Sorry, the scenario is to poorly defined to say anything about it, and there is probably no contradiction. But, there is also no reason to think that natural selection is always in action. And, certainly, natural selection CANNOT select for extinction.
Read "Natural Selection in the Wild" by Endler. Jim Kim van der Linde wrote: > Hi all, > > I am having an interesing discussion at the moment about Natural > selection. The context is a single population of individuals that, due > to changes in the environment, are now maladapted and the population > is reducing in size. Based on the often used definition of > differential reproduction, when there is not much to differentiate > with, there is no longer differential selection, and as such, no > natural selection. However, they are maladapted, so unfit to survive. > Any opinions about this nice contradiction? > > Cheers, > > Kim > -- ------------------------------------- James J. Roper, Ph.D. Universidade Federal do Paraná Depto. de Zoologia Caixa Postal 19020 81531-990 Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil ===================================== E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone/Fone/Teléfono: 55 41 33611764 celular: 55 41 99870543 e-fax: 1-206-202-0173 (in the USA) ===================================== Zoologia na UFPR http://www.bio.ufpr.br/zoologia/ Ecologia e Conservação na UFPR http://www.bio.ufpr.br/ecologia/ ------------------------------------- http://jjroper.sites.uol.com.br
