When I hear "fitness" my brain automatically goes to a muscular person grindin in the weight room, a person on a run, or someone doing a killer HIIT workout with the rest of the moms in town. BUT.... I have a feeling that definition of fitness is not going to fly for my answer to this prompt. How I would define fitness in the parameters of this class would be: traits of an organism that allow them to survive and reproduce in their environment and to have successful offspring who are able to do the same. One common idea that pops into my brain on this topic is fitness based off looks. So if you were to have two male peacocks, and one with super vibrant colors and a large tail fan. Then another male peacock with more dull colors and a small tail fan, the more vibrant one would be more "fit" because it is more likely to mate and have viable offspring than the more dull one who is less likely to be picked by a female to mate with.
When it comes to measuring fitness....this can be tricky. You could do it based off of phenotypical traits and observing which one survives and reproduces more. Like the example of the peacocks or tree frogs being better able to blend into the tree they are living on. The peacock is more likely to mate and reproduce based off its coloring. The frog is more likely to survive from predation allowing it to mate and reproduce. Another interesting way to measure fitness that we discussed in class was relative size. We talked about how a fish that is maybe a little bit bigger is more "fit" because it was able to gain better access to food sources making it more likely to survive and reproduce. So if we were to go back to the idea of the tree frog. We could measure its fitness by how well it blends into a tree. As in if you could quickly see it or not. Then you could go on to follow its ability to get necessary resources like food and water. Then the ultimate measure of fitness would be to see if it could make offspring. Then you would have to make sure those offspring can survive and function well in the environment just like the parent. These would all be great ways to measure fitness.
Your idea of fitness is exactly how I would describe it. And I would agree that fitness is relative to each specific organism. What's considered "fit" for one organism is most likely not what is considered "fit" for another organism. Every situation varies.
ReplyDeleteKate,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I love the meme. You're inspiring me to be more loose and fun with my blog posts as well! Anyways, I definitely agree that when I think of fitness I think of being going to the gym and getting "swole", but scientifically, it is really all that different? If you're a "fit" human-being in terms of going to the gym and being in good shape, aren't you more likely to fit the scientific definition as well? If you are fit in gym terms, you are probably more likely to find a mate (because you look like you're in good shape; hence, physically more attractive) and you are less likely to have health complications, which would ultimately decrease your chance of survival and finding a mate. Just some food for thought.
Hi Kate!
ReplyDeleteI liked how you added in what you think of fitness in terms outside of this class. I was telling a friend that I'm writing a post about fitness and they immediately thought I was talking about exercising. I think in a way that fitness in evolution terms can also tie into benefits that you will gain from exercising.