragenomic conflict, whereby one or more loci within a genome will effect a manipulation of the meiotic process in such a way as to favor the transmission of one or more alleles over another, regardless of its phenotypic expression. More simply, meiotic drive is when one copy of a gene is passed on to offspring more than the expected 50% of the time. According to Buckler et al., "Meiotic drive is the subversion of meiosis so that particular genes are preferentially transmitted to the progeny. Meiotic drive generally causes the preferential segregation of small regions of the genome". Meiotic drive in plants The first report of meiotic drive came from Marcus Rhoades who in 1942 observed a violation of mendelian segregation ratios for the R locus - a gene controlling the production of the purple pigment anthocyanin in maize kernels - in a maize line carrying abnormal chromosome 10. This violation of mendelian segregation was later shown to be the result ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utility Function
As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The term has been adapted and reapplied within neoclassical economics, which dominates modern economic theory, as a utility function that represents a single consumer's preference ordering over a choice set but is not comparable across consumers. This concept of utility is personal and based on choice rather than on pleasure received, and so is specified more rigorously than the original concept but makes it less useful (and controversial) for ethical decisions. Utility function Consider a set of alternatives among which a person can make a preference ordering. The utility obtained from these alternatives is an unknown function of the utilities obtained from each alternative, not the sum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Out Of Eden
''River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life'' is a 1995 popular science book by Richard Dawkins. The book is about Darwinian evolution and summarizes the topics covered in his earlier books, ''The Selfish Gene'', ''The Extended Phenotype'' and '' The Blind Watchmaker''. It is part of the ''Science Masters'' series and is Dawkins's shortest book. It is illustrated by Lalla Ward, Dawkins's wife. The book's name is derived from Genesis 2:10 relating to the Garden of Eden. The King James Version reads "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." ''River Out of Eden'' has five chapters. The first chapter lays down the framework on which the rest of the book is built, that life is like a river of genes flowing through geological time where organisms are mere temporary bodies. The second chapter shows how human ancestry can be traced via many gene pathways to different ''most recent common ancestors'', with special em ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book '' The Selfish Gene'', which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term '' meme''. With his book '' The Extended Phenotype'' (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, for example, when a beaver builds a dam. His 2004 The Ancestor's Tale set out to make understanding evolution simple for the general public, by tracing common ancestors back from humans to the origins of life. Over time, numerous religious people challen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene-centered View Of Evolution
With gene defined as "not just one single physical bit of DNA utall replicas of a particular bit of DNA distributed throughout the world", the gene-centered view of evolution, gene's eye view, gene selection theory, or selfish gene theory holds that adaptive evolution occurs through the differential survival of competing genes, increasing the allele frequency of those alleles whose phenotypic trait effects successfully promote their own propagation. The proponents of this viewpoint argue that, since heritable information is passed from generation to generation almost exclusively by DNA, natural selection and evolution are best considered from the perspective of genes. Proponents of the gene-centered viewpoint argue that it permits understanding of diverse phenomena such as altruism and intragenomic conflict that are otherwise difficult to explain from an organism-centered viewpoint. The gene-centered view of evolution is a synthesis of the theory of evolution by natural sel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptation And Natural Selection
''Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought'' is a 1966 book by the American evolutionary biologist George C. Williams. Williams, in what is now considered a classic by evolutionary biologists, outlines a gene-centered view of evolution, disputes notions of evolutionary progress, and criticizes contemporary models of group selection, including the theories of Alfred Emerson, A. H. Sturtevant, and to a smaller extent, the work of V. C. Wynne-Edwards. The book takes its title from a lecture by George Gaylord Simpson in January 1947 at the Princeton University. Aspects of the book were popularised by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book ''The Selfish Gene''. The aim of the book is to "clarify certain issues in the study of adaptation and the underlying evolutionary processes."''Adaptation and Natural Selection'', preface Though more technical than a popular science book, its target audience is not specialists but biologists in general and the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George C
George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States * George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States * George V, King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 1910-1936 * George VI, King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 1936-1952 * Prince George of Wales * George Papagheorghe also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Giorgio Moroder * George Harrison, an English musician and singer-songwriter Places South Africa * George, Western Cape ** George Airport United States * George, Iowa * George, Missouri * George, Washington * George County, Mississippi * George Air Force Base, a former U.S. Air Force base located in California Characters * George (Peppa Pig), a 2- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samir Okasha
Samir Okasha , is a Professor of Philosophy of Science at University of Bristol. He is a winner of Lakatos Award for his book '' Evolution and the Levels of Selection''. He was appointed a Fellow of the British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ... in 2018. British Academy Books * ''Philosophy of Biology'' (OUP 2019) * ''Agents and Goals in Evolution'' (OUP 2018) * ''Evolution and the Levels of Selection'' (OUP 2006) * ''Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction'' (OUP 2002; second edition 2015)References {{DEFAULTSORT:Okasha, Samir[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
