The aspects of development that interest students of life history evolution are plasticity,
canalization, and constraint. Plasticity has both an adaptive component modifiable by gene …

In this paper I question the existence of life-history tactics as traditionally defined at the
intraspecific level. Then I comment on some of the recent criticisms of optimality theory, and …

During the last 10 years neo-Darwinian theory has been challenged by a number of new
concepts, such as punctuation and developmental constraints. At a closer examina· tion …

Whereas population genetics underrates the organism, life history theory underrates the
gene. These fields are limited, in part because they ignore each other and in part because …

Epigenetic interactions during development drastically constrain processes of morphological
change during evolution. Development does not only define the apportionment of …

Biologists often use abstractions developed in one context to describe material mechanisms
observed in another, where the connection is not as certain. This article discusses four …

" Fitness" has been used to indicate a measure of general adaptedness, and to indicate a
short-term measure of reproductive success. The former concept seems unproductive in …

Many organisms pass through a broad size range as they develop from independent
juveniles to mature adults, and as a result most of them change their use of resources (their …

Trade-offs represent the costs paid in the currency of fitness when a beneficial change in
one trait is linked to a detrimental change in another. If there were no trade-offs, then …

Ever since the publication of The Origin of Species, evolutionary biologists have fixed their
attention on how natural selection brings about adaptation. The study of adaptation has most …