BIOL 409 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Sexual Selection, Mutation Rate, Weaning
Document Summary
Briefly describe the fitness landscape model discussed in class. The fitness landscape: represent every single possible nucleotide sequence for an organism. The steps up the mountain represent the process of adaptation. Introduced by sewall wright in the 1930s and has proven a useful way to visualize how the addition of parameters will influence the possible paths of evolution. There are more than one peak and the landscape are rough because there are different fitness and genes linked: selection does create adaptations, but we need to always consider alternative explanations. No adaptation and no selection for the hypothesized adaptive trait. Selection and adaptation are happening, but at a different correlated trait. The trait is useful, but does not come about due to natural selection. Convergent traits are adaptive, but differences between populations are not. It occurs due to female choice (direct selection). Little evidence that long tail feather play a role in competition, instead female birds prefer them.
