All Questions
Tagged with adaptation natural-selection
13 questions
1
vote
2
answers
245
views
Intelligence without natural selection?
Natural selection is not the only driving force of evolution. There are other mechanisms such as genetic drift, mutations, gene flow, etc... To what extent can these different mechanisms (which don't ...
- 23
1
vote
0
answers
33
views
Who were the first authors to talk about local adaptation?
I was curious to read about what Darwin had to say about the existance of locally adapted subpopulations. I discovered to my surprise that the expressions and terms "local adaptation", "spatial ...
- 68.3k
5
votes
2
answers
555
views
Do Traits Have to be Adaptive in Order to Survive?
I'm reading Michael Pollan's book 'How to Change Your Mind', which is largely about psychedelic mushrooms. In discussing the biology of the mushrooms, he writes:
'Even if psilocybin in mushrooms ...
- 151
2
votes
1
answer
124
views
What to call a trait that has current utility but unclear evolutionary origin?
I'm looking for a commonly used term to describe a trait that has clear current utility but an evolutionary origin that is uncertain and that we do not necessarily wish to emphasize in our description ...
- 121
2
votes
1
answer
5k
views
What is the difference between natural selection and adaptation?
From what I've read it seems that the only actual difference is that creationists use adaptation and people who believe in evolution use natural selection. But otherwise, from my understanding, the ...
3
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What are Some Classical Examples of Local Adaptation?
Question
Can you please give a list of classical (textbook) examples of local adaptations?
How to answer
Examples don't necessarily need to include what evidence supports this specific example of ...
- 68.3k
97
votes
8
answers
24k
views
Why do some bad traits evolve, and good ones don't?
If a trait would be advantageous to an organism then why hasn't it evolved yet?
Conversely, if a trait is not advantageous or mildly disadvantageous, why does it exist?
In other words why does ...
1
vote
1
answer
375
views
What is the progressive evolutionary advantage that leads to flying? [closed]
As far as I understand, all life started as non-flying and flying came about by natural selection. What is the evolutionary advantageous "path" to flying? Or is there something else to explain this?
- 111
3
votes
2
answers
456
views
Definitions of robustness and canalization
The concepts of robustness and canalization are fashionable today in the biology literature. However, I am not sure of their definitions and I am not sure either that all authors actually use the same ...
- 68.3k
7
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What exactly does adaptive mean?
This is a quote from Dey et al 2014:
Hatching asynchrony is thought to be adaptive because...
What exactly does adaptive mean here? Does it mean hatching asynchrony has fitness benefits? Or does ...
- 599
7
votes
2
answers
574
views
Empirical evidence for Group Selection?
A controversial concept in Biology "Group Selection", has caused confusion and conflict amongst scientists since the since the mid 1990s. The more general realm of study is termed the "unit of ...
- 3,587
6
votes
1
answer
179
views
Natural enemies boost deep evolutionary fitness?
"Two species that reduce one another's fitness on microevolutionary
(short-term) timescales can increase each other's macroevolutionary
(long-term) fitness"
Opinions?
Intuitive Examples:
Body ...
- 3,587
10
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Genetic Diversity and Adaptation
I am somewhat new to evolutionary biology, having studied it on my free time as a computer science student. There is one particular thing that has always bothered me for which I have not seen a good ...
- 203