The Evidential Bar an Adaptive Hypothesis Has to Clear
The intellectual close of this sub-domain: a trait being useful-sounding, sexually dimorphic and heritable is compatible with drift, correlated response and developmental by-product. The bar is a selection signal in the sequence data plus a fitness link, and this node makes that bar explicit so the earlier hypotheses can be judged rather than believed.
Questions this Concept answers
- Why is it not enough that a trait is heritable, differs by sex, and sounds useful?
Adaptationism
Adaptationism is the stance that organismal traits are best explained as adaptations built by natural selection for a function, and this page lays out both the stance and its checks. It gives the cri…