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SUMMARY:What is Biological Adaptation and How Can it be Measured? - Dr Joe
 l Peck\, Department of Genetics\, University of Cambridge 
DTSTART:20141017T130000Z
DTEND:20141017T140000Z
UID:TALK55262@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Eileen Nugent
DESCRIPTION:Adaptation is a defining characteristic of life.  It occurs\nw
 hen a population of organisms becomes better suited to their\nenvironment.
   The phenomena that people find most fascinating about\nbiological system
 s are\, in general\, the result of adaptive processes\nthat occurred over 
 the course of an extended period of time.  Examples\ninclude the mammalian
  central nervous system\, the flight of birds and\ninsects\, photosynthesi
 s\, and the human hand.  However\, despite the\ncentrality of adaptation f
 or biology\, we have no generally agreed\nquantitative way describe the de
 gree to which an organism is adapted.\nThis is unfortunate\, as it seems c
 ertain that the lack of a\nquantitative measure hinders our ability to und
 erstand what controls\nthe degree of adaptedness in particular populations
 .  Furthermore\, a\nquantitative measure of adaptation may prove instrumen
 tal in guiding\nresearch in a variety sub-fields within evolutionary biolo
 gy.  This\ntalk will propose a particular approach to quantifying adaptati
 on.\nThe approach will be compared to other possibilities drawn from the\n
 relevant theoretical literature.  We will also explore some possible\nappl
 ications of the proposed approach to quantifying adaptation.\nThese applic
 ations include the detection of “major transitions in\nevolution”\, in
  which new “super-organisms” arise at “higher levels of\nbiological 
 organisation.”
LOCATION:Small Lecture Theatre\, Cavendish Laboratory
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