BioConcepts

selectionsélection (fr.); Selektion (ger.)

• Any process, whether artificial or natural, which brings about a particular modification of an animal or vegetable type by ensuring that in successive generations the individuals that reproduce their kind shall be those that have transmissible variations from the ancestral form in the direction of this modification. (OED 2011)
   
  category selection see also natural selection

  -45 (BC)

  [cum virtutis hoc proprium sit, earum rerum, quae secundum naturam sint, habere delectum: qui omnia sic exaequaverunt, ut in utramque partem ita paria redderent, uti nullā selectione uterentur, virtutem ipsam sustulerunt

  Cicero (45 BC). De finibus bonorum et malorum 3, 12.]

  1831

  selection by the law of nature

  Matthew, P. (1831). Naval Timber and Arboriculture: 387 (Appendix); cf. Limoges, C. (1970). La sélection naturelle. Étude sur la première constitution d’un concept (1837-1859), 155-159: 158; Wells, K.D. (1973). The historical context of natural selection: the case of Patrick Matthew. J. Hist. Biol. 6, 225-258; Dempster, W.J. (1983). Patrick Matthew and Natural Selection. Nineteenth Century Gentleman-Farmer, Naturalist and Writer.

  1841

  natural selection

  Darwin, C. [1841]. Notes on the habits of bees (Darwin Ms 46.2 der Cambridge University Library): 9; cf. Cornell, J.F. (1984). Analogy and technology in Darwin’s vision of nature. J. Hist. Biol. 17, 303-344: 341. 

  1842

  Natural Selection. De Candolle’s war of nature,—seeing contented face of nature,—may be well at first doubted; we see it on borders of perpetual cold. But considering the enormous geometrical power of increase in every organism and as ⟨?⟩ every country, in ordinary cases ⟨countries⟩ must be stocked to full extent, reflection will show that this is the case. […] Nature’s variation far less, but such selection far more rigid and scrutinising.

  Darwin, C. [1842]. [Sketch of 1842]. In: Darwin, F. (ed.) (1909). The Foundations of The Origin of Species, a Sketch Written in 1842: 7; 9. 

  1859

  preservation of favourable variations and the rejection of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection […]

  natural selection acts by life and death,—by the preservation of individuals with any favourable variation, and by the destruction of those with any unfavourable deviation of structure

  Darwin, C. (1859). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life: 81; 194.
  

  1859

  [Useful Variations will tend to Increase, useless or hurtful Variations to Diminish

  Wallace, A.R. (1859). On the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original type (in: Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection. A Series of Essays, London 1870, 26-44): 34.]

  1860

  To me the conception of this law of Nature [i.e. natural selection] came intuitively as a self-evident fact, almost without an effort of concentrated thought. Mr. Darwin here seems to have more merit in the discovery than I have had; to me it did not appear a discovery. He seems to have worked it out by inductive reason, slowly and with due caution to have made his way synthetically from fact to fact onwards; while with me it was by a general glance at the scheme of Nature that I estimated this select production of species as an à priori recognisable fact – an axiom requiring only to be pointed out to be admitted by unprejudiced minds of sufficient grasp

  Matthew, P. (1860). [Letter]. Gardener’s Chronicle 13. April 1860 (ac. to Darwin, C. (1859/61). On the Origin of Species): xv.

  1864

  when once enunciated, the truth of his [Darwinʼs] hypothesis is so obvious as scarcely to need proof […;] natural selection has always been going on, is going on now, and must ever continue to go on […;] this [i]s an à priori certainty

  Spencer, H. (1864). The Principles of Biology, vol. 1: 445.

  1866

  Natural selection, is, when understood, so necessary & self-evident a principle

  Wallace, A.R. (1866). [letter to C. Darwin , July 2nd 1866]. (Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14, Cambridge 2004, 227-229): 228.

  1873

  Die Selectionstheorie beruht auf folgenden drei Voraussetzungen: 1) dass Thiere und die Pflanzen variiren, 2) dass Eingenthümlichkeiten der Erzeuger sich auf die Nachkommen vererben, 3) dass jede Thier- und Pflanzenart eine grössere Zahl von Nachkommen erzeugt, als zur Erhaltung der bereits vorhandenen Individuenzahl nöthig wäre

  Müller, H. (1873). Die Befruchtung der Blumen durch Insekten und die gegenseitigen Anpassungen beider. Ein Beitrag zur Erkenntniss des ursächlichen Zusammenhanges in der organischen Natur: 418.

