Ecology is a fundamental driving force for the evolutionary transition from solitary living to
breeding cooperatively in groups. However, the fact that both benign and harsh, as well as …

Division of labour is a common feature of social groups, from biofilms to complex animal
societies. However, we lack a theoretical framework that can explain why division of labour …

How should fitness be measured to determine which phenotype or “strategy” is uninvadable
when evolution occurs in a group‐structured population subject to local demographic and …

Eusocial organisms typically live in colonies with one reproductive queen supported by
thousands of sterile workers. It is widely believed that monogamous mating is a precondition …

In a much‐cited 1964 paper entitled “Reproductive efficiency in relation to colony size in
hymenopterous societies,” Charles Michener investigated the correlation between a colony's …

The evolution of cooperation and social behaviour is often studied in isolation from the
ecology of organisms. Yet, the selective environment under which individuals evolve is …

Facultatively social species allow for empirical examination of the factors underlying
evolutionary transitions between primitive and complex forms of sociality. Variation in …

The origin of eusociality in the Hymenoptera is a question of major interest. Theory has
tended to focus on genetic relatedness, but ecology can be just as important a determinant …

Eusociality is a distinct form of biological organization. A key characteristic of advanced
eusociality is the presence of non-reproductive workers. Why evolution should produce …

While it is broadly true that all sexually reproducing organisms have a “social life”(Trivers,
1985), social behavior outside courting and mating is not the modal animal lifestyle …