Evolutionary interplay of caution and boldness in populations

A recent study in the journal Cell, by Gleb Shumyatsky and others,
indicates that the difference between "normally cautious mice" and
"bold mice" is one gene, which governs the protein stathmin in the
amygdala. The ramifications for drug and even gene therapy are
obvious, yet it seems to me that a larger and more complex issue
may loom in the wings here:

It seems to me that the survival of a population and indeed a species
may often hinge on the complexity or flexibility of its response to
environmental pressures. I can imagine times when, for example,
caution and even timidity might confer greater survival for a popu-
lation and other times when bold, dynamic actions would be the
more appropriate survival response. The great variety of possible
human responses to environmental pressures comes to mind: a
human community having many different kinds of people -- with
many different response potentials in different individuals, each
having different sensibilities and capacities -- will likely have a
greater flexibility of response and a greater survivability. Ie: there
is a place and time for the cautious and a place and time for the
bold 'mice'.

Gene

Question: What computer modeling has been done exploring the
evolutionary/survival value, for an artificial population, of a wide
range vs. a narrow range of responses, in environments having
different degrees of complexity and severity in their impacts on
populations/species?


.

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