Darwinian extinction (also known as "evolutionary suicide") refers to processes of selection-driven self-extinction, i.e. the cases where natural selection causes the extinction of an evolving population.
In the literature, there are many models of life-history evolution and (to a lesser extent) experiments with bacteria in which Darwinian extinction has been demonstrated. However, I couldn't find anywhere real-world examples (i.e. not from models or experiments) of Darwinian extinction of complex organisms within more or less constant environment.
Do we know of such examples?
And if we do, could you please refer me to them?
Edit: A mechanism of the Darwinian extinction could be, for example, the emergence of ”selfish” strategies w.r.t frequency-dependent selection, which are beneficial to individuals when rare, but may result in a deteriorating environment and smaller population size once they become common.
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