You did not make any sense to me. What is the difference between ant colonies and geese gaggles that you care about? Why is this difference important to understanding group selection?
I think the relevant difference is that all geese in a gaggle are free to try to reproduce with other geese; this is not true of ants. That’s as far as I got in that comment, though.
And the reason that difference is important is that a sterile ant has no other interests other than the good of the hive. Whereas a goose has every reason under selection to put the good of herself and her own offspring ahead of the good of the gaggle.
The ant “feels” no other evolutionary force other than group selection. Whereas the goose “feels” the force of both individual and group selection, and individual selection is the stronger force.
You did not make any sense to me. What is the difference between ant colonies and geese gaggles that you care about? Why is this difference important to understanding group selection?
I think the relevant difference is that all geese in a gaggle are free to try to reproduce with other geese; this is not true of ants. That’s as far as I got in that comment, though.
And the reason that difference is important is that a sterile ant has no other interests other than the good of the hive. Whereas a goose has every reason under selection to put the good of herself and her own offspring ahead of the good of the gaggle.
The ant “feels” no other evolutionary force other than group selection. Whereas the goose “feels” the force of both individual and group selection, and individual selection is the stronger force.