Predicting the evolution of life history using inclusive fitness : the evolution of death, aging, and variable birth rates explained through multisets and graph theory

Abstract

This thesis explores the capacity for a new measurement of inclusive fitness to explain previously unsolved problems in evolutionary biology. It presents an empirically validated solution to several problems. We explain the evolution of organism aging, post-reproductive survival and infant mortality in humans, predicting 90% of the variation in the age-specific probability of human mortality. This approach also provides an explanation for 40% of the variation in reproductive success within a captive population, and demonstrates why Alzheimer's disease persists in spite of severe phenotypic costs in humans. Show more