English Dictionary

life-dinner principle

名詞

(evolutionary biology) A principle of asymmetry in selective pressure between predators and prey.

日本語の意味

進化生物学における、捕食者と被食者の間で生死に関わるリスク（被食者の場合は命、捕食者の場合は夕食）に基づく選択圧の非対称性を示す原則。

The life-dinner principle explains why prey species often evolve quicker escape behaviors than their predators.

被食者が命を賭け、捕食者が失うのはせいぜい食事だけであるという選択圧の非対称性は、被食者がしばしば捕食者よりも迅速な逃避行動を進化させる理由を説明する。

意味（1）

(evolutionary biology) A principle of asymmetry in selective pressure between predators and prey.

The life-dinner principle (unequal selection pressures) ¶ ‘The rabbit runs faster than the fox, because the rabbit is running for his life while the fox is only running for his dinner’ (Dawkins 1979, after Aesop). There is a built in imbalance between predator and prey with respect to the penalty of failure. Mutations that make foxes lose races against rabbits might therefore survive in the fox gene pool longer than mutations that cause rabbits to lose races can expect to survive in the rabbit gene pool.