Lineage selection occurs when the frequency of one biological
lineage
Lineage may refer to:
Science
* Lineage (anthropology), a group that can demonstrate its common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of descent from an ancestor
* Lineage (evolution), a temporal sequence of individuals, populati ...
changes relative to another lineage. Lineage selection is a generalization of individual based
natural selection; the stating that an allele is favored by natural selection is equivalent to stating that the lineage bearing the allele is favored by natural selection.
For alleles with simple positive or negative fitness effects, lineage and individual based selection are equivalent. However, lineage selection can accommodate a wider array of evolutionary phenomena, such as the adaptive evolution of
evolvability,
altruism
Altruism is the principle and moral practice of concern for the welfare and/or happiness of other human beings or animals, resulting in a quality of life both material and spiritual. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures and a core as ...
, and
recombination.
Additionally, lineage selection is useful in determining the effects of mutations in highly structured environments such as tumors.
References
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Altruism
Altruism is the principle and moral practice of concern for the welfare and/or happiness of other human beings or animals, resulting in a quality of life both material and spiritual. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures and a core as ...
*