Examines issues regarding the defensibility and utility of natural selection as a scientific theory, focusing on the process of population change over time. Topics considered include criticisms of Darwinian theory, tautology and the meaning of fitness, the ability of theories to predict and explain, and the sufficiency of natural selection. (DH)

Examines aspects of competitive exclusion, which develops when two species jointly utilize a vital resource that is in short supply. When this occurs, one of the species will eventually eliminate the other from the habitat where their distributions overlap, unless one or both species evolve differences that reduce competition. (JR)