Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
American Scientist
Volume
68
Publication Date
4-1-1980
First Page
146
Last Page
153
Abstract
Biologists over the last decade have increasingly come to accept the proposition that sexual reproduction is not a cooperative enterprise designed to perpetuate the species but is instead an occasion for competition among individuals that determines the survival of their genes. George Williams in his influential book Adaptation and Natural Selection (1966) reminded his readers that natural selection occurs because individuals differ in their ability to transmit genetic information to subsequent generations. Adaptations that help individuals pass on their genes will persist in populations, whereas characters associated with genetic failures will disappear. The logic of natural selection therefore leads to the hypothesis that the traits found in organisms today have, at least in the past, promoted the gene-copying success of individuals (Wilson 1975; Dawkins 1976).
Recommended Citation
Alcock, John, "Natural Selection and the Mating Systems of Solitary Bees" (1980). A. Paper 83.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/bee_lab_a/83