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Sensory Drive Hypothesis
The sensory drive hypothesis is a hypothesis in population ecology that posits that when local environmental conditions differ between conspecific populations, communication systems will adapt to these conditions. Sensory drive predicts that both communication signals and perceptual systems will adapt to these local environmental conditions. Divergence will then occur based on the intensity and direction of selection on the mating signals and on the sensory systems acquiring information regarding predators, prey, and potential mates. The sensory drive hypothesis has two primary assumptions. The first is that greater sensory stimulation results in preferences for mates with the stimulating trait, meaning exaggerated traits are expected to have greater signal value and generate more mating because they cause a stronger response from the sensory system. In this sense, it is possible for sensory drive to contribute to the formation of runaway traits when sexual selection is working ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Population Ecology
Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment (biophysical), environment, such as birth rate, birth and death rates, and by immigration and emigration. The discipline is important in conservation biology, especially in the development of population viability analysis which makes it possible to predict the long-term probability of a species persisting in a given patch of habitat. Although population ecology is a subfield of biology, it provides interesting problems for mathematicians and statistics, statisticians who work in population dynamics. History In the 1940s, ecology was divided into autecology—the study of individual species in relation to the environment—and Community ecology, synecology—the study of groups of species in relation to the environment. The term autecology (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: :wikt:αὐτο, αὐτο, ''aúto'', "self"; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitreous Body
The vitreous body (''vitreous'' meaning "glass-like"; , ) is the clear gel that fills the space between the Lens (vision), lens and the retina of the eye, eyeball (the vitreous chamber) in humans and other vertebrates. It is often referred to as the vitreous humor (also spelled humour), from Latin meaning liquid, or simply "the vitreous". Vitreous fluid or "liquid vitreous" is the liquid component of the vitreous gel, found after a vitreous detachment. It is not to be confused with the aqueous humor, the other fluid in the eye that is found between the cornea and lens. Structure The vitreous humor is a transparent, colorless, gelatinous mass that fills the space in the eye between the lens and the retina. It is surrounded by a layer of collagen called the vitreous membrane (or hyaloid membrane or vitreous cortex) separating it from the rest of the eye. It makes up four-fifths of the volume of the eyeball. The vitreous humour is fluid-like near the centre, and gel-like near the ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Selection
Social selection is a term used with varying meanings in biology. Joan Roughgarden proposed a hypothesis called ''social selection'' as an alternative to sexual selection. Social selection is argued to be a mode of natural selection based on reproductive transactions and a two-tiered approach to evolution and the development of social behavior. Reproductive transactions refer to a situation where one organism offers assistance to another in exchange for access to reproductive opportunity. The two tiers of the theory are behavioral and population genetic. The genetic aspect states that anisogamy arose to maximize contact rate between gametes. The behavioral aspect is concerned with cooperative game theory and the formation of social groups to maximize the production of offspring. In her critique against the neo-Darwinian defense of sexual selection, Roughgarden outlines exceptions to many of the assumptions that come with sexual selection. These exceptions include sexually mono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coevolution
In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well as gene-culture coevolution. Charles Darwin mentioned evolutionary interactions between flowering plants and insects in ''On the Origin of Species'' (1859). Although he did not use the word coevolution, he suggested how plants and insects could evolve through reciprocal evolutionary changes. Naturalists in the late 1800s studied other examples of how interactions among species could result in reciprocal evolutionary change. Beginning in the 1940s, plant pathologists developed breeding programs that were examples of human-induced coevolution. Development of new crop plant varieties that were resistant to some diseases favored rapid evolution in pathogen populations to overcome those plant defenses. That, in turn, required the development of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
