Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
J Evol Biol. 2012 Jun;25(6):1002-19. doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2012.02498.x. Epub 2012 Apr 5.
The Price equation partitions total evolutionary change into two components. The first component provides an abstract expression of natural selection. The second component subsumes all other evolutionary processes, including changes during transmission. The natural selection component is often used in applications. Those applications attract widespread interest for their simplicity of expression and ease of interpretation. Those same applications attract widespread criticism by dropping the second component of evolutionary change and by leaving unspecified the detailed assumptions needed for a complete study of dynamics. Controversies over approximation and dynamics have nothing to do with the Price equation itself, which is simply a mathematical equivalence relation for total evolutionary change expressed in an alternative form. Disagreements about approach have to do with the tension between the relative valuation of abstract versus concrete analyses. The Price equation's greatest value has been on the abstract side, particularly the invariance relations that illuminate the understanding of natural selection. Those abstract insights lay the foundation for applications in terms of kin selection, information theory interpretations of natural selection and partitions of causes by path analysis. I discuss recent critiques of the Price equation by Nowak and van Veelen.
价格方程将总进化变化分为两个组成部分。第一部分提供了自然选择的抽象表达式。第二部分包含了所有其他进化过程，包括在传播过程中的变化。自然选择成分在应用中经常被使用。这些应用因其表达的简单性和易于解释而引起广泛关注。同样，由于忽略了进化变化的第二部分，并且没有具体说明完整动力学研究所需的详细假设，这些应用也受到了广泛的批评。关于近似和动态的争议与价格方程本身无关，价格方程本身只是以另一种形式表达的总进化变化的数学等价关系。方法上的分歧与抽象分析与具体分析的相对价值之间的紧张关系有关。价格方程最大的价值在于抽象方面，特别是不变关系，它阐明了对自然选择的理解。这些抽象的见解为基于亲缘选择、自然选择的信息理论解释和路径分析的原因划分的应用奠定了基础。我讨论了 Nowak 和 van Veelen 最近对价格方程的批评。
