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Appreciating the Multiple Processes Increasing Individual or Population Fitness.

Pim Edelaar¹, Daniel I Bolnick²

¹University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain; The authors contributed equally.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

|March 10, 2019

Summary

Individuals can proactively enhance their fitness amidst environmental change through phenotypic, environmental, or behavioral adjustments. This study classifies these individual-level adaptations to natural selection and population fitness, aiding research on evolutionary responses.

Keywords:

adaptation adjustment of the environment behavior fitness phenotype–environment match selection of the environment

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Ecology
Behavioral ecology

Background:

Natural selection drives population adaptation, but environmental changes can decrease individual fitness.
Individuals may evolve traits to proactively compensate for reduced fitness, a process often overlooked.
Existing mechanisms for individual fitness compensation are not always clearly distinguished.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a unified classification scheme for individual-level processes that enhance fitness.
To integrate phenotypic change, environmental selection, and environmental adjustment under one framework.
To clarify the relationship between individual adaptation strategies and population-level fitness.

Main Methods:

Conceptual framework development.
Literature synthesis of individual adaptation mechanisms.
Relating individual strategies to evolutionary theory.

Main Results:

A novel classification scheme integrating phenotypic change, environmental selection, and environmental adjustment.
Demonstration of how these individual processes contribute to fitness.
Elucidation of the link between individual coping mechanisms and population adaptation.

Conclusions:

Individual-level strategies are crucial for navigating environmental change and maintaining fitness.
The proposed framework aids in understanding and researching individual and population responses to environmental shifts.
This classification can inform both scientific research and educational approaches to adaptation.