Advanced Higher – Red Queen Homework

Background:

Because every improvement in one species will lead to a selective advantage for that species, variation will normally continuously lead to increases in fitness in one species or another. However, since in general different species are co-evolving, improvement in one species implies that it will get a competitive advantage over the other species, and thus be able to capture a larger share of the resources available to all. This means that fitness increase in one evolutionary system will tend to lead to fitness decrease in another system. The only way that a species involved in a competition for resources can maintain its fitness relative to other competing species is by improving its specific fitness. (From Heylighen, 2000)

There are many good reference sources for this topic, and it is never easy to select just one but it has been decided to focus on Matt Ridley’s 1995 book ‘The Red Queen; Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature’.

While the whole book is definitely worth reading and an enthralling read for anyone interested in Biology, it is proposed for the purposes of this tutorial to focus on Chapter I. Human Nature as it touches on many of the evolutionary threads that are then tackled in more detail later on in the book.

Ridley.Matt (1995) The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, Penguin Books,

Homework Task based on:

Ridley.Matt (1995) The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (Chapter 1).

Read Chapter 1 and 3 of above text

Look through the following discussion points and choose one to present your thought on to the class

Discussion Points:

  1. The antithesis of the Red Queen hypothesis is the ‘Court Jester Hypothesis’ which was put forward by Professor Anthony Barnosky (University of California – Berkeley) in 1999. The Court Jester Hypothesis proposes the idea that abiotic forces such as climate change, tectonic events and other physical factors are the major driving force behind evolutionary change, rather than biotic competition between species as proposed by the ‘Red Queen Hypothesis’.
  1. ‘Of Nature and Nurture’ - In the 1970’s, Richard Dawkins proposed the notion that, because bodies do not replicate themselves but are grown, whereas genes replicate themselves, it follows that that the body is an evolutionary vehicle for the gene rather than vice versa.
  1. The gene-centred view of evolution infers that no detail of animal courtship mattered unless it could be explained in terms of the selective competition of genes. For some time it was thought that humans were exempt from this and emancipated from evolution but this emancipation itself must have evolved because it suited the replication of genes. Discuss.
  1. ‘The Individual in Society’ – why is so important from an evolutionary standpoint that no two individuals are identical (clearly with the genetic exception of identical twins).
  1. It is proposed in Matt Ridley’s book that human intellect itself is a product of sexual rather than natural selection. Discuss this with specific examples.
  1. Why do human beings have two sexes?
  1. The concept that all progress is relative, ‘The Red Queen Hypothesis’ means that the faster you run, the more the world moves with you and the less you make progress. Using specific examples, discuss this hypothesis.
  1. The Red Queen is not present at all evolutionary events, give an example of this.
  1. ‘Of Conflict and Cooperation’ -Ridley proposes that the Red Queen never appears without the presence of another evolutionary contributor; co-operation and conflict. What does he mean by this?
  1. ‘To Choose’ - There are many references to ‘sexual selection’ throughout the text. What is meant by this and why is it important in an evolutionary context?