Group Selection and Kin Selection
TL;DR: It is suggested that since behaviour favours the survival of the group and not of the individual it must have evolved by a process of group selection.
Abstract: WYNNE-EDWARDS1,2 has argued persuasively for the importance of behaviour in regulating the density of animal populations, and has suggested that since such behaviour favours the survival of the group and not of the individual it must have evolved by a process of group selection. It is the purpose of this communication to consider how far this is likely to be true.
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TL;DR: Game theory and computer simulation analyses show, however, that a “limited war” strategy benefits individual animals as well as the species.
Abstract: Conflicts between animals of the same species usually are of “limited war” type, not causing serious injury. This is often explained as due to group or species selection for behaviour benefiting the species rather than individuals. Game theory and computer simulation analyses show, however, that a “limited war” strategy benefits individual animals as well as the species.
5,524 citations
TL;DR: Of particular interest are those species for which direct methods indicate little current gene flow but indirect methods indicate much higher levels of gene flow in the recent past, and whose species probably have undergone large-scale demographic changes relatively frequently.
Abstract: There is abundant geographic variation in both morphology and gene frequency in most species. The extent of geographic variation results from a balance of forces tending to produce local genetic differentiation and forces tending to produce genetic homogeneity. Mutation, genetic drift due to finite population size, and natural selection favoring adaptations to local environmental conditions will all lead to the genetic differentiation of local populations, and the movement of gametes, individuals, and even entire populations--collectively called gene flow--will oppose that differentiation. Gene flow may either constrain evolution by preventing adaptation to local conditions or promote evolution by spreading new genes and combinations of genes throughout a species' range. Several methods are available for estimating the amount of gene flow. Direct methods monitor ongoing gene flow, and indirect methods use spatial distributions of gene frequencies to infer past gene flow. Applications of these methods show that species differ widely in the gene flow that they experience. Of particular interest are those species for which direct methods indicate little current gene flow but indirect methods indicate much higher levels of gene flow in the recent past. Such species probably have undergone large-scale demographic changes relatively frequently.
3,597 citations
TL;DR: The Perception-Action Model (PAM), together with an understanding of how representations change with experience, can explain the major empirical effects in the literature and can also predict a variety of empathy disorders.
Abstract: There is disagreement in the literature about the exact nature of the phenomenon of empathy. There are emotional, cogni- tive, and conditioning views, applying in varying degrees across species. An adequate description of the ultimate and proximate mecha- nism can integrate these views. Proximately, the perception of an object's state activates the subject's corresponding representations, which in turn activate somatic and autonomic responses. This mechanism supports basic behaviors (e.g., alarm, social facilitation, vicar- iousness of emotions, mother-infant responsiveness, and the modeling of competitors and predators) that are crucial for the reproduc- tive success of animals living in groups. The Perception-Action Model (PAM), together with an understanding of how representations change with experience, can explain the major empirical effects in the literature (similarity, familiarity, past experience, explicit teach- ing, and salience). It can also predict a variety of empathy disorders. The interaction between the PAM and prefrontal functioning can also explain different levels of empathy across species and age groups. This view can advance our evolutionary understanding of empa- thy beyond inclusive fitness and reciprocal altruism and can explain different levels of empathy across individuals, species, stages of de- velopment, and situations.
3,350 citations
01 Jan 1992
TL;DR: It is argued that humans have a faculty of social cognition, consisting of a rich collection of dedicated, functionally specialized, interrelated modules organized to collectively guide thought and behavior with respect to the evolutionarily recurrent adaptive problems posed by the social world.
