Fitness (biology)

Definition

Fitness is a quantitative representation of individual reproductive success. It is also equal to the average contribution to the gene pool of the next generation, made by the same individuals of the specified genotype or phenotype. Fitness can be defined either with respect to a genotype or to a phenotype in a given environment or time. The fitness of a genotype is manifested through its phenotype, which is also affected by the developmental environment. The fitness of a given phenotype can also be different in different selective environments.

Related concepts

A Mathematical Theory of Natural and Artificial Selection Abiogenesis Accident-proneness Acquired characteristic Adaptation Adaptationism Adaptive radiation Adaptive unconscious Affect (psychology)Affect display Affectional bond Affective neuroscience Age disparity in sexual relationships Aggression Allele Allele frequency Allopatric speciation Alternatives to Darwinian evolution Altruism (biology)Anagenesis Animal-made art Animal cognition Animal communication Animal consciousness Animal culture Animal language Animal navigation Animal training Anisogamy Antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis Applications of evolution Approximate number system Arachnophobia Asexual reproduction Astrobiology Attachment in adults Attachment in children Attachment theory Automatic and controlled processes Balding–Nichols model Baldwin effect Behavioral contagion Behavioral economics Behavioral epigenetics Behavioral modernity Behavioral neuroscience Behavioural genetics Biocultural anthropology Biodiversity Biogeography Biolinguistics Biological anthropology Biological determinism Biological life cycle Biological process Biological psychiatry Biology and sexual orientation Biology of human bonding Biology of romantic love Biosocial criminology Blending inheritance Canalisation (genetics)Canidae Cat gap Catagenesis (biology)Catastrophism Cell nucleus Charles Darwin Cheating (biology)Chromosome Cinderella effect Cladistics Cladogenesis Coalescent theory Coefficient of inbreeding Coefficient of relationship Coevolution Coextinction Cognitive bias in animals Cognitive development Cognitive ergonomics Cognitive ethology Cognitive module Cognitive neuroscience Cognitive psychology Cognitive science Cognitive specialization Cognitive tradeoff hypothesis Cognitivism (psychology)Common descent Comparative cognition Comparative psychology Computational theory of mind Computer-mediated communication Concealed ovulation Connectionism Constructive neutral evolution Contingency (evolutionary biology)Convergent evolution Coolidge effect Cooperation (evolution)Cospeciation Costly signaling theory in evolutionary psychology Criticism of evolutionary psychology Cross-cultural psychology Cultural determinism Cultural evolution Cultural group selection Cultural selection theory Cultural universal Current research in evolutionary biology Darwin's finches Darwinian literary studies Darwinism David Hume Death Deep time Determinism Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Differential fitness Digital media use and mental health Dinosaur Display rules Distracted driving Divergent evolution Domain-general learning Domain-specific learning Domain specificity Domestication of the dog Dual inheritance theory Dual process theory Dysgenics Earliest known life forms Ecological genetics Ecological selection Ecological speciation Effects of hormones on sexual motivation Elliott Sober Emotion in animals Emotional contagion Empathising–systemising theory Empathy Endomembrane system Engineering psychology Environmental determinism Epidemiology of representations Ergonomics Ethology Eugenics Eukaryote Evidence of common descent Evolution Evolution as fact and theory Evolution of Macropodidae Evolution of ageing Evolution of bacteria Evolution of biological complexity Evolution of birds Evolution of brachiopods Evolution of butterflies Evolution of cells Evolution of cephalopods Evolution of cetaceans Evolution of cognition Evolution of color vision Evolution of color vision in primates Evolution of emotion Evolution of eusociality Evolution of fish Evolution of flagella Evolution of fungi Evolution of human intelligence Evolution of insects Evolution of lemurs Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles Evolution of mammals Evolution of molluscs Evolution of morality Evolution of nervous systems Evolution of primates Evolution of reptiles Evolution of schizophrenia Evolution of sexual reproduction Evolution of sirenians Evolution of snake venom Evolution of spiders Evolution of tetrapods Evolution of the brain Evolution of the eye Evolution of the horse Evolution of the wolf Evolutionarily stable strategy Evolutionary aesthetics Evolutionary anthropology Evolutionary approaches to depression Evolutionary arms race Evolutionary biology Evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary developmental psychology Evolutionary ecology Evolutionary economics Evolutionary educational psychology Evolutionary epistemology Evolutionary ethics Evolutionary game theory Evolutionary history of plants Evolutionary ideas of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment Evolutionary invasion analysis Evolutionary linguistics Evolutionary medicine Evolutionary mismatch Evolutionary musicology Evolutionary neuroscience Evolutionary origin of religions Evolutionary physiology Evolutionary pressure Evolutionary psychiatry Evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology and culture Evolutionary psychology of language Evolutionary psychology of religion Evolutionary taxonomy Evolutionary tradeoff Exaptation Expected value Experimental evolution Extended evolutionary synthesis Extinction Extinction event Facial expression Fear of falling Female intrasexual competition Fight-or-flight response Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection Fisher's principle Fitness landscape Flynn effect Folk biology Folk psychology Folk taxonomy Founder effect Frequency-dependent selection Functional psychology Functionalism (philosophy