In related news, this weeks Science has the clearest demonstration of group selection that I’ve seen: The ability to self-pollinate in plants gives individuals a great reproductive advantage; but also increases the likelihood of the entire species going extinct. The presence of a feature (self-pollination) that provides an advantage to the individual, provides a disadvantage to the species, that causes species-level selection.
I realize your views may have changed by now, but isn’t that obviously caused by Red Queen effects? Just like all other sexual reproduction?
I realize your views may have changed by now, but isn’t that obviously caused by Red Queen effects? Just like all other sexual reproduction?