Distinguishing Drift and Selection Empirically:
“The Great Snail Debate” of the 1950s
Millstein, Roberta L. (2007) Distinguishing Drift and Selection Empirically:
“The Great Snail Debate” of the 1950s.
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Abstract
Biologists and philosophers have been extremely pessimistic about the possibility of demonstrating random drift in nature, particularly when it comes to distinguishing random drift from natural selection. However, examination of a historical case - Maxime Lamotte's study of natural populations of the land snail, Cepaea nemoralis in the 1950s - shows that while some pessimism is warranted, it has been overstated. Indeed, by describing a unique signature for drift and showing that this signature obtained in the populations under study, Lamotte was able to make a good case for a significant role for drift. It may be difficult to disentangle the causes of drift and selection acting in a population, but it is not (always) impossible.
| Keywords: | adaptationism, Arthur J. Cain, conspicuous polymorphism, Cepaea nemoralis, random genetic drift, ecological genetics, evolution, Philip M. Sheppard, Maxime Lamotte, natural selection, selectionist |
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| Subjects: | Specific Sciences: Biology: Evolutionary Theory Specific Sciences: Biology General Issues: History of Science Case Studies |
| ID Code: | 3413 |
| Deposited By: | Millstein, Roberta L. |
| Deposited On: | 04 July 2007 |
| Additional Information: | Forthcoming in the Journal of the History of Biology |