  1887

  what does “Natural Selection” mean? If we divest it of its metaphorical disguise, we find that Selection presupposes distinction and judgment, and therefore, unless all is chance, Natural Selection presupposes some kind of reason. “Survival of the Fittest” again is sheer tautology, and simply returns us our question in the shape of an answer. We ask, Who is fit to survive? and we are answered, He who is very fit or the fittest. Lastly, if we ask whether that fitness comes from within or from without, we are referred to the “Influence of Environment,” as if nature was not a whole, and the surroundings or circumstances in which each individal moves as much a part of nature and nature’s plan as each individual, each genus, and each species.

  Müller, F.M. (1887). The Science of Thought: 97.
  

  1897

  Solche Cirkelschlüsse, die Aufstellung unmaßgeblicher Prämissen und die andauernde Verwechslung von Nützlichkeit und Selektion, widersprechen den elementarsten Forderungen an logisches Denken. Der immer von neuem sich schließende Gedankenkreis aber – die unaufhörlich sich wiederholende Logik des Drehorgelspiels dieser Art von Selektionslehre – läßt sich auch in den Satz fassen: weil alles nützlich ist, ist alles durch Selektion entstanden, und weil alles durch Selektion entsteht, ist alles nützlich

  Eimer, G.T.H. (1897). Die Entwicklung der Arten, vol. 2. Orthogenesis der Schmetterlinge: 87.

  1903

  die Selektion innerhalb der reinen Linien hat keine Typenverschiebung hervorgerufen

  Johannsen, W. (1903). Ueber Erblichkeit in Populationen und in reinen Linien: 57.

  1908

  [Es gilt], daß die Richtigkeit der Selectionslehre nicht aus der Beobachtung spezieller Fälle in der Natur sich ergibt und auch nicht an solchen in ihrem ganzen Umfange geprüft werden kann, sondern daß sie eine logische Folgerung aus den allgemeinen Erfahrungstatsachen der Variabilität, des Geburtenüberschusses und des Kampfes ums Dasein darstellt

  Plate, L. (1908). Selectionsprinzip und Probleme der Artbildung. Ein Handbuch des Darwinismus: 122.

  1909

  Die natürliche Züchtung beruht auf denselben drei Faktoren wie die künstliche: auf der Variabilität, der Vererbung und der Auswahl zur Nachzucht, welch’ letztere aber hier nicht durch einen Züchter erfolgt, sondern durch das, was Darwin den ›Kampf ums Dasein‹ genannt hat

  Weismann, A. (1909). Die Selektionstheorie. Eine Untersuchung: 3.

  1923

  [D]ie Auslese [… ist] eine Vermehrung bzw. Verminderung bestimmter erblicher Formen durch besonders große bzw. besonders geringe Fruchtbarkeit derselben

  Siemens, H.W. (1917/23). Grundzüge der Rassenhygiene, zugleich Einführung in die Vererbungslehre: 56

  1928

  Leben ist notwendiges Versäumnis seiner Möglichkeiten und darin Selektion

  Plessner, H. (1928). Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch (Berlin 1975): 216.

  1930

  Natural Selection is not Evolution. Yet, ever since the two words have been in common use, the theory of Natural Selection has been employed as a convenient abbreviation for the theory of Evolution by means of Natural Selection, put forward by Darwin and Wallace.

  Fisher, R.A. (1930). The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection: vii.

  1948

  Natural selection entails differential survival and reproduction […;] differential reproduction of phenotypes leads to a differential reproduction of genotypes

  Lerner, I.M. & Dempster, E.R. (1948). Some aspects of evolutionary theory in the light of recent work on animal breeding. Evolution 2, 19-28: 19.

  1949

  Ein Liebhaber paradoxer Formulierungen könnte geradezu sagen, es sei der Haupteinwand gegen die Selektionstheorie, dass sie nicht widerlegt werden kann

  Bertalanffy, L. von (1949). Das biologische Weltbild. Erster Band. Die Stellung des Lebens in Natur und Wissenschaft: 90.

