Fill in the blank
According to the current dogma, _________ form the proper unit of selection.
1. genes
2. individuals
3. groups
4. species
5. ecosystem-levels
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Update:
To crib a popular metaphor, species is to ecosystem as cancer cell is to organism. This seems an ironic non-answer packaged for journalists since what we don’t know about metastasis is…significant!
David Joblonski: Species selection may not build horns, but it can determine how many species have horns or how long horns persist.
There are only a few examples of group selection, mostly agricultural, but it may simply be for lack of looking: google Alexandra Penn and biofilm.
David Sloan Wilson makes the loudest case for ecosystem-level selection.