BSC 385 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Dyskeratosis Congenita, Selective Breeding, Body Plan
1 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
The amount of energy that is available to an organism over the course of its life is finite. Life span (i. e. , senescence), for example, is influenced by an orga(cid:374)is(cid:373)"s a(cid:271)ilit(cid:455) to keep itself going at the expense of reproduction. Life history comprises: the pattern of development and growth, the life span, the timing and quantity of reproduction. Selection"s perfe(cid:272)t orga(cid:374)is(cid:373) (cid:449)ould: be mature at birth, continuously produce lots of high-quality offspring, live forever. Some organisms have some of those qualities: example, female thrips egg mite mature at birth. Mature before it hatches; mates with brother. But, it dies after 4 days when its offspring hatch out: example, brown kiwi. 6 lbs. kiwi lays 1 lb egg. But, takes two months for two eggs, males watch them for 3 months: no organism lives forever. Biology & physics impose limits, fitness trade-offs: how selection balances trade-offs in different environments leads to different life histories.
