Population viscosity can promote the evolution of altruistic sterile helpers and eusociality.

Details

Ressource 1Download: BIB_E0F79BA4D954.P001.pdf (220.06 [Ko])
State: Public
Version: author
Serval ID
serval:BIB_E0F79BA4D954
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Population viscosity can promote the evolution of altruistic sterile helpers and eusociality.
Journal
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London series B
Author(s)
Lehmann L., Ravigné V., Keller L.
ISSN
0962-8452 (Print)
ISSN-L
0962-8452
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2008
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
275
Number
1645
Pages
1887-1895
Language
english
Abstract
Because it increases relatedness between interacting individuals, population viscosity has been proposed to favour the evolution of altruistic helping. However, because it increases local competition between relatives, population viscosity may also act as a brake for the evolution of helping behaviours. In simple models, the kin selected fecundity benefits of helping are exactly cancelled out by the cost of increased competition between relatives when helping occurs after dispersal. This result has lead to the widespread view, especially among people working with social organisms, that special conditions are required for the evolution of altruism. Here, we re-examine this result by constructing a simple population genetic model where we analyse whether the evolution of a sterile worker caste (i.e. an extreme case of altruism) can be selected for by limited dispersal. We show that a sterile worker caste can be selected for even under the simplest life-cycle assumptions. This has relevant consequences for our understanding of the evolution of altruism in social organisms, as many social insects are characterized by limited dispersal and significant genetic population structure.
Keywords
Altruism, Animals, Biological Evolution, Competitive Behavior, Diploidy, Female, Haploidy, Male, Models, Genetic, Population Dynamics, Reproduction, Selection, Genetic
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
30/04/2008 15:43
Last modification date
20/08/2019 17:05
Usage data