Kin selection

Kin Selection Natural selection works on individuals to favor the fittest of the group. But what about the worker honey bee who gives up her life when danger threatens her hive? Or the mother bird who, feigning injury, flutters away from her nestful of young, thus risking death at the hands of a predator? How can evolution produce genes for such instinctive patterns of behavior when the owner of these genes risk failing the first test of fitness: survival? A possible answer lies in the altruistic

1. Past experiments on kin selection have showed conflicting results between field and laboratory experiments on the kinship of Atlantic salmon.3 Genetic field experiments have not shown the decreased aggression of kin that laboratory experiments have reported. However, more recent field experiments have shown varying “territorial ranges” based on varying spatial and temporal placements of food which is the more natural environment not assumed in the older genetic field experiments.1 The laboratory

1. At the center of kin selection is altruism. This behavior is very difficult to understand from an evolutionary perspective since the behavior increases the fitness of another while decreasing the actor’s fitness. An individual possesses their direct fitness, which results from the reproductive potential of the individual itself, and indirect fitness. Indirect fitness is the additional fitness gained by relatives due to an individual’s actions. In kin selection, improving the survival and reproductive

this essay the topic of Kin Selection will be discussed widely, along with its scientific importance and everyday relevance. The scientists who discovered the theory, the time line in which it was discovered and how it was discovered will also be discussed. Kin selection will be reviewed right through from when it was first discovered all the way up until present day. Charles Darwin, R.A Fisher and J.B.S Haldane were the first to mention the basic principle of kin selection but a biologist named W

1. The author wants to test the benefits of kin selection. In a recent study by Martin Smith & Armstrong, it states that dominant individuals can move to where there are abundant food opportunities. In addition to a study done by Armstrong et al, states that the behaviour of the subordinate is dictated by the distribution and behaviour of the dominant individual (Armstrong & Griffiths, 2002). Also, a study done by Quinn & Busack, stated that many species such as salmon, rainbow trout and Atlantic

play a slender role in the whole process of who he/she wants to be their significant other and/or who they choose mate with. Our ancestors are who play the significant role in whom we tend to be attracted to and they’re significant to the mating selection because of the genetic and psychological predispositions that he/she developed from their ancestors. Woman in the past life and woman today are still quite similar in the males they tend to want or be attracted to. Women are fascinated by men that

to study is to understand kin selection in territorial fish. The researchers wanted to find a proper explanation to how kin selection affects salmon populations, since there seems to be a lack or a contradiction in views on the matter as of the time prior to their study1. 2. What do the authors want to know? (i.e., what is their research question or hypothesis) The authors wanted to test their theory on kin selection in Atlantic salmon. Their theory adapts kin selection, but notes that it may only

The Samaritan Paradox Devon Takenaka Warner Pacific College Altruism within society’s standards can be described as a selfless concern or action for others (Webster’s Dictionary 2012). On September 25, 2012, an Oregon teenager named Marcus Ugarte bravely entered a burning house in order to bring a young child named Cody Ma to safety (ABC News 2012). Both families had never met previously, but there was no hesitation on Marcus’ part of climbing up to the second story of the house to

seems, have the same concept to ensure optimal growth and survival, as they act selflessly towards their relatives, share resources, and exhibit less competition and more cooperation with their kin. Plants are able to recognize fellow kin through responses to VOCs from relatives, and perform acts of altruism to kin by resource partitioning amongst siblings through root allocation (Karban R et al. 2013). The current research on plant kinship and areas of future research will be discussed, as well the controversies

will benefit them in ways not only in survival. Therefore, many contemporary discussions of altruism turn to evolutionary explanations. Reciprocal altruism and kin selection are the two main theories. According to reciprocal altruism, evolution favors organisms that sacrifice their good for others in order to gain a favor in return. Kin selection — the famous “selfish gene” theory popularized by Richard Dawkins — says that an individual who behaves altruistically towards others who share its genes will