Abstract: The human mind is the most complex natural phenomenon humans have yet encountered, and Darwin's gift to those who wish to understand it is a knowledge of the process that created it and gave it its distinctive organization: evolution. Because we know that the human mind is the product of the evolutionary process, we know something vitally illuminating: that, aside from those properties acquired by chance, the mind consists of a set of adaptations, designed to solve the long-standing adaptive problems humans encountered a s hunter-gatherers. Such a vie w i s uncontroversial to mos t behavioral scientists when applied to topics such as vision or balance. Yet adaptationist approaches to human psychology are considered radical—o r even transparently false—when applie d t o mos t other area s of human thought and action , especially social behavior. Nevertheless, the logic of the adaptationist postion is completely general, and a dispassionate evaluatio n of its implications leads to the expectation that humans should have evolved a constellation of cognitive adaptations to social life. Our ancestors have been members of social groups and engaging in social interactions for millions and probably tens of millions of years. To behave adaptively, they not only needed to construct a spatial map of the objects disclosed to them by their retinas, but a social map of the persons, relationships, motives, interactions, emotions, and intentions that made up their social world. Our view, then, is that humans have a faculty of social cognition, consisting of a rich collection o f dedicated, functionally specialized, interrelated modules (i.e., func tionally isolable subunits, mechanisms, mental organs, etc.), organized to collectively guide thought and behavior with respect to the evolutionarily recurrent adaptive problems posed by the social world. Nonetheless, if such a view has merit, it not only must be argued for on theoretical grounds—however compelling—but also must be substantiated by experimental evidence, as well as by converging lines of empirical support drawn from related fields such as neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology. The 3
1,922 citations
Cites background from "Group Selection and Kin Selection"
...Hamilton in 1964 (see also Maynard Smith, 1964; Williams & Williams, 1957)....
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...John Maynard Smith ( I 982) pointed out that natural selection has a game-theoretic structure....
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Book•
01 Jan 1980TL;DR: This chapter discusses the development of models of age-structured populations and the properties of equilibrium populations and their role in the evolution of life-histories.
Abstract: The populations of many species of animals and plants are age-structured, i.e. the individuals present at any one time were born over a range of different times, and their fertility and survival depend on age. The properties of such populations are important for interpreting experiments and observations on the genetics of populations for animal and plant breeding, and for understanding the evolution of features of life-histories such as senescence and time of reproduction. In this new edition Brian Charlesworth provides a comprehensive review of the basic mathematical theory of the demography and genetics of age-structured populations. The mathematical level of the book is such that it will be accessible to anyone with a knowledge of basic calculus and linear algebra.
1,785 citations
Cites background from "Group Selection and Kin Selection"
...For example, Maynard Smith (1958) showed that sterilisation of Drosophila subobscura females by radiation or by the maternally-acting mutant gene grandchildless caused increased adult survival....
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...For example, Maynard Smith (1958) showed that sterilisation of Drosophila subobscura females by radiation or by the maternally-acting mutant gene grandchildless caused increased adult survival. In the blue tit, Nur (1988) has shown that an artificial increase in clutch size leads to lower survival and subsequent reproduction of females....
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...For example, Maynard Smith (1958) showed that sterilisation of Drosophila subobscura females by radiation or by the maternally-acting mutant gene grandchildless caused increased adult survival. In the blue tit, Nur (1988) has shown that an artificial increase in clutch size leads to lower survival and subsequent reproduction of females. The review in Appendix 2 of Stearns (1992) shows a general, but not universal, tendency for effects of this kind....
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 1962
TL;DR: Wynne-Edwards has written this interesting and important book as a sequel to his earlier (1962) Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour, and reviewing it has proven to be a valuable task for one who normally is only at the periphery of the group selection controversy.
