On Group Selection and Wynne-Edwards’ Hypothesis

Abstract

This chapter examines V. C. Wynne-Edwards’ interpretation of the process of group selection and aims to determine the nature of the role such selection may play in the evolution of the social mechanisms he discusses. The ideas Wynne-Edwards has expressed in the hypothesis have met with varied responses, some favorable, and many unfavorable. Wynne-Edwards consider the process of group selection to be fundamental to his hypothesis, an essential part of its framework, but it is this aspect which has evoked perhaps the most criticism and caused the most controversy. His hypothesis proposes that, while food is generally the environmental resource which ultimately limits animal populations, free contest among individuals for food must in the long run end in overexploitation of the resource and damage the habitat or lead to mass starvation. At the outset, Wynne-Edwards fragments natural selection into several categories which he seems to consider functionally as well as conceptually distinct.