Life Sciences Commons^™

Evolution Of Mammalian Social Structure, Ronald K. Chesser, Derrick W. Sugg, O. Eugene Rhodes Jr., James M. Novak, Michael H. Smith

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Social groups may be viewed as collections of individuals exhibiting nonindependent behavior and organized in a cooperative manner. The evolutionary advantage of social behavior to individuals must be measured in its relativity to other potential behaviors, the scale of competitive interactions, and under a variety of environmental and genetic constraints. A primary tenet of social evolution is that coancestry will promote the genes of related individuals. High values of coancestry, however, do not necessarily translate into evolutionary advantage unless the primary competitive interactions occur among the groups. Coancestry is affected by the breeding tactics within and rates of genetic exchange …