3 ms·

The pathogen itself is being optimized to spread though. I think game theory still applies to natural selection in some sense.

• scott_w 4y ago
  Not in this case as the pathogen isn’t going to react to the evolutionary defences of the bee by adjusting its infectiousness.
  • hgsgm 4y ago
    On evolutionary timescales, it does.
  • elcomet 4y ago
    Of course it is. The animals producing the pathogen will adapt to the bees
    • Supermancho 4y ago
      >> Not in this case as the pathogen isn’t going to react to the evolutionary defences of the bee by adjusting its infectiousness > Of course it is That is incorrect. Diseases might evolve to be more infectious. This is not a certainty. There are many directions a disease can change and selecting to be more likely for a specific species is dependent on an N-vector calculus, with the most impactful cofactors being the length of time they (an attacking bee and a pathogen and the bee victim) coexist in the same environments and the utility of such an adaptation and the nature of the disease (ie incubation time, effects, etc) over time. It's likely the nature of a specific disease and the victim are going to vary more over time, making a favorable situation to prevent any attacking bee to simply not return.
    • scott_w 4y ago
      The pathogens may or may mutate but this is separate to bee mutations. They don’t respond to each other.