Evolution Institute and Departments of Biology and Anthropology,Binghamton University,Binghamton, NY
Behav Brain Sci. 2014 Jun;37(3):279-80. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X13003075.
Whenever selection operates at a given level of a multitier hierarchy, units at that level should become the object of functional analysis, and units at lower levels should be studied as proximate mechanisms. This intuition already exists for the study of genes in individuals, when individuals are the unit of selection. It is only beginning to be applied for the study of individuals in groups, when groups are the unit of selection. Smaldino's target article is an important step in this direction with an emphasis on human cultural evolution, but the same algorithm applies to all multilevel evolutionary processes.
只要选择在多层次等级结构的某个特定层次起作用，该层次的单位就应该成为功能分析的对象，而较低层次的单位则应该作为近因机制来研究。当个体是选择的单位时，这种直觉在个体中研究基因时已经存在。只有当群体是选择的单位时，这种直觉才开始应用于研究群体中的个体。斯玛尔迪诺的专题文章是朝着这个方向迈出的重要一步，重点是人类文化进化，但同样的算法适用于所有多层次的进化过程。
