ANTHRO 7 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Agonistic Behaviour, Reciprocal Altruism, Group Selection
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End midterm i questions (20) (a) explain why reproductive success is a critical element of evolution by natural selection. When biologists use terms like cost and benefit, what currency are they trying to measure? (b) when evolutionary biologists talk about animals" strategies, what are they referring to? (lecture: evolutionary theory & social behavior; pp. 146-147): natural selection occurs because of differential individual survival and reproduction. The number of offspring raised to maturity is defined as reproductive success because any heritable morphological or behavioral trait that contributes to said reproductive success is favored by selection. Thus, reproductive success is a useful measure of an animal"s fitness and potential genetic input into future generations. Cost and benefit refer to the effect of particular bx strategies (set of bx occurring in a specific functional context such as mating, parenting, foraging) on reproductive success.
