Genes versus individuals
Talk for Department of Biological Sciences
- Thursday 6 February 13:00
- VilVite auditorium.
(Right after and in the same room as the bioSEMINAR)
Summary: One might expect natural selection to lead to a population in which the resident genes are maximising their rate of spread within the environment they help create. But what does this say about the behaviour of the individuals that carry the genes? Usually, the characterisation is in terms of some form of individual maximisation. I highlight the relationship in various contexts. In doing so, I wish to question to what extent the individual optimisation perspective is both conceptually useful and of practical use as a modelling tool. In particular, I will present a model of the timing of germination of a seed in spring. This case raises some interesting conceptual issues, as well as highlighting the relationship between genes and the individual.
BIO: Few have thought as much about how to model evolution and adaptation in animal behaviour and life history strategies as Professor Emeritus John McNamara of the University of Bristol, UK. His books with Alasdair Houston on state-dependent models (1999) and with Olof Leimar on evolutionary game theory (2020) are key textbooks that drove the theoretical underpinnings of behavioural ecology forwards. His work has guided and inspired the Theoretical Ecology Group at BIO for decades, and with more than 33000 citations in Google Scholar it is not only this group that has benefited from his clear thinking and pedagogical style of writing. John will visit TEG for the whole week.