PHL357H5 Chapter 1: chap1 notes
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Fitness: actual number of offspring left by an individual compared to a reference (pg4. Multiple explanations of fitness lead to circular arguments, these explanations are (pg 5: differences in average offspring of certain phenotypes, changes in the proportion of types overtime. The role of fitness has to change in order to create empirical claims (pg 6) Now a days fitness is barely used to explain evolution at all (pg 6) Eg: twins, one gets struck by lightening and dies while the other makes kids, boom the alive one is more fit: therefore we cant just say that someone who has more kids is more fit. Cant say the same for groups, since natural factors (earthquakes etc. ) can harm the group. Using a trait doesn"t work, since we really don"t know what is helpful and harmful for certain environments. Fitness is rich in metaphor but poor in precision.
