Darwin put fort the notion of the survival of the fittest. How do we define 'fittest'? The answer usually given is those who survive. So you can readily see that this is a circular agrument and doesn't really help us understand what really happens following natural selection quite clearly. The idea of fitness as a matter of survival will not do. Therefore in the course of the development of what we have earlier referred to as the modern synthesis the notion of fitness was related to the ability of the individual to maximise the number of progeny left in the next generation. In other words the notion of fitness was translated into reproductive success. Given the idea of fitness as being measurable in terms of reproductive success we can now go back to basic tenets of Darwinism. The first of the five observations mentioned therein was the tendency on the part of living organisms to reproduce: In an exponential manner. We noted that the consequence of this is competition for available resources which results in "the survival of the fittest" Clearly, therefore. in3terms of reproductive ability nature is truly prodigal.

Posted Date: 4/6/2013 12:56:21 AM | Location : United States

Ask an Expert

Related Discussions:- Natural selection, Assignment Help, Ask Question on Natural selection, Get Answer, Expert's Help, Natural selection Discussions

Write discussion on Natural selection
Your posts are moderated

Write your message here..

Related Questions

Decomposers, 5 beneficial effects of decomposers and 2 harmful effects 5 beneficial effects of decomposers and 2 harmful effects

Explain the nucleolus, Q. Explain the nucleolus? The nucleolus is an op... Q. Explain the nucleolus? The nucleolus is an optically and a small dense region in the interior of the cell nucleus. It is made of ribosomic proteins and RNA (rRNA). One nucle

Blood sugar assessment, The measurement of blood sugar is of prime importan... The measurement of blood sugar is of prime importance in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with diabetes. You can refer sub-section 1.5.2 of Unit 1 to review about Glucose T

Transport proteins and under the same concentration gradient, Q. with no sa... Q. with no saturation of transport proteins and under the same concentration gradient how can the speed of simple diffusion is compared to the speed of facilitated diffusion? T

Assessment of diastolic function, Diastolic dysfunction is  responsible for... Diastolic dysfunction is  responsible for one third of cases of heart  failure alone and rest two  third of cases in  combination with systolic dysfunction. Diastolic dysfunction c

What is pcr, What is PCR? How does PCR works? PCR, polymerase chain rea... What is PCR? How does PCR works? PCR, polymerase chain reaction, is a process to synthesize many copies of exact regions of a DNA molecule known as target-regions. Its inventor

Difference between distant object and near object, Difference between Dista... Difference between Distant object and Near object - Distan t object Near object   1. Parallel light reaches to eye.   2. Ci

Explain pollen grains, Transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the sti... Transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma of another flower of the similar plant is known as? Geitonogamy

Classifying organisms, Classifying Organisms You have now seen that th... Classifying Organisms You have now seen that the binomial nomenclature gives each species a unique and unambiguous name. It is necessary lo group species into genera and gener

Explain the importance of cellulose, Importance of cellulose About one ... Importance of cellulose About one third of the world's production of  purified cellulose is  used as the base material for a number of water-soluble derivatives with predesigne