Evolutionary suicide

Evolutionary suicide

Evolutionary suicide is an evolutionary mechanism where adaptation at the level of the individual results in a situation where the entire population goes extinct. This process is different from group selection, and arises where individual fitness is coupled with the fitness of the population.

Models of evolutionary suicide have generally come from scientists using the mathematical modeling technique known as adaptive dynamics, where models of evolution can be combined with models of population dynamics. This allows the scientist to predict how population density will change as a given trait invades the population.

Evolutionary suicide has also been referred to as "Darwinian extinction", "Runaway selection to self-extinction" or "Evolutionary collapse". The idea is similar in concept to the Tragedy of the Commons.

As such, evolutionary suicide remains a theoretical possibility. Very few studies have actually demonstrated it, either in the laboratory or in nature, but this is due to the difficulties associated with observing the exact causes of an extinction [http://www.rankin.sk/pdf/oikos05.pdf] .

See also

*Sexual selection#Geometric progression

References and external links

* Gyllenberg M. & K. Parvinen. 2001. Necessary and sufficient conditions for evolutionary suicide. "Bull. Math. Biol." 63, 981-993

* Gyllenberg M., K. Parvinen & U. Dieckmann. 2002. [http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/PUB/Documents/IR-00-056.pdf Evolutionary suicide and evolution of dispersal in structured metapopulations] . "J. Math. Biol." 45, 79-105 (IIASA Interim Report IR-00-056)

* Parvinen K. 2005. Evolutionary suicide. "Acta Biotheoretica" 53, 241-264.

* Rankin D.J. & A. Lopez-Sepulcre. 2005. [http://www.rankin.sk/pdf/oikos05.pdf Can adaptation lead to extinction?] "Oikos" 111, 616-619

* Nagy, J.D., E.M. Victor and J.H. Cropper. 2007. Why don't all whales have cancer? A novel hypothesis resolving Peto's paradox. "Int. Comp. Biol." 47, 317-328


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Evolutionary Suicide — – die deutsche Übersetzung evolutionärer Selbstmord hat noch keine Verbreitung in der deutschsprachigen Fachliteratur gefunden – ist eine Theorie der Evolutionslehre, die besagt, dass die evolutionäre Anpassung eines Individuums zum Aussterben… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Evolutionary invasion analysis — Evolutionary invasion analysis, also known as adaptive dynamics, is a set of techniques for studying long term phenotypical evolution developed during the 1990s. It incorporates the concept of frequency dependence from game theory but allows for… …   Wikipedia

  • Suicide évolutif — Le suicide évolutif est un processus évolutif selon lequel la sélection à l’échelle individuelle peut mener vers l’extinction de l espèce entière. L extinction des espèces est un principe fondamental en évolution. On l associe généralement à des… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Suicide — For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). Suicide Classification and external resources …   Wikipedia

  • Suicide and evolution — Evolutionists have developed several models to explain the apparent contradiction of suicide and evolutionary theory. Denys de Catanzaro has conducted a lot of research into this field. Others, such as Donald H. Rubinstein, and Anne Campbell have …   Wikipedia

  • Evolutionary approaches to depression — Major depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and in 2000 was the fourth leading contributor to the global burden of disease (DALYs); it is also an important risk factor for suicide. Citation| first= | last=| coauthors=|… …   Wikipedia

  • Epidemiology of suicide — It is probable that the incidence of suicide is widely under reported due to both religious and social pressures, and possibly completely unreported in some areas. Nevertheless, from the known suicides, certain trends are apparent. However, since …   Wikipedia

  • Criticism of evolutionary psychology — From its beginning, evolutionary psychology (EP) has generated substantial controversy and criticism.[1] Criticisms include 1) disputes about the testability of evolutionary hypotheses, 2) alternatives to some of the cognitive assumptions (such… …   Wikipedia

  • Sexuelle Selektion — Die Sexuelle Selektion (lateinisch selectio ‚Auslese‘) ist eine innerartliche Selektion, die auf körperliche Merkmale wirkt und durch Varianz im Fortpflanzungserfolg zwischen Mitgliedern desselben Geschlechts entsteht.[1] Diese… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Tragedy of the commons — Cows on Selsley Common. The tragedy of the commons is one way of accounting for overexploitation. The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”