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The Limits on Optimization in Evolution

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Biogenesis Evolution Homeostasis

Abstract

The notion of optimality in evolution, following the Darwinian process of the “Survival of the fittest”, is very useful when attempting to understand the way living organisms are built and behave. One has only to think of the many beautiful and precise adaptations to their environment which living organisms demonstrate. If we try to consider every species as being the product of a long process of evolution by natural selection, there are often, however, many cases where the performance of some particular structure or behaviour is obviously far from maximal.

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© 1973 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Cohen, D. (1973). The Limits on Optimization in Evolution. In: Locker, A. (eds) Biogenesis Evolution Homeostasis. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95235-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95235-7_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-06134-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-95235-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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