The Ecology Book

38

IN CONTEXT

KEY FIGURE

Richard Dawkins (1941–)

BEFORE

1963 British biologist William

Donald Hamilton writes about

the “selfish interests” of the

gene in The Evolution of

Altruistic Behaviur.

1966 American biologist

George C. Williams proposes

in his book Adaptation and

Natural Selection that altruism

is a result of selection taking

place at the level of the gene.

AFTER

1982 Richard Dawkins argues

in The Extended Phenotype

that the study of an organism

should include analysis of

how its genes affect the

surrounding environment.

2002 Stephen Jay Gould

critiques Dawkins’ theory in

The Structure of Evolutionary

Theory, which revisits and

refines the ideas of classical

Darwinism.

T

he concept of the “selfish

gene” was popularized

by British evolutionary

biologist Richard Dawkins in his

1976 book of that name. It states

that evolution is fundamentally

based upon the survival of different

forms of a particular gene at the

expense of others. The forms that

survive are those that are responsible

for the bodily types and behaviors

(phenotypic traits) that successfully

promote their own propagation.

Supporters of the theory argue that

because heritable information is

passed through the generations by

the genetic material of DNA, both

natural selection and evolution

are best considered from the

perspective of genes.

GENES ARE

SELFISH

MOLECULES

THE SELFISH GENE

Natural selection works toward the survival

of the gene, not the individual.

Animals that warn

others of approaching

predators sacrifice

themselves at the

expense of the

wider group.

Male black widow

spiders mate

even though the

females eat them

immediately after.

Nonbreeding bees in bee

colonies serve to help the

community survive.

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