  1949

  the underlying idea [of the concept “natural selection”] […] is the principle that there is, in the first place, heritable variation in different directions, and that this is followed by differential survival and multiplication of the variants. We might abridge it all more accurately by terming this “the differential multiplication of diverse variations,” but “natural selection” is terser.

  Muller, H.J. (1949). The Darwinian and modern conceptions of natural selection. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 93, 459-470: 460.

  1949

  selection operates on parts and wholes of genetically connected intraspecies populations (i.e., on species, cyclomorphic populations, aggregated populations, sex pairs, family units, and on societies) in a manner similar to the action of selection on protoplasmically connected organisms

  Allee, W.C., Emerson, A.E., Park, O., Park, T. & Schmidt, K.P. (1949). Principles of Animal Ecology: 694.

  1950

  Man sagte, das Selektionsprinzip sei eigentich ›eine Selbstverständlichkeit‹; es besage nichts, was nicht schon im Wesen des Lebendigen überhaupt liege. Natürlich ›müsse‹ das Unzweckmäßige, wo es überhaupt einmal auftauche, zugrunde gehen, sobald es mit dem Zweckmäßigen konkurriere, dieses allein aber müsse übrigbleiben. […] Daß es [d.i. das Selektionsprinzip] aber mit einer ›Selbstverständlichkeit‹ antwortet, ist sein Schade nicht. Wer das herausfindet, bestreitet das Selektionsprinzip nicht, sondern bestätigt es. Er liefert das Eingeständnis, daß dieses Prinzip einmal in seinem Wesen begriffen, auch rein in sich selbst einleuchtend ist. Was es besagt, ist eben kein bloßer Erfahrungssatz, sondern eine echt apriorische Einsicht

  Hartmann, N. (1950). Philosophie der Natur: 646.

  1953

  I propose slightly to extend the definition used in population genetics and to define selection, a technical term in evolutionary studies, as anything tending to produce systematic heritable change in populations between one generation and the next. This is an aspect or a sort of systematic differential reproduction and as such it contrasts with differential mortality, the Darwinian natural selection. Differential mortality may result in systematic differentia reproduction. When it does, it is one sort of selection, but clearly not the only sort. That the concepts are different and that Darwinian selection is only one special case of, let us say, genetical selection is quite easy to see.

  Simpson, G.G. (1953). The Major Features of Evolution: 138. 

  1958

  Darwin pointed out that in the struggle for existence it will be those most fitted to survive who do in fact survive – which is a complete truism – a self-evident truth. Or, put it another way – he said that Nature selected for survival only the fittest. But how could this statement be tested experimentally. What are the fittest? Simply those that survive. Nature selects for survival those that survive!

  Cannon, H.G. (1958). The Evolution of Living Things: 82.

  1960

  Natural selection, which was at first considered as though it were an hypothesis that was in need of experimental or observational confirmation, turns out on closer inspection to be a tautology, a statement of an inevitable although previously unrecognized relation. It states that the fittest individuals in a population (defined as those which leave most offspring) will leave most offspring. Once the statement is made, its truth is apparent. This fact in no way reduces the magnitude of Darwin’s achievement; only after it was clearly formulated, could biologists realise the enormous power of the principle as a weapon of explanation

  Waddington, C.H. (1960). Evolutionary adaptations. In: Tax, S. (ed.). The Evolution of Life, 381-402: 385.

  1963

  [I]n the theory of evolution we are concerned with the hereditary relationships of terrestrial creatures only, and so we are not concerned with laws in the strict sense. If we try to produce laws in the strict sense which describe evolutionary processes anywhere and anywhen it would seem that we can do so only by turning our proposistions into mere tautologies. We can say that even in the great nebula in Andromeda the ›fittest‹ will survive, but this is to say nothing, for ›fittest‹ has to be defined in terms of ›survival‹
  

  Smart, J.J.C. (1963). Philosophy and Scientific Realism: 59.

  1965

  [Darwin’s theory] is not open to experimental refutation in the way that is normally expected of a scientific theory. […] The apparent irrefutability of the theory has two main sources, the circularity of the definition of the central terms of the theory and the lack of any serious alternative

  Manser, A.R. (1965). The concept of evolution. Philosophy 40, 18-34: 19; 32.

