- Reproductive success
Reproductive success is defined as the passing of
gene s onto the nextgeneration in a way that they too can pass those genes on. In practice, this is often a tally of the number of offspring produced by an individual. A more correct definition, which incorporatesinclusive fitness , is the relative production of fertile offspring by a genotype. For example, theoffspring produced as a result of normalmating are an example of reproductive success, because they too can pass their genetic material on to the next generation. Alternatively, the birth of amule as a result of the mating of ahorse and adonkey is not an example of reproductive success because the mule is sterile and thus not able to continue thegerm line .Reproductive success is part of the calculation for fitness and a key element in the theories of
natural selection andevolution .References
*
T. H. Clutton-Brock (editor). (1990) "Reproductive Success : Studies of Individual Variation in Contrasting Breeding Systems" University Of Chicago Press.ee also
Fitness (biology)
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