Methods for interpreting an untested Darwinian conjecture

Abstract

Intraspecific variations are the differences in traits among individuals of the same species.These variations are what natural selection acts on, and thus are crucial to evolution by natural selection as proposed by Charles Darwin in his book On the Origin of Species, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. In this text, Darwin proposed multiple sources of intraspecific variation although one of them has yet to be studied despite having been published more than 150 years ago. Darwin explained that traits which are extraordinary compared to the same trait in closely related species ought to be highly variable. In this thesis, I provide possible interpretations of this conjecture, and construct distinct methodologies for testing each interpretation. The quantity and quality of data collected did not allow a decisive test of the conjecture; however, the interpretations and methods described herein may be used to guide future work once the appropriate data are published.