  1967

  Selektion, Auslese, Zuchtwahl, die allgemeine Erscheinung, daß bei Vorhandensein von Eignungsunterschieden diejenigen Organismen mit größerer Wahrscheinlichkeit zur Fortpflanzung gelangen – und damit quantitativ stärker am Aufbau der Folgegeneration beteiligt sind –, die den gegebenen Umweltbedingungen am besten entsprechen

  Anonymus (1967). Selektion In: Stöcker, F.W. & Dietrich, G. (eds.). Brockhaus ABC Biologie: 758

  1968

  [The attribution to ›natural selection‹] amounts to nothing more than a belief that there is some naturalistic explanation for these phenomena

  Chomsky, N. (1968). Language and Mind: 83.

  1968

  [M]odern Darwinism […] asserts that the organisms now living have evolved from ancestral organisms of a different nature and offers the fossil record as direct evidence. Moreover, it asserts that the mechanism of this change is embodied in three principles: (1) different individuals in a species have different morphologies, physiologies, behaviors, that is, there is variation; (2) there is a correlation between the form of the parents and the offspring, that is, the variation is heritable; and (3) different variants have different rates of survival and reproduction in different environments. [...] The statement of natural selection is that there exists an environment—a combination of temperature, humidity, food, soil, competition of other forms—in which different variants will have different relative reproductive rates.

  Lewontin, R. (1968). The concept of evolution. In: Sills, D.L. (ed.). International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 5, 202-210: 207.

  1969

  Auslese (Selektion). Das Faktum, daß jeweils nur ein Teil der Organismen zum Weiterleben zugelassen wird (Momentarphase der Auslese). Je nach den auslesenden Faktoren werden unterschieden: «Anpassungsauslese», «Individualauslese» (nach Faktoren, die den betr. Individuen nützen), «Gruppenauslese» (nach Faktoren, die der betr. Gruppe nützen, darunter die «Sexualauslese», «Symbioseauslesc» und dgl. […]) und «Zufallsauslese»

  Zimmermann, W. (1969). Vererbung „erworbener Eigenschaften“ und Auslese: 202. 

  1970

  As seen by present-day evolutionists, Darwin’s scheme embodies three principles […] 1. Different individuals in a population have different morphologies, physiologies, and behaviors (phenotypic variation). 2. Different phenotypes have different rates of survival and reproduction in different environments (differential fitness). 3. There is a correlation between parents and offspring in the contribution of each to future generations (fitness is heritable). These three principles embody the principle of evolution by natural selection. While they hold, a population will undergo evolutionary change.

  Lewontin, R. (1970). The units of selection. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 1, 1-18: 1.

  1971

  Organisms with useful variations have a better chance of surviving and reproducing than organisms with injurious variations

  Ruse, M. (1971). Natural selection in the origin of species. Hist. Philos. Sci. 1, 311-351: 335.

  1973

  Selektion ist die Gesetzmäßigkeit, nach der die Be-ziehungen der Subsysteme des Organismus untereinan-der als auch die Beziehung zwischen diesen Systemen – oder dem ganzen Organismus – und der Umwelt entscheiden, ob und welche Erbinformationen weitergege-ben werden

  Gutmann, W.F. & Peters, D.S. (1973). Konstruktion und Selektion: Argumente gegen einen morphologisch verkürzten Selektionismus. Acta Biotheor, 22, 151-180: 158.

  1974

  Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory, but a metaphysical research programme – a possible framework for testable scientific theories

  Popper, K.R. (1974). Darwinism as a metaphysical research programme. In: Schilpp, P.A. (ed.). The Philosophy of Karl Popper, vol. 1, 133-143: 134.

  1975

  Natural Selection The differential contribution of offspring to the next generation by individuals of different genetic types but belonging to the same population. This is the basic mechanism proposed by Charles Darwin and is generally regarded today as the main guiding force in evolution

  Wilson, E.O. (1975). Sociobiology. The New Synthesis: 589.

  1976

  [I]f the theory of evolution were summarized as ›evolution is the survival of the fittest‹ and ›the fittest are those which survive‹, this two-axiom statement could be reduced to the single axiom ›evolution is the survival of the survivors‹, a clearly empty phrase. […] the pattern provided by some tautologies may lead to an ordering of the facts which the researcher might not otherwise see

  Peters, R.H. (1976). Tautology in evolution and ecology. Amer. Nat. 110, 1-12: 2; 11.

