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Chapter 27: Problem 12

What is Darwinian fitness? What types of characteristics can promote high fitness values? Give several examples.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Darwinian fitness refers to an organism's ability to survive and reproduce, thus contributing to the next generation's gene pool. Characteristics that promote high fitness values can be physical, such as strength or speed, behavioral, such as unique mating calls, reproductive, such as fast reproduction rate, or adaptability features, such as resistance to diseases. Examples of such are cheetahs with their speed, turtles with long lifespan, rabbits with high reproduction rate, and disease-resistant crops.

Step by step solution

01

Define Darwinian Fitness

Darwinian fitness, also known as fitness in the context of evolution and natural selection, is a measure of an organism's ability to survive and reproduce. It's not solely about physical strength or speed; instead, it's about an organism's overall adaptability and success in its specific environment. It is measured by the proportion of an individual's genes in all the genes in the next generation. If an individual's genes are common in the next generation, that person is considered evolutionarily fit.
02

Characteristics Promoting High Fitness Values

There are several characteristics that can lead to high fitness values in Darwinian terms. These include but are not restricted to: physical qualities like strength, speed, or camouflage that allow for better survival, behavioral traits like a unique mating call or pattern, reproductive capabilities, including a fast reproductive rate or the ability to produce healthier offspring, and resistance to diseases or higher adaptability to environmental changes.
03

Examples of Promoting High Fitness Values

Cheetahs have high Darwinian fitness due to their great speed that allows them to capture prey and escape from predators. Likewise, turtles鈥� ability to live for hundreds of years illustrates a form of biological success or fitness, as does a rabbit's high reproduction rate. Disease-resistant crops like GMOs would also have higher fitness in an environment where that disease is present.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

In a population, the frequencies of two alleles are \(B=0.67\) and \(b=\) \(0.33\). The genotype frequencies are \(B B=0.50, B b=0.37\), and \(b b=\) \(0.13\). Do these numbers suggest inbreeding? Explain why or why not.

The term polymorphism can refer to both genes and traits. Explain what is meant by a polymorphic gene and a polymorphic trait. If a gene is polymorphic, does the trait that the gene affects also have to be polymorphic? Explain why or why not.

In genetics, what does the term population mean? Pick any species you like and describe how its population might change over the course of many generations.

What is the intuitive meaning of the mean fitness of a population? How does its value change in response to natural selection?

Does inbreeding affect allele frequencies? Why or why not? How does it affect genotype frequencies? With regard to rare recessive diseases, what are the consequences of inbreeding in human populations?
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