www.karger.com Biological Signifi cance and Evolution

recent common descent, of the gene in the fi rst individual that is responsible for taking the resource. Intragenomic confl ict over whether to take the resource arises if different agents (genes) within the fi rst individual have different coeffi cients to the second individual. Specifi cally, there is an internal con-fl ict if agent 1 and agent 2 have coeffi cients of relatedness r 1 and r 2, where s s o o V Vr r r r V V1 2 2 1>> or>> (2) One agent would gain a net benefi t from taking the resource whereas the other would obtain a net loss. Haig and Westoby (1989) recognized that such an internal confl ict exists within offspring between genes of maternal an