Definition
Frequency-dependent selection occurs when the fitness of a phenotype, genotype, or allele varies with its relative abundance in the population.
Introduction
Frequency-dependent selection occurs when the differential survival and reproduction of organisms in a population depends on the trait (allelic, genotypic, or phenotypic) frequencies of other conspecifics in the same population. It is common in nature and perhaps even the norm for most biological systems (Dieckmann and Ferriere 2004). Traits that affect mating success, resource competition, and predation, for example, often generate situations where the relative fitness of a trait variant depends on its frequency in the population. Despite its ubiquity, frequency-dependent selection is too often neglected when reasoning about selective processes.
Types of Frequency-Dependent Selection
There are two basic varieties of...
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References
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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the grant that currently funds my research: ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship project A Philosophy of Medicine for the 21st Century (Ref: FL170100160).
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Takacs, P. (2019). Frequency-Dependent Selection. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2115-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2115-1
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