The inclusive fitness controversy: finding a way forward

Birch, Jonathan

doi:10.1098/rsos.170335

Cited by 39 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 82 publications

(145 reference statements)

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“…). This strengthens Birch's resolution that inclusive fitness offers a useful organizing framework, and goes further in highlighting its practical and empirical utility (Birch , ).…”

Section: Practicalities For Behavioral Ecologistssupporting

confidence: 65%

“…We discuss one example here, explaining how mutations of rare but possibly large effect (similar to the population genetic notion of “penetrance”) can resolve the usual problems that arise from nonadditivity. This resolution has been discussed by a number of authors in specific cases, and here we argue for it being a potentially general solution (Queller ; Grafen ; Birch ).…”

Section: Practicalities For Behavioral Ecologistsmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Although critics have doubted that IF is under the individual's control in general, they do accept the principle under additivity (Lehmann et al. ; Okasha and Martens ; Birch , ). Thus, we lose the design principle if we use NMF, which sacrifices most of the utility of inclusive fitness.…”

Section: The Challenge Of Nonadditivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hamilton (1964) showed that, at equilibrium, organisms should appear to be choosing traits with regards to inclusive fitness, and that this results from gene frequency change. Although critics have doubted that IF is under the individual's control in general, they do accept the principle under additivity Okasha and Martens 2016b;Birch 2017aBirch , 2017b. Thus, we lose the design principle if we use NMF, which sacrifices most of the utility of inclusive fitness.…”

Section: Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Bourke ; Queller ) . We endorse and adopt here the resolution offered by Birch (,b), who accepts that the critics (e.g. Nowak et al.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

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Inclusive fitness is an indispensable approximation for understanding organismal design

Levin

Grafen

2019

Evolution

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For some decades most biologists interested in design have agreed that natural selection leads to organisms acting as if they are maximizing a quantity known as “inclusive fitness.” This maximization principle has been criticized on the (uncontested) grounds that other quantities, such as offspring number, predict gene frequency changes accurately in a wider range of mathematical models. Here, we adopt a resolution offered by Birch, who accepts the technical difficulties of establishing inclusive fitness maximization in a fully general model, while concluding that inclusive fitness is still useful as an organizing framework. We set out in more detail why inclusive fitness is such a practical and powerful framework, and provide verbal and conceptual arguments for why social biology would be more or less impossible without it. We aim to help mathematicians understand why social biologists are content to use inclusive fitness despite its theoretical weaknesses. Here, we also offer biologists practical advice for avoiding potential pitfalls.

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“…). This strengthens Birch's resolution that inclusive fitness offers a useful organizing framework, and goes further in highlighting its practical and empirical utility (Birch , ).…”

Section: Practicalities For Behavioral Ecologistssupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Practicalities For Behavioral Ecologistsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Section: The Challenge Of Nonadditivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Bourke ; Queller ) . We endorse and adopt here the resolution offered by Birch (,b), who accepts that the critics (e.g. Nowak et al.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Inclusive fitness is an indispensable approximation for understanding organismal design

Levin

Grafen

2019

Evolution

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Extending the range of additivity in using inclusive fitness

Levin

Grafen

2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Inclusive fitness is a concept widely utilized by social biologists as the quantity organisms appear designed to maximize. However, inclusive fitness theory has long been criticized on the (uncontested) grounds that other quantities, such as offspring number, predict gene frequency changes accurately in a wider range of mathematical models. Here, we articulate a set of modeling assumptions that extend the range of scenarios in which inclusive fitness can be applied. We reanalyze recent formal analyses that searched for, but did not find, inclusive fitness maximization. We show (a) that previous models have not used Hamilton's definition of inclusive fitness, (b) a reinterpretation of Hamilton's definition that makes it usable in this context, and (c) that under the assumption of probabilistic mixing of phenotypes, inclusive fitness is indeed maximized in these models. We also show how to understand mathematically, and at an individual level, the definition of inclusive fitness, in an explicit population genetic model in which exact additivity is not assumed. We hope that in articulating these modeling assumptions and providing formal support for inclusive fitness maximization, we help bridge the gap between empiricists and theoreticians, which in some ways has been widening, demonstrating to mathematicians why biologists are content to use inclusive fitness, and offering one way to utilize inclusive fitness in general models of social behavior.

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Changes in white oak (Quercus alba) phytochemistry in response to periodical cicadas: Before, during, and after an emergence

Perkovich

Ward

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Periodical cicadas have mass emergences once every 13 or 17 years. Plants may need to upregulate defense production in response to an emergence. Defense production is energetically expensive, so plants may downregulate their production after periodical cicada populations dissipate. We examined the defensive responses in leaves, branches, and roots of a common host, white oak ( Quercus alba ), prior to, during, and after a 17‐year periodical cicada ( Magicicada spp.) emergence in western Pennsylvania, United States. During the emergence, total tannins and condensed tannins increased in foliar tissue, while simultaneously decreasing in root tissue compared to the prior and subsequent years. Non‐structural carbohydrates were low prior to the mass emergence but were re‐allocated to belowground storage during the emergence year and dropped thereafter. In the year after the emergence, there was a relaxation of foliar defenses, and root defenses returned to pre‐emergence concentrations. We also tested for differences in damaged and undamaged branches on the same tree during (2019) and the year after the emergence (2020). Both damaged and undamaged branches had significantly greater chemical defenses (polyphenols, total tannins, and condensed tannins) during the emergence than in the following year when there was no emergence. We propose that re‐allocation of resources may help maximize oak tree fitness by moving resources away from areas that are not in immediate threat to areas that are under immediate threat. Changes in aboveground and belowground phytochemistry in response to periodical cicada mass emergences may help us better understand which resource re‐allocation strategies are used by plants to minimize the effects of insect emergencies.

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The inclusive fitness controversy: finding a way forward

Cited by 39 publications

References 82 publications

Inclusive fitness is an indispensable approximation for understanding organismal design

Inclusive fitness is an indispensable approximation for understanding organismal design

Extending the range of additivity in using inclusive fitness

Changes in white oak (Quercus alba) phytochemistry in response to periodical cicadas: Before, during, and after an emergence

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