Natural Selection

Abstract

As we have seen in the chapter on genetics, selection can be applied to both the individual and the colony. Thus we do not follow Buss’ (1987) concept for the evolution of individuality in that selection “will act solely upon the higher unit … if the lower unit is physically contained within the higher unit” (Buss 1987, p. 184). In fact, this axiom may only hold for true organisms but not for superoganisms (higher unit), in which the lower units are individuals themselves. Clearly, selection can act upon individual workers, queens and drones within the unit of a honeybee colony. This does not mean that it is easy to discriminate between selection pressures on the different levels. Most often individual and colony-level selection work synergistically. For example, an individually fit queen may produce many worker offspring, which will have consequences at the colony level and may result in a strong and fit colony. Usually, both selection mechanisms will be tightly interwoven and hard to dissect with experimental biological techniques.

It is certain that whatever changes may overtake biology in the future, we must henceforth grapple with the organism as a dynamic agency in a very complex and unstable environment. (William Morton Wheeler 1911)