  1978

  The theory of evolution by natural selection rests on three necessary principles: Different individuals within a species differ from one another in physiology, morphology and behavior (the principle of variation); the variation is in some way heritable, so that on the average offspring resemble their parents more than they resemble other individuals (the principle of heredity); different variants leave different numbers of offspring either immediately or in remote generations (the principle of natural selection). These three principles are necessary and sufficient to account for evolutionary change by natural selection.

  Lewontin, R. (1978). Adaptation. Scientific American 239, 157-169: 165.

  1978

  the differential survival and reproduction of genetically variant individuals

  Ayala, F.J. (1978). The mechanism of evolution. Sci. Amer. 239, 56-69: 56.

  1979

  selection […] is differential survival and reproduction – and no more

  Futuyma, D.J. (1979). Evolutionary Biology: 292.

  1980

  selection: a process in which the differential extinction and proliferation of interactors cause the differential perpetuation of the relevant replicators

  Hull, D. (1980). Individuality and selection (in: The Metaphysics of Evolution, Albany 1989, 89-109): 96.

  1981

  Principle of Natural Selection: Organisms enjoy differ-ential reproductive success in virtue of some heritable characteristics that they possess. In a given environment, certain characteristics will, among those of the population at large, confer greater reproductive advantage to those which possess them

  Bradie, M. & Gromko, M. (1981). The status of the principle of natural selection. Nature and System 3, 3-12: 8.

  1981

  selection of [vs] selection for

  Sober, E. (1981). Evolutionary theory and the ontological status of properties. Philos. Stud. 40, 147-176: 166; cf. id. (1984). The Nature of Selection: 100-1.

  1982

  selection 1: Non random differential reproduction of different genotypes in a population; various modes of selection are: directional selection q. v., disruptive selection q. v., stabilizing selection q.v., artificial selection q.v. 2: Natural selection q. v.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 223.

  1982

  if the fitness of X is context sensitive, then there is not selection for X; rather, there is selection at a level of organization higher than X

  Sober, E. & Lewontin, R.C. (1982). Artifact, cause and genic selection. Philos. Sci. 49, 157-180: 169; cf. the similar conditions in Wimsatt, W. (1980). Reductionist research strategies and their biases in the units of selection controversy. In: Nickles, T. (ed.). Scientific Discovery: Case Studies, 213-259: 236.

  1984

  Natural selection is one kind of cause. […] There are two concepts of selection that we must pry apart. There is selection of objects and there is selection for properties. […] ›Selection of‹ pertains to the effects of a selec-tion process, whereas ›selection for‹ describes its cause. To say that there is selection for a given property means that having that property causes success in survival and reproduction. But to say that a given sort of object was selected is merely to say that the result of the selection process was to increase the representation of that kind of object

  Sober, E. (1984). The Nature of Selection: 14; 100.

  1984

  To say that there is selection for a given gene at a particular locus is to say that possessing that gene is a positive causal factor in survival and reproduction. This, in turn, requires that the allele must not decrease fitness in any context, and must raise it in at least one

  Sober, E. (1984). The Nature of Selection: 302

  1984

  the term ›selection‹ must be regarded as tendentious and misleading, since it implies (incorrectly) that the separation itself serves some end. ›Natural separation‹ would, I suppose, be more acceptable

  Faber, R.J. (1984). Feedback, selection, and function: a reductionist account of goal-orientation. Bost. Stud. Philos. Sci. 84, 43-135: 134.

  1984

  organisms […] are the benchmarks in terms of which group and genic selection are calibrated

  Sober, E. (1984). The Nature of Selection: 279; cf. 308.

  1984

  There is no prior event or state which can be identified as the criterion or problem situation and which elicited the selection process. Therefore the selection is not a goal-directed one

  Faber, R.J. (1984). Feedback, selection, and function: a reductionist account of goal-orientation. Bost. Stud. Philos. Sci. 84, 43-135: 92.

