Inclusive fitness in a homogeneous environment

Abstract

A general formulation of inclusive fitness is proposed which specifically accounts for competitive effects between relatives. As an example, for an asexual population in a homogeneous inelastic environment, such as is found in a stepping-stone model of dispersal, the inclusive fitness of a breeding female, under weak selection, is independent of her direct effect on the fitness of other individuals in the population. More precisely, suppose a female acts in a way that changes not only her own fitness but the fitness of several other females in the population who may be relatives (i.e. she changes the number of their offspring). I call these changes the direct effects of the action. There will also be indirect effects on the fitness of these and other females which come from the competitive impact of the extra offspring in the next generation. The principal result is that these indirect effects exactly cancel all the direct effects except the direct effect of the actor on herself.