of mind)G factor in non-humans Gender differences in suicide Gender role Gene-centered view of evolution Gene flow Gene pool Genetic assimilation Genetic diversity Genetic drift Genetic genealogy Genetic hitchhiking Genetic linkage Genetic load Genetic recombination Genetic variation Genotype Genotype frequency Glossary of evolutionary biology Great ape language Group selection Hair Haldane's dilemma Hamiltonian spite Handicap principle Hardy–Weinberg principle Herbert Spencer Heritability History of evolutionary psychology History of evolutionary thought History of life History of molecular evolution History of paleontology History of speciation Hologenome theory of evolution Homology (biology)Human bonding Human evolution Human female sexuality Human male sexuality Human mating strategies Human multitasking Human sexual activity Human sexuality Human–animal communication Human–computer interaction Hybrid (biology)Hybrid speciation Hyena Identity by descent Immune system Imprinted brain hypothesis Inbreeding avoidance Inbreeding depression Incest taboo Inclusive fitness Inclusive fitness in humans Indeterminism Index of evolutionary biology articles Introduction to evolution Invasion genetics Inversion (evolutionary biology)Island biogeography J.B.S. Haldane J. B. S. Haldane John Gould Kin recognition Kin selection Laboratory experiments of speciation Lamarckism Landscape genetics Landscape genomics Language acquisition Last universal common ancestor Lead–crime hypothesis Level of support for evolution Lineage selection Linkage disequilibrium List of evolutionary psychologists Logistic function Macroevolution Male intrasexual competition Mate choice Mate guarding in humans Maternal bond Maternal deprivation Mating preferences Mating type Maynard Smith Media naturalness theory Memetics Mendelian genetics Mendelian inheritance Mental disorders and gender Metabolism Microevolution Mind-blindness Missing heritability problem Mitochondrion Mobile phones and driving safety Models of DNA evolution Modern synthesis (20th century)Modularity (biology)Modularity of mind Molecular evolution Monogamy in animals Moral foundations theory Moran process Mosaic evolution Motor control Motor skill Multicellular organism Multilineal evolution Mutation Mutationism Mutualism (biology)Natural selection Nature versus nurture Naïve physics Negative selection (natural selection)Neo-Darwinism Neoevolutionism Neuroergonomics Neuronal recycling hypothesis Neuropsychology Neuroscience of sex differences Neuroscience of sleep Neutral theory of molecular evolution Nonadaptive radiation Nonecological speciation Number sense Number sense in animals Numerical cognition Numerical data Objections to evolution On the Origin of Species Ophidiophobia Organ (biology)Origin and function of meiosis Origin of avian flight Origin of birds Origin of language Origin of speech Orthogenesis Outbreeding depression Outline of evolution Ovulatory shift hypothesis Pair bond Paleontology Panspermia Parallel evolution Parallel individuation system Parapatric speciation Parental investment Parent–offspring conflict Paternal bond Peripatric speciation Personality development Phenotype Phenotypes Phenotypic plasticity Philosophy of mind Phyletic gradualism Phylogenetic tree Phylogenetics Phylogeography Physical attractiveness Physical fitness Plastid Pleiotropy Point mutation Pollinator-mediated selection Polymorphism (biology)Population (biology)Population (human biology)Population bottleneck Population genetics Population genomics Population structure (genetics)Price equation Primate cognition Primatology Programmed cell death Propensity Protocell Psychological adaptation Psychological effects of Internet use Psychological nativism Punctuated equilibrium Quantitative genetics Rank theory of depression Recent human evolution Reciprocal altruism Reciprocal altruism in humans Red Queen hypothesis Reinforcement (speciation)Rejection of evolution by religious groups Reproductive success Ronald Fisher Saltation (biology)Science of reading Screen time Selection coefficient Selective breeding Sewall Wright Sex-determination system Sex and gender differences in autism Sex differences in cognition Sex differences in crime Sex differences in emotional intelligence Sex differences in intelligence Sex differences in memory Sex differences in narcissism Sex differences in psychology Sex differences in schizophrenia Sexology Sexual arousal Sexual attraction Sexual desire Sexual dimorphism Sexual division of labour Sexual fantasy Sexual jealousy Sexual reproduction Sexual selection Sexual selection in flowering plants Sexual selection in fungi Sexual selection in humans Sexy son hypothesis Shifting balance theory Signalling theory Small population size Smartphones and pedestrian safety Social aspects of television Social constructionism Social contagion Social determinism Social effects of evolutionary theory Social selection Socialization Societal effects of cars Sociobiology Sociocultural evolution Sociologist Spandrel (biology)Speciation Species Species-typical behavior Species complex Standard social science model Structuralism (biology)Substance abuse Survival of the fittest Symbiogenesis Sympatric speciation Systematics Taxon Taxonomy (biology)Teleology in biology Teleonomy Tempo and Mode in Evolution Texting while driving The Genetical Evolution of Social Behaviour The eclipse of Darwinism Theistic evolution Theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology Theory of mind Theory of mind in animals Timeline of paleontology Timeline of the evolutionary history of life Tool use by non-humans Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance Transitional fossil Transmutation of species Trivers–Willard hypothesis Unconscious cognition Uniformitarianism Unilineal evolution Unit of selection United Kingdom Universal Darwinism Upper Paleolithic Revolution Variability hypothesis Vicar of Bray (scientific hypothesis)Viral evolution Visual perception Vitalism W.D. Hamilton Wason selection task Westermarck effect

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