Natural Selection
Category archives for Natural Selection
Reproductive Success and Fitness are not the same thing
Posted by Greg Laden on July 19, 2013 
Reproductive Success (RS) is defined in many ways in different places by different people, but one of the most common definitions is simply the number of offspring an individual produces. This definition is further modified in most cases to mean only those individuals that will be fertile, i.e., capable of producing further offspring. RS is…
“A new theory of evolution proves what Sarah Palin has always known: Darwin was a retard”
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2010 As I predicted earlier today, various journalists are taking up the theme that “Darwin was wrong” because he did not predict that niches into which organisms evolved would be a major controlling feature in the overall pattern of evolution. But of course, he did, and the new research being referred to does not “disprove darwin.”…
Natural Selection vs. Opportunity in Macroevolutionary Patterning of the Fossil Record
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2010 I’m going to talk about one or two peer reviewed papers, but in doing so, I’m going to have to say a few words … and this will not be pretty … about a certain science writer’s report at the BBC. In an article titled “Space is the final frontier for evolution, study claims” BBC…
Acting for the survival of the species (a falsehood)
Posted by Greg Laden on September 2, 2009 Today’s falsehood is the idea that individual animals act for the benefit of their own species.
The Modes of Natural Selection
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 There many ways of dividing up and categorizing Natural Selection. For example, there are the trichotomies of Natural Selection, Sexual Selection and Artificial Selection, and Modes of Selection (Stabilizing, Directional, and Disruptive) trichotomy. We sense that these are good because they are “threes” and “three” is a magic number. Here, I’m focusing on the Mode…
The Three Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Natural Selection
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 Natural Selection is the key creative force in evolution. Natural selection, together with specific histories of populations (species) and adaptations, is responsible for the design of organisms. Most people have some idea of what Natural Selection is. However, it is easy to make conceptual errors when thinking about this important force of nature. One way…
Humans are no longer subject to Natural Selection (A falsehood)
Posted by Greg Laden on August 24, 2009 Another look at falsehoods about evolution.
The Natural Basis for Inequality of the Sexes
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2009 Is the Natural World a valid source of guidance for our behavior, morals, ethics, and other more mundane areas of thought such as how to build an airplane and what to eat for breakfast?1 When it comes to airplanes, you’d better be a servant to the rules of nature (such as gravity) or the airplane…
BBC: DNA mutations followed by selection does not lead to new species!?!?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 24, 2009 In an BBC article describing a Royal Society paper on the rate of mutation in warm vs. cooler climates, the BBC made this statement: DNA can mutate and change imperceptibly every time a cell divides and makes a copy of itself. But when one of these mutations causes a change that is advantageous for the…
Ultimate Causes, Proximate Mechanisms
Posted by Greg Laden on May 14, 2009 Why does a soldier throw himself on a hand grenade to save the lives of a half-dozen unrelated fellow soldiers? Why does someone run into a burning building they happen to be passing to save a child they don’t know? From a Darwinian perspective these seem to be enigmatic behaviors that would “select against” such…