what does survival of the fittest state mean

Suppose that this population of mice lived on a small area of gray sand that only had enough food for ~30 mice and white, gray and black mice were equally good at competing for food. Notice that population size increased from 6 mice in generation 1 to 28 mice in generation 2. Include the terms fitness and adaptive heritable trait in your explanation.Ħ. Explain why the percent of mice with gray fur would increase from generation 1 to generation 2. To understand the importance of adaptive heritable traits, think about what would happen if a population of mice in an area of gray sand started with a pair of white mice, a pair of gray mice, and a pair of black mice in generation 1.ĥ. For example, on gray sand, gray fur color is an adaptive heritable trait which allows mice to survive longer and have more litters of baby mice.

Individuals with an adaptive heritable trait generally produce more offspring than individuals that do not have this trait. For example, fur color is a heritable trait for mice.Ī heritable trait that increases fitness is called an adaptive heritable trait. From an evolutionary point of view, which mouse would be the fittest? How do you know that this mouse would be the fittest?Ī characteristic which is influenced by genes and passed from parents to offspring is called a heritable trait. Suppose a population had three female mice with the following characteristics.Ĥ. What does the term physical fitness mean? What does the term fitness mean when biologists are discussing evolution? Answer the following questions to show the two different meanings of fitness. The term fitness can have two different meanings, depending on what subject you are discussing. For the mice in the figure, what characteristic was an adaptation that increased fitness?ģ. Explain what happened to cause this difference.Īn adaptation is any characteristic that increases fitness, which is defined as the ability to survive and reproduce.Ģ. Describe how the population of mice is different in figure 3 compared to figure 1. These drawings show how a population of mice on a beach changed over time.ġ.

What does survival of the fittest state mean