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Full-Text Articles in Population Biology
Some Agreement On Kin Selection And Eusociality?, David C. Queller, Stephen Rong, Xiaoyun Liao
Some Agreement On Kin Selection And Eusociality?, David C. Queller, Stephen Rong, Xiaoyun Liao
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
The authors of "Relatedness, Conflict, and the Evolution of Eusociality" respond to objections raised by Martin Nowak and Benjamin Allen.
Relatedness, Conflict, And The Evolution Of Eusociality, Xiaoyun Liao, Stephen Rong, David C. Queller
Relatedness, Conflict, And The Evolution Of Eusociality, Xiaoyun Liao, Stephen Rong, David C. Queller
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
The evolution of sterile worker castes in eusocial insects was a major problem in evolutionary theory until Hamilton developed a method called inclusive fitness. He used it to show that sterile castes could evolve via kin selection, in which a gene for altruistic sterility is favored when the altruism sufficiently benefits relatives carrying the gene. Inclusive fitness theory is well supported empirically and has been applied to many other areas, but a recent paper argued that the general method of inclusive fitness was wrong and advocated an alternative population genetic method. The claim of these authors was bolstered by a …