View article

Phenotypic variance results from variation in biological information possessed by individuals. Quantitative geneticists often strive to partition out all environmental variance to measure heritability. Behavioral biologists and ecologists however, require methods to integrate genetic and environmental components of inherited phenotypic variance in order to estimate the evolutionary potential of traits, which encompasses any form of information that is inherited. To help develop this integration, we build on the tools of quantitative genetics and offer the concept of ‘inclusive heritability’ which identifies and unifies the various mechanisms of information transmission across generations. A controversial component of non‐genetic information is animal culture, which is the part of phenotypic variance inherited through social learning. Culture has the unique property of being transmitted horizontally and obliquely, as well as …