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Fitness

Definition

noun

(1) (biology) A biological condition in which a competing variant is increasing in frequency relative to other competing variants in a population.

(2) A relative measure of reproductive success of an organism in passing its genes to the next generation.

(3) The relative ability of an individual (or population) to survive, reproduce and propagate genes in an environment.

(4) The state or quality of being fit, e.g. physically or mentally; being in shape, good health or well-being.

(5) The capability to perform a function.

(6) The ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in its enviornment.


Supplement

In biology, Darwinian fitness or simply fitness of a biological trait describes how successful an organism has been at passing on its genes. The more likely that an individual is able to survive and live longer to reproduce, the higher is the fitness of that individual.

There are two ways through which fitness can be measured:


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Results from our forum


Questions about phenotypic plasticity

... trait that has become more common due to climate change, that would also lead to a new genetic adaptation since the other traits that has less fitness would die off, but than someone told me that phenotypic traits can never lead to new evolutionary changes. Well as I said I hope you understand ...

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by tekla
Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:38 am
 
Forum: Evolution
Topic: Questions about phenotypic plasticity
Replies: 3
Views: 728

Re: Can you think of an evolutionary reason for this?

... be??? for the first one: the presence of a biological father would prevent early fertility simply because it might not actually lead to greater fitness (complications of young pregnancies). On the other hand that pressure has to balanced out with "letting the daughter out of the prepubescent ...

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by Cat
Fri Sep 28, 2012 3:12 pm
 
Forum: Evolution
Topic: Can you think of an evolutionary reason for this?
Replies: 8
Views: 2174

speculation about the evolution of Talking and Listening

It occured to me that the fundamental need to discuss topics of interest has obvious benefits for human fitness. But can evolution explain why so many humans talk more than they listen? Wouldn't the listener be at an advantage because they would learn more? Is the prevalance ...

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by wildfunguy
Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:58 pm
 
Forum: Evolution
Topic: speculation about the evolution of Talking and Listening
Replies: 2
Views: 1280

Re: I don't understand fitness landscapes :(

R C Lewontin and Andre Ariew prduced a very good paper in 2004 entitled The Confusions of Fitness, you will find it here. http://docencia.med.uchile.cl/evolucion/pdf2005/LEWONTIN2004-fitness.pdf very helpful

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by scottie
Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:34 am
 
Forum: Evolution
Topic: I don't understand fitness landscapes :(
Replies: 7
Views: 2182

Can you think of an evolutionary reason for this?

... be??? for the first one: the presence of a biological father would prevent early fertility simply because it might not actually lead to greater fitness (complications of young pregnancies). On the other hand that pressure has to balanced out with "letting the daughter out of the prepubescent ...

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by immunogoblin
Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:43 pm
 
Forum: Evolution
Topic: Can you think of an evolutionary reason for this?
Replies: 8
Views: 2174
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