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The approach based on optimality models in biology is sometimes called optimality theory. [1] Optimal behavior is defined as an action that maximizes the difference between the costs and benefits of that decision. Three primary variables are used in optimality models of behavior: decisions, currency, and constraints. [2]
Stabilizing selection (not to be confused with negative or purifying selection [1] [2]) is a type of natural selection in which the population mean stabilizes on a particular non-extreme trait value. This is thought to be the most common mechanism of action for natural selection because most traits do not appear to change drastically over time. [3]
Symmorphosis is the regulation of biological units to produce an optimal ... species of mammals is to use comparative biology. The first system to use the proposed ...
A minimum spanning tree of a weighted planar graph.Finding a minimum spanning tree is a common problem involving combinatorial optimization. Combinatorial optimization is a subfield of mathematical optimization that consists of finding an optimal object from a finite set of objects, [1] where the set of feasible solutions is discrete or can be reduced to a discrete set.
In phylogenetics, parsimony is mostly interpreted as favoring the trees that minimize the amount of evolutionary change required (see for example [2]).Alternatively, phylogenetic parsimony can be characterized as favoring the trees that maximize explanatory power by minimizing the number of observed similarities that cannot be explained by inheritance and common descent.
In evolutionary biology, an evolutionary tradeoff is a situation in which evolution cannot advance one part of a biological system without distressing another part of it. In this context, tradeoffs refer to the process through which a trait increases in fitness at the expense of decreased fitness in another trait.
The polymorphonuclear leukocytes of mammals are not polynuclear cells, although the lobes of their nuclei are so deeply bifurcated that they can appear so under non-optimal microscopy. Osteoclasts are multinuclear cells that are found commonly in the human body that aid in the maintenance and repair of the bones by secreting acid that dissolves ...
It is used to describe the evolutionary conflict arising from differences in optimal parental investment (PI) in an offspring from the standpoint of the parent and the offspring. PI is any investment by the parent in an individual offspring that decreases the parent's ability to invest in other offspring, while the selected offspring's chance ...