2-inclusive fitness

Question 1

what did Darwin discover about bee pollination of orchids and what did this lead to?

Answer 1

mutualistic interaction, must be a mutual benefit

- FAMILY LEVEL SELECTION: selection can be applied to the family level as well as individual

Question 2

who + when came up with:
“survival of the fittest”?
“nature vs nurture”?
- what did these ideas lead to?

Answer 2

Spencer 1864
Galton
- social darwinism

Question 3

what is social darwinism?

Answer 3

theory that individuals, groups and people are subject to the same darwinian laws of NS as plants and animals

Question 4

how did Kropotkin challenge social darwinism?

- but what didn’t his argument provide?

Answer 4

argued evolutionary emphasis on coop behaviour instead of competition in darwinian sense
- no evolutionary mechanism as to why coop important

Question 5

what was RA Fisher the founder of? + who else

Answer 5

NEO-DARWINIAN MODERN SYNTHESIS
- brought together darwinian thinking/NS, mendelian genetics, population genetics
+ JBS Haldane

Question 6

what did neo-darwinian modern synthesis consider and why was this actually unimportant?

Answer 6

indirect/family level effects but not important compared to individual reproductive effects

Question 7

under neo-darwinian modern synthesis what are traits favoured by NS?

Answer 7

those that enhance individual fitness

Question 8

what did WD Hamilton notice that led to his discovery of the inclusive fitness theory + when?

Answer 8

social interactions + potential for evo theory of altruism + explanation for coop
1964

Question 9

define inclusive fitness theory

Answer 9

“personal fitness that is expressed in production of adult offspring”

• fitness not exposed to harms/benefits of environment

Question 10

a gene can increase transmission to the next generation by increasing the fitness of what?
- how does this relate to inclusive fitness?

Answer 10

• individuals it is in (DIRECT)
• individuals with copies of that gene/neighbours fitness (INDIRECT)
• DIRECT + INDIRECT

Question 11

what types of interactions can inclusive fitness apply to, given that it is general?

Answer 11

positive + negative interactions (selfish/spite)

Question 12

according to Abbott et al 2011- what is inclusive fitness successful in understanding?

Answer 12

behavioural phenomena such as:

• sex allocation
• selfish genetic elements
• parasite virulence
• conflict resolution
• spite
• sociality evolution

Question 13

what is hamilton’s table of social interactions?

Answer 13

• actor effect +, recipient effect +: mutually beneficial
• A+ R-: selfish
• A- R+: altruistic
• A- R-: spiteful

Question 14

why is cooperative behaviour selected for?

Answer 14

its beneficial effect on the recipient

Question 15

what are 2 components of mutualistic cooperation + what is it?

Answer 15

provides immediate or delayed benefit to actors + recipients fitness

• reciprocity
• mutualism

Question 16

what are 2 components of altruistic cooperation + what is it?

Answer 16

cooperation is costly to fitness of actor

• manipulation
• kin selection

Question 17

in practice which is harder to measure: inclusive fitness or personal fitness?

Answer 17

inclusive

Question 18

what is hamilton’s rule and what can it be used to understand?

Answer 18

whether a social trait is adaptive or not
rb>c
r= relatedness between actor and recipient
b= fitness benefit to actor
c= fitness cost to actor

Question 19

according to Krakauer 2005- why do subordinate males bother joining dominants?
(use male r=0.42, dominant benefit b=6.1, subordinate cost c=0.9)

Answer 19

rb>c
(0.42X6.1)= 2.562
c =0.9
rb is > c 
cost of helping is outweighed by kin selected benefit

Question 20

what should be measured to tackle the difficulty of measuring fitness? ()

Answer 20

• offspring productivity
• productivity snapshot rather than lifetime (single season, reproductive attempt, offspring condition)
• fitness in terms of survival over discrete time interval
• energy budget, food intake

Question 21

what are the 6 major transitions in the evolution of life on earth?

Answer 21

• chromosomes
• eukaryotes
• sex
• multicellularity
• social groups
• human society/language

Question 22

according to Bourke 2011 what does each major evolutionary transition involve and so what can the transitions be explained by?

Answer 22

cooperation

so social evolution theory can explain transitions using the inclusive fitness theory logic

Question 23

to test for the origin of multicellularity what was ratcliff et al 2012 experiment on unicellular yeast? (2)
- what did this show?

Answer 23

• 60 episodes of selection to select for aggregated yeast cells/multicellularity
• multicellular cluster form by clonal adhesion (cells clones of each other so high r)
• showed relatedness important in the emergence of multicellular traits

Question 24

what are 2 signals of multicellular traits?

Answer 24

• deferred reproduction

- division of labour/apoptosis

Question 25

what was Fisher et al 2013 comparative analysis for the origin of multicellularity? (6)

Answer 25

• compared multicellular form in clonal (r=1) and non clonal taxa (r<1)
• across tree of life all non clonal multi organisms are facultative
• majority of clonal show obligate multicellularity
• more diverse cell types in clonal organisms
• sterility more common in clonal
• cell type diversity and presence of sterile cells associated with clonality as predicted by IFT

Question 26

what is the cooperative transition between unicellular and multicellular organisms influenced by? + what is this determined by?

Answer 26

relatedness

- determined by group formation

Question 27

what does Nowack et al 2010 believe about IFT?

Answer 27

it is of little value in the natural world and does not provide biological insight

Question 28

what does Abbott et al 2011 argue against Nowacks assumptions of IFT?

Answer 28

• it is useful and has explained sex ratio variance, adaptive variation in behaviour, when + why individuals make mistakes, eusocial insect behaviour