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L-425 Spring 2018 (rsheehy) adings and Problems (CRaP) Google Hangout Discussion

ID: 197758 • Letter: L

Question

L-425 Spring 2018 (rsheehy) adings and Problems (CRaP) Google Hangout Discussions Classlist Quizzes Gra 6 Evolution of Sex Discussion questions for Gould& Lewontin/Myer papers questions for Gould & Lewontin/Myer papers Answer 2 of the following 3 questions Type the answers. Bring them to class. Be prepared to discuss and amend your answers 1) Who are (were) Stephen J. Gould, Richard Lewontin, and Earnst Mayr? Why are these men qualified to debate the topic of Adaptationist program? (you'll have to look outside these papers to answer this one). 2) According to Gould and Lewontin, adaptationists construct faulty explanations when they fail to consider options other than that the trait arose through natural selection Provide a few of their examples of faulty logic and consider whether Mayr would agree with these criticisms 3) Mayr makes recommendations about how an adaptationist program should be executed. Discuss those recommendations in your own words while comparing and contrasting them to the "Alternative Strategies" as outlined by Gould and Lewontin. #3) Mayr, E. (1983) How to Carry Out the Adaptionist Program? The Amercan Naturalist, 121:324-334 #4) Gould. SJ., Lewontin (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme. Proc. Royal Soc. B. 205:581-598 MacBook Pro

Explanation / Answer

A program of research devoted to demonstrate the adaptedness of individuals and their characteristics is referred to by Gould and Lewontin as an "adaptationist program."

Here is an example of trait and its functional evolution.

Adaptationism is sometimes characterized by critics as an unsubstantiated assumption that all or most traits are optimal adaptations. Structuralist critics according to Lewontin and Gould  contend that the adaptationists have over-emphasized the power of natural selection to shape individual traits to an evolutionary optimum.

* according to gould and Lewontin traits can also be byproducts, spandrels, or exaptations of any of these processes in a co-related or linked trait, among other causal and explanatory factors.

But according to a myer trait is, indeed, an adaptation assuming adaptation is standard operating procedure among most behavioral ecologists, evolutionary psychologists, and human evolutionists. To identify a trait’s function is to determine the specific selection pressures (if any) that were at least partially responsible for the evolution of the trait. Thus, identifying the function of the trait is the primary aim of the adaptationist program, which also aims to identify the formative selective pressures.

a trait having utility now is not the same as having a trait having utility now is not the same as having a