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Does evolution only give rise to traits that confer fitness?
I'll try to beat @Remi.b to the suggestion that you review Understanding Evolution as a general overview of evolutionary topics.
For a quick answer: no.
Sometimes people confuse the great ...
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5
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Remarkable attempts of studying biological systems axiomatically
It's hard for me to know the degree to which the Kaczynski quote is wrapped up in what you are interested in, so I will answer your question very narrowly without considering that quote:
does there ...
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4
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Does evolution only give rise to traits that confer fitness?
Rephrasing the question
Does evolution only give rise to traits that confer fitness?
The phrasing is actually a little nonsensical, but it is easy to understand what you mean. The reason is that "...
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The replicator equation vs the Lotka-Volterra equation
The key point is that the first equation is describing frequencies, i.e., $\sum_{i=1}^n x_i = 1$, so there are only $n-1$ degrees of freedom. For instance, if $n=2$ (as in Hawk-Dove), you can totally ...
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4
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Y chromosome changing sex ratios
This sort of thing absolutely happens; useful search terms are "sex ratio distortion", "segregation distortion" (i.e. modifying the ratios with which different chromosomes ...
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4
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Is there such a science in which the knowledge of biological processes (e.g., evolution) would be mathematically axiomatized and inferred (deduced)?
I think the question is too open to give a definitive answer, but several directiosn can be pointed out right away.
Laws of biology are not rigorous
Due to the inherent complexity of biological ...
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4
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How have some cancers "evolved" to be so aggressive and treatment-resistant?
Cancer being 'dangerous'
I define 'dangerous' as reduces survival of patient significantly. In my experience, cancers become dangerous, if one can't remove the tumor. This happens if it starts ...
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4
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The evolutionary advantage of sending the most fearless to the front
Species evolve, but individuals are selected. Simplifying a bit, a species evolves as relative allele frequencies change in the population. When natural selection is at play, these changes in allele ...
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3
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What’s the evolutionary benefit of cats playing with their prey?
The cat is probably just having fun. So, we could ask "What is the evolutionary benefit for having fun?" Through play, animal learn (Fagen 1974, Spinka et al. 2001, Pellegrini 2007, Hirsh-Pasek and ...
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Remarkable attempts of studying biological systems axiomatically
In a way, all biological research is based on certain axioms, just as all scientific study is bound certain foundational principles. The proposition you shared sounds like something straight out of ...
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Does the species of snake that eats Amphidromous inversus have chiral dimorphism?
I don't know much about this particular species of snake but here are some info that may help.
What do we mean by right-handed snakes?
I doubt that in this context a snake could be ambidextrous. ...
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3
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Intuitive explanation for Kin- and Group- selection
Are kin selection and group selection the same thing? Yes and no.
Yes: These days people tend to use the "direct fitness approach" (Taylor and Frank JTB 1996). It turns out that this is based on ...
2
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Mathematical models of lineage selection
It's fairly straightforward to expand the Price equation if you fix the genetic operators. This was done in one CS-oriented paper. Bassett et al. (2004) (preprint):
where k iterates over the genetic ...
2
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What is the evolutionary purpose of shingles afflicting only one side of the body?
The premise of your question is wrong. Although evolution is often a good guide when looking for "purpose" in biology, sometimes there are other proximate causes.
Shingles is caused by activity in a ...
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Why is one phase of a plant dominant (Alternation of generation)?
Short answer:
Many of the evolutionary developments in plants developed in the sporophyte life stage. Because increased fitness of these increasingly sporophyte-"dominant" plants would result in a ...
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2
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Why hasn't life on Earth reached an evolutionary stable strategy?
Because the environment on earth is not stable on the long run.
Antarctica was on the tropics. However plate tectonics has moved the continent from that location to south pole. And in time the ...
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Why don't all male animals kill a rejecting female?
The simple answer is most animals females can fight back. Its similar to the reason male to male fighting often evolves to become more and more ritualized. Fighting is risky, and the closer in size ...
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2
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What is the conversion between r and FST?
I am very unsure but here are my thoughts...
We can work out from
$$R_{XY} = F_{XY}/F_{XX}$$
I do not really understand the concept of coefficient of kinship and the concept of coefficient of ...
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2
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Why are worker ants not clones of the queen?
why has evolution not produced perfect X can usually be answered by the correct mutations have not occured. evolution is about jury rigging good enough not perfection.
you are assuming ant are free ...
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In the Selfish Gene, the chapter about ESS, how do the doves spread their genes?
Game theory
Your question is not as specific to biology as you may think. The hawk-dove game is a type of game in game theory, a field of mathematics. Game theory is used in biology, in economics, in ...
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How to check if a population density obeys replicator dynamics
For discrete time replicator dynamics, fitness is defined only up to a multiplicative factor. I.e. if you pick some number $k$ then $(f_1, ..., f_n)$ defines the same fitness function as $\hat{f} = (...
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Interpreting replicator dynamic for simplest population model
The transformation carried here is a particular type of the more general one. As the linked text notes:
The continuous replicator equation on n types is equivalent to the Generalized Lotka–Volterra ...
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Is it trivial to assume a version of Hamilton's rule that applies for numerous generations?
I am not sure what you mean by "applies to numerous generations". If the following does not help, can you please clarify what you meant?
Hamilton's rule expresses the condition for which, under a ...
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How is sexual selection evolutionarily stable?
first off you are talking about runaway sexual selection, run away sexual selection works because attracting mates matters MORE than individual survival. An immortal survivally perfect creature that ...
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Why do the two sexes have different reproductive costs and capabilities?
I may have misunderstood your question, but there is no theory why usually reproductive costs are on the female, as this is a fact. Females have usually larger (and fewer) reproductive cells (gametes),...
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The Hawk-Dove game: why is the average payoff half of the difference between reward and cost?
One hawks gains 10, the other loses 5. So together, they gain only 5 (=10-5). On average, they gain 5 / 2 hawks = 2,5
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What is the conversion between r and FST?
I am not very at ease with the concepts of coefficient of kinship but
if $F_{self} = F_{XX}$, then
$$R_{XY} = 2F_{XY}(1 + F_{ST})$$
Assuming that Y is a random ...
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Does the term "fitness advantage" or "fitness disadvantage" make sense?
What is unclear to you?
If you could highlight what is unclear to you, or what exactly are the semantic issues in your opinion, that would help to really address your misunderstanding. In absence of ...
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What is it called when there is natural truncation selection?
Truncation selection
The term truncation selection has been used a lot in theory papers because it is a simple model and because it is of interest to breeders. Truncation selection is most likely ...
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Replicator dynamics giving probabilities greater than 1?
This is happening because the fitness for your first strategy can be negative. In the case of the discrete replicator dynamics, the fitness cannot be negative. Otherwise, you can leave the simplex. ...
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