  1986

  Selektion, Auslese, Zuchtwahl, unterschiedlicher Beitrag verschiedener Genotypen zur folgenden Generation durch ihre unterschiedliche Fitness oder die bewußte Auswahl eines Züchters. Die natürliche Auslese erhält oder verbessert die Lebensfähigkeit und die Anpassung von freilebenden Populationen. Sie ist eine nowendige Folge davon, daß gewöhnlich viel mehr Nachkommen entstehen, als unter den gegebenen Umständen heranwachsen können.

  Anonymus (1967/86). Selektion. In: Stöcker, F.W. & Dietrich, G. (eds.). Brockhaus ABC Biologie, vol. 2: 814.

  1986

  ([N]atürliche) Auslese, ein v. der Merkmalsausprägung (Phänotyp) der Individuen abhängiger Vorgang. Individuen mit unterschiedl. Phänotypen haben einen unterschiedl. Fortpflanzungserfolg. Diesen abgestuften Erfolg nennt man S. Über Generationen führt dieser Vorgang der S. zur Veränderung der Anpassungen. Veränderung v. Anpassung ist aber nur eine andere Bez. für Evolution

  Anonymus (1986). Selektion. In: Bogenrieder, A. (ed.) (1983-87). Lexikon der Biologie, 8 vols.: VII, 396-401: 396-7.

  1991

  The nonrandom survival and reproductive success of a small percentage of the individuals of a population owing to their possession of, at that moment, characters which enhance their ability to survive and reproduce

  Mayr, E. (1991). One Long Argument. Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought: 183.

  1995

  Selektion (auch: natürliche Zuchtwahl, engl. selection), von C.R. Darwin in die Biologie eingeführter Terminus zur Bezeichnung der Methode, in Organismen erbliche Merkmale zu fixieren bzw. Merkmalsänderungen unterschiedlicher Art (morphologische, physiologische, ethologische) in einer bestimmten Richtung zu kumulieren. […] die Natur [kann] diejenigen Organismen, die den vorliegenden Umweltbedingungen besser angepasst […] sind, begünstigen und häufiger zur Fortpflanzung zulassen

  McLaughlin, P. (1995). Selektion. In: Mittelstraß, J. (ed.). Enzyklopädie Philosophie und Wissenschaftstheorie, vol. 3, 764-765: 764.

  1998

  Selection explains trait frequencies within a population. The frequency of a trait within a population is not a property of an individual; it is a property of a population. Thus natural selection explains population-level phenomena

  Walsh, D.M. (1998). The scope of selection: Sober and Neander on what natural selection explains. Australas. J. Philos.76, 250-264: 252.

  2001

  [W]e define selection as repeated cycles of replication, variation, and environmental interaction so structured that environmental interaction causes replication to be differential. The net effect is the evolution of the line-ages produced by this process

  Hull, D., Langman, R. & Glenn, S. (2001). A general account of selection: biology, immunology and behaviour. In: Hull, D. (ed.). Science and Selection. Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science, 49-93: 53.

  2002

  Selection and drift are not forces acting on populations; they are statistical properties of an assemblage of ›trial‹ events: births, deaths and reproduction. The only genuine forces going on in evolution are those taking place at the level of individuals (or lower) and none of these (and no aggregate of these) can be identified with either selection or drift

  Walsh, D.M., Lewens, T. & Ariew, A. (2002). The trials of life: natural selection and random drift. Philos. Sci. 69, 452-473: 453; cf. Matthen, M. & Ariew, A. (2002). Two ways of thinking about fitness and natural selection. J. Philos. 99, 55-83; Walsh, D.M. (2003). Fit and diversity: explaining adaptive evolution. Philos. Sci. 70, 280-301; Walsh, D. (2007). Fitness, discreteness and compositionality [lecture]. 2007 Meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB) in Exeter.

  2003

  Selektion […], ein von den Merkmalsausprägungen (Phänotyp) der Individuen abhängiger Vorgang. Individuen einer Art mit unterschiedlichen Phänotypen konkurrieren miteinander um ökologische Ressourcen sowie Geschlechtspartner und haben daher einen unterschiedlichen Fortpflanzungserfolg (Fitness). Den Prozeß, der zu diesem relativen Erfolg führt, nennt man Selektion.

