What is group selection in animal Behaviour?
Group selection, the idea that groups compete just as individuals do, and the behavior of the individuals within a group affects each individual’s own fitness, arose to explain the evolution of altruism.
How does group selection work?
Group selection is a proposed mechanism of evolution in which natural selection acts at the level of the group, instead of at the more conventional level of the individual. They argued on the basis of mathematical models that individuals would not altruistically sacrifice fitness for the sake of a group.
What is an example of individual selection?
An example of individual selection. Cuttlefish are a fascinating example of individual selection leading to several different individual adaptations. In particular, the males participate in sperm competition for reproductive success.
Which is an example of a group under selection?
Typically the group under selection is a small cohesive social unit, and members’ interactions are of an altruistic nature. Examples of behaviours that appear to influence group selection include cooperative hunting, such as among lions and other social carnivores; cooperative raising of young, such as in elephants;
How is group selection a factor in multilevel selection?
Several decades later, however, group selection found renewed interest in evolutionary thinking—namely, as a factor in multilevel selection, the idea that the most altruistic groups within a population enjoy the greatest reproductive success and thereby fuel the evolution of altruism within the population.
How are altruism and group selection related to each other?
Whether due to Plato or local circumstances within the nineteen-century scientific community, “altruism” and “group selection” have been linked from the origin of evolutionary biology. 2. A Chronology of the Debates Ever since Darwin, “altruism” and “group selection” are found together (Darwin, 1859, p. 236; Lustig, 2004).
Which is better selfish gene or group selection?
The selfish gene will get the benefit of the altruistic individuals’ reproductive sacrifices, while offering nothing in return. Group selection is the idea that natural selection can act on scales larger than a gene, i.e. at the organism or social group level.