arms race in evolution?

Question

could someone give me a definition for arms race from an evolutionary perspective

Answer 1

War is the nature of human kind (unkind). With battle, comes new and innovative ways to defeat the enemy. The sling and the spear chucker worked well until someone devised a bow and arrow, then the cross bow, etc.. Fast forward to the invention of gun powder making all other weapons obsolete.. fast forward a bit more, and we got nuclear weapons.

Just think, without war..we wouldn't have cell phones, microwave ovens or spam.

Answer 2

"An evolutionary arms race is an evolutionary struggle between competing sets of co-evolving genes that develop adaptations and counter-adaptations against each other, resembling an arms race. "

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_arms_race


Any competition, whether evolutionary, societal, military, or sports can be compared to an "arms race".






For more information, see:

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIIF1Armsrace.shtml

Answer 3

Prey animals like rabbits, deer and buffalo adapt by breeding faster, running faster and bulking up to fight back. That is their side of the arms race.

Predator animals like wolves, cheetahs and grizzly bears adapt by hunting in packs, running faster and bulking up to fight all comers. That is their side of the arms race.

Answer 4

Whoever is able to have most weapons (or most effective) will be able to kill his competition and pass his genetic material on to th next generation. There is another effect also. If someone has more effective weapons, then he will be able to hunt more or better food and be able to attract a better mate.

Answer 5

As species struggle to survive by feeding off each other or trying to outwit competitors to the food, they have to evolve tactics and means which will ensure survival.