  Sauer, P. & Kattmann, U. (2003). Selektion. In: Lexikon der Biologie, vol. 12, 438-443: 438; similar: Lexikon der Biologie, vol. 7 (1986), 396-7.

  2005

  individual organisms are co-operative groups, so are the product of group selection!

  Okasha, S. (2005). Maynard Smith on the levels of selection question. Biol. Philos. 20, 989-1010: 1008.

  2006

  [D]as Phänomen, dass bei unterschiedl. Merkmalsausprägung (Phänotyp) Individuen, die den gegebenen Umweltbedingungen gut angepasst sind, zu höherem Fortpflanzungserfolg kommen als weniger angepasste und somit in der Folgegeneration stärker vertreten sind

  Brockhaus. Enzyklopädie in 30 Bänden, 21. Aufl. 2006, vol. 25: 5.

  2006

  Natural selection is supposed to result whenever there are heritable differences in fitness between biological entities in a population

  Pigliucci, M. & Kaplan, J. (2006). Making Sense of Evolution. The Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Biology: 17.

  2007

  Natural Selection The principle devised by Darwin to account for the adaptation of organisms to their environments. Darwin also invoked natural selection to explain the generation of new species. Modern biologists tend to say that natural selection occurs whenever there is ‘heritable variation in fitness’; roughly, that means natural selection occurs whenever organisms in the parental generation vary in their abilities to survive and reproduce, so long as offspring resemble their parents. Darwin understands natural selection in a way that is tailored more directly to the explanation of adaptation.

  Lewens, T. (2007). Darwin: 268.

  2008

  for many species, Persistence Through Time of a lineage (hereafter PTT) is the property maximized by evolution by natural selection: maximization of relative reproductive success is only one strategy for persistence of a lineage, but for many asexual species (but not all) reproductive success is actually minimized if not eliminated.   

  Bouchard, F. (2008). Causal processes, fitness and the differential persistence of lineages. Philosophy of Science 75, 560-570: 562. 

  2009

  evolution by natural selection in a general sense is the large category of change due to variation, heredity, and reproductive differences, in some particular manifestation of those features and in conjunction whith other factors.

  Godfrey-Smith, P. (2009). Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection: 39. 

  2009

  In answer to the question ‘What is natural selection?’, the best answer is probably that, for Darwin, natural selection is an explanatory schema, which allows us to account for adaptation in virtue of the preservation of variations that are beneficial in the struggle for existence.

  Lewens, T. (2009). Natural selection and adaptation. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online. 

  2010

  a ›theory of causation‹ is exactly what the theory of selection is not

  Fodor, J.A. & Piatelli-Palmarini, M. (2010). What Darwin Got Wrong: 136.

  2011

  Die Selektion ist das Muster eines komplexen Prozesses, der in seiner Grundstruktur eine Korrelation enthält und sich auf der Ebene von Populationen bewegt, adäquat daher mit statistischen Mitteln zu beschreiben ist. Die Korrelation besteht zwischen den spezifischen Eigenschaften von Entitäten eines Typs, also ihrer Konstitution, und ihrer Überlebens- und Fortpflanzungswahrscheinlichkeit, also der Dauer ihrer Kontinuation (als Entitäten eines Typs) in der Zeit. Diese Korrelation ist Ausdruck von regelmäßigen (aber nicht deterministischen, sondern nur probabilistischen) kausalen Beziehungen auf der Ebene der Individuen, die in einer Population wiederholt über viele Generationen auftreten, so dass es zu einer durch die erblichen Merkmale der Entitäten bedingten langfristigen Veränderung der Verteilung der Typen kommen kann. Knapp formuliert ist die Selektion also eine kumulative Konstitutions-Kontinuations-Korrelation. Die Verteilung der Merkmale (d.h. der Konstitutionstypen) in einer Population zu einem Zeitpunkt ist durch den differenziellen Erfolg (die »Anpassung«) der Entitäten mit diesen verschiedenen Merkmalen in der Vergangenheit bedingt.

  Toepfer, G. (2011). Historisches Wörterbuch der Biologie. Geschichte und Theorie der biologischen Grundbegriffe, vol 3: 305.

  2011

  Selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals in a population resulting from differences in traits.

  Russell, E. (2011). Evolutionary History. Uniting History and Biology to Understand Life on Earth: 175.