Equation 1 · Part 2 · Darwin's Finches: The Beak the Grants Measured for Forty Years
Symbol h^2
What this part means
the trait’s heritability.
Its job in the formula
is an input to the expression that computes the quantity on the left.
Full expression→Symbol h^2→Article meaning
Where the article explains it
where S is the selection differential actually measured on the population in one generation, is the trait’s heritability, and R is the response: the amount the population’s mean should shift in the next generation, if the difference between survivors and non-survivors was genetic rather than purely environmental.
The passage around this formula
…prediction, through the simplest quantitative-genetics identity in the field, the breeder’s equation: . where S is the selection differential actually measured on the population in one generation, is the trait’s heritability, and R is the response: the amount the population’s mean should shift in the next generation, if the difference between survivors and non-survivors was genetic rather than purely environmental. Grant and Grant ran exactly this check on their own data, comparing the…
Learn the underlying idea
An exponent tells how a base is used in multiplication. In x³, x is the base and 3 is the exponent: x³ = x × x × x.
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Sources cited in the surrounding passage
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