Abstract: Wynne-Edwards has written this interesting and important book as a sequel to his earlier (1962) Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour. Reviewing it has proven to be a valuable task for one who normally is only at the periphery of the group selection controversy. My comments will be organized into three sections: one regarding the factual content of the book, a second attempting to relate my own expectations and predictions based on soft selection with facts described by Wynne-Edwards, and a third criticizing the argument that has been advanced for group selection. A number of important studies have been summarized in this book. Foremost is the extensive work on red grouse with which Wynne-Edwards has been associated for more than 30years. A great deal of ecological, physiological, nutritional, and behavioural information regarding this bird has been reviewed in seven chapters (pp. 84-170) with additional comments liberally sprinkled elsewhere. Anyone interested in avian biology who has missed this important study must read this book. Also extensively reviewed is the work of Michael Wade on group selection in Tribolium, the flour beetle. Wade's data are presented in enough detail that his work can be understood by those who have not seen the original publications. [Twice (pp. 210 and 233) reference is made to a 40-fold difference between two of Wade's selected lines, whereas the figure on p. 209 suggests that the difference is nearer 7-fold. Figure 11-16 also contains an error.] A number of other studies have been reviewed in some, but not exhaustive, detail. Among these are Smithers and Terry's analysis of immunology in schistosomiasis, Birdsell's studies of the social structure of Australian aborigines and Sewell Wright's shifting balance theory of evolution. Numerous other observations are cited in the text, none in so great detail as those mentioned here, and many in such rapid succession as nearly to overwhelm the reader. Many of Wynne-Edwards' conclusions are based on densityand frequencydependent selection, territoriality and the migration of individuals between and within populations at various heirarchal levels (in-groups, demes, populations and higher categories). Still, there is no mention of authors such as Howard Levene or Wyatt Anderson. Consequently, I feel justified in presenting
1,842 citations
1,643 citations
TL;DR: The characteristic of balance is sustained and effective compensatory reaction which maintains populations in being in spite of even violent changes in the environment, and which adjusts their densities in general conformity with prevailing conditions.
Abstract: This article is itself a summarized statement concerning the various influences which affect population densities and the population systems these lead to. Known facts concerning animal populations have been analysed. systematized. and critically examined. using the experimental and mathematical approaches in the simpler situations. The more outstanding conclusions are listed below. Populations are self-governing systems. They regulate their densities in relation to their own properties and those of their environments. This they do by depleting and impairing essential things to the threshold of favourability, or by maintaining reactive inimical factors, such as the attack of natural enemies, at the limit of tolerance. The mechanism of density governance is almost always intraspecific competition, either amongst the animals for a critically important requisite, or amongst natural enemies for which the animals concerned are requisites. Governing reaction induced by density change holds populations in a state of balance in their environments. The characteristic of balance is sustained and effective compensatory reaction which maintains populations in being in spite of even violent changes in the environment, and which adjusts their densities in general conformity with prevailing conditions. Far from being a stationary state, balance is commonly a state of oscillation about the level of the equilibrium density which is for ever changing with environmental conditions. Destructive factors do not add to mortality when they continue to operate over long periods, but merely cause a redistribution of mortality, for the intensity of competition automatically relaxes sufficiently to make room for the destruction they cause. Such compensatory reaction causes the effect of destructive factors upon density to be much less when balance is reattained than that which they produce when they first operate.
1,221 citations
154 citations
TL;DR: Data is presented in support of the writer’s previous finding that the Corky complementary genes in New World cottons are not located at independent loci, and it is suggested that the Crinkle/Contorta series may also have a pseudo-allelic basis.
Abstract: Summary1.Further data are presented in support of the writer’s previous finding (Stephens, 1946) that the Corky complementary genes in New World cottons are not located at independent loci. Comparison with analogous, more critically analysed cases suggests that the complementary genes are pseudo-alleles.2.The Corky complex is located on the same chromosome in theD genom as the Crinkle/Contorta series, and no critical evidence of crossing-over between them has yet been obtained. It is suggested that the Crinkle/Contorta series may also have a pseudo-allelic basis.3.A re-examination of the complementary Crumpled mechanism in Asiatic cottons (A genom) shows striking genetic and phenotypic similarity to the Corky mechanism, and suggests that the two complexes have a similar pseudo-allelic basis. In spite of their close similarity there is, as yet, no critical evidence that Crumpled and Corky are duplicates.4.A survey of similar complementary mechanisms inCrepis andTriticum/Aegilops hybrids in comparison with Crumpled and Corky suggests that they all may have a similar basis, and may have played a part in interspecific isolation during one phase of their respective evolutionary histories. Reasons are given for the opinion that complementary isolating mechanisms are more likely to be built up from pseudo-allelic complexes than from independent loci.
46 citations