Work

Adaptive individual differences within single populations

Year: 1998

Type: article

Abstract: Phenotypic differences can exist between species, between local populations of the same species and between individuals within single local populations. At all scales, phenotypic differences can be either adaptive or non–adaptive. Using natural selection to explain differences between closely related species was controversial during the 1940s but had become common by the 1960s. Similarly, the adaptive nature of differences between local populations was initially controversial but had become widely accepted by the 1980s. The interpretation of differences at the finest scale—between individuals within single populations—is still unresolved. This paper reviews studies of adaptive individual differences in resource use and response to risk. A general conceptual framework for thinking about adaptive individual differences within populations can unite subjects as seemingly different as speciation and personality psychology.

Source: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.1998.0202

Author: David Sloan Wilson

Institution: Binghamton University

Language: English

Topic: Animal Behavior and Reproduction

Subfield: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Binghamton University

Award: Invasion of an Ecological Niche by Lepomis gibbosus in Lakes Without Lepomis macrochirus