[ytturbed]

>If animals eat all the food that is available to them and reproduce as fast is they are physically capable, then the environment will be denuded, the next generation will starve, and the species will face extinction. All animal species are evolved to avoid this

Isn't this a Tragedy of the Commons? Won't genes that cause individuals to eat more and reproduce more quickly than fellow members of their species confer a relative advantage causing those genes to spread through the gene pool?

[mitteldorf]

Tragedy of the Commons is exactly right. Yes, the genes spread through the gene pool, but then the population goes extinct very quickly because there's a huge population and nothing to eat. This is the most powerful form of group selection, and it was first described by Michael Gilpin, http://press.princeton.edu/titles/663.html