title: An optimizing principle of natural selection in evolutionary population genetics.
abstract: This paper brings together two themes in evolutionary population genetics theory. The first concerns Fisher's Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection: a recent interpretation of this theorem claims that it is an exact result, relating to the so-called "partial" increase in mean fitness. The second theme concerns the desire to find an optimality principle in genetic evolution. Such a principle is found here: of all gene frequency changes which lead to the same partial increase in mean fitness as the natural selection gene frequency changes, the natural selection values minimize a generalized distance measure between parent and daughter generation gene frequency values.
authors: Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104.
authors: W J
authors: WJ
authors: Ewens
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010641:Phenotype; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012641:Selection, Genetic