Biol. Bull. Sign up for etocs!
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rinkevich, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rinkevich, B.

The Biological Bulletin, Vol 199, Issue 3 231-240, Copyright © 2000 by Marine Biological Laboratory

JOURNAL ARTICLE

A critical approach to the definition of Darwinian units of selection

B Rinkevich
Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, National Institute of Oceanography, Haifa. buki@ocean.org.il

What are the biological units of selection? In fact, the notion of "unit of selection" (UOS) is blurred by ambiguity and controversy. To further evaluate the biological entities that are the objects of natural selection, three novel conceptual criteria (holism, minimalism, functionalism) are critically applied; they reveal, in addition to the self-evident case of the "individual," at least six distinct types of UOSs. These UOSs do not always have a defined structural organization; they can be parts of a living organism, a cohesive group of conspecifics, a multiunit entity, a totipotent cell, a DNA fragment, or a whole organism. UOS types diversify by amalgamation or parcelation processes of apparent entities. Therefore, previous attempts to characterize the UOSs solely on some morphological levels (gene, individual, group) without applying stringent criteria have failed to cope with the structural variations of natural phenomena and have led to the ambiguity of terms used.




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2000 by the Marine Biological Laboratory.