The fitness consequences of dispersal decisions are difficult to quantify, especially for long-
lived species with complex social systems. To calculate those consequences for male …

Comparative studies provide one of the most powerful means of assessing the relative roles
of selective agents underlying social evolution in insects. Because of the wide variation in …

Decisions regarding immigration and emigration are crucial to understanding group
dynamics in social animals, but dispersal is rarely treated in models of optimal behavior. We …

One of the main transitions in evolution is the shift from solitary organisms to societies with
reproductive division of labour,. Understanding social evolution requires us to determine …

In social species, resource inheritance is a common and widespread phenomenon.
Potential inheritance payoffs may influence an animal's decision of whether to attempt …

We review the historical development of theory on the evolution and ecology of cooperation.
Darwin launched this topic of inquiry with a surprisingly modern discussion of how fitness …

Most examples of cooperation in nature share a common feature: individuals can interact to
produce a productivity benefit or fitness surplus, but there is conflict over how these gains …

The formation of animal societies is a major transition in evolution. It is challenging to
understand why societies are stable, given the reproductive conflicts inherent within them …

Studies of sex-ratio conflict in the eusocial Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) have
provided the most rigorous tests of kin selection theory. The hymenopteran haplodiploid …

Most cooperatively breeding species exhibit high reproductive skew, where reproduction
within the social group is monopolized by a dominant pair. In many of these species, social …