Analysis of units and levels of selection allows determination of where and how natural selection takes place, and how it causes evolutionary change in genes and organisms.
Keywords: selection; altruism; genes; evolution
Selection: Units and Levels
Benard J Crespi, Simon Fraser University, Barnaby, BC, Canada
Published online: April 2001
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001712
| References | |
| Alexander RD and Borgia G (1978) Group selection, altruism, and the levels of organization of life. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 9: 449–474. | |
| book Dawkins R (1982) "Replicators and vehicles". In: King's College Sociobiology Group (eds) Current Problems in Sociobiology, pp. 45–64. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | |
| Hamilton WD (1964) The genetical evolution of social behavior, I and II. Journal of Theoretical Biology 7: 1–52. | |
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| book Sober E and Wilson DS (1998) Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior. Cambridge, CA: Harvard University Press. | |
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| Further Reading | |
| book Alexander RD (1979) Darwinism and Human Affairs. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. | |
| book Alexander RD (1987) The Biology of Moral Systems. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter. | |
| book Buss LW (1987) The Evolution of Individuality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. | |
| book Dawkins R (1989) The Selfish Gene, 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | |
| book Keller L (1999) Levels of Selection in Evolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. | |
| book Maynard-Smith J and Szathmary E (1999) The Origins of Life: From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | |
| Werren JH and Beukenboom LW (1998) Sex determination, sex ratios, and genetic conflict. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 29: 233–261. | |
| book Williams GC (1966) Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. | |
