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Recent Research and New Theory

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Last edited by contulmmiv
October 13, 2014 | History

Natural Selection and Social Behavior

Recent Research and New Theory

  • 1 Want to read

This volume results from a symposium held at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in October of 1978 and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The papers included were, for the most part, presented at the symposium, though a few additional ones were requested fox the publication.
The occasion for the symposium was the fiftieth anniversary of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology in its present structure. It seemed to us that no better commemoration could be planned than a general discussion of the questions raised by the revolution in evolutionary biology that has occurred during the past two decades. The part of that revolution currently attracting the most attention concerns the evolutionary basis of social behavior in all parts of the animal kingdom-hence the title of the symposium and of this volume. [...]

We believe that the papers included here represent most of the topics that have sparked the recent interest in behavioral evolution. Read in sequence, the papers provide an excellent overview of current research and theory. Differences of opinion and approach are obvious and are often provocative and stimulating. We have not tried to eliminate such differences, feeling instead that each paper should stand on its own merits. We also believe that this is the first major volume of original papers devoted almost wholly to research stimulated principally by George C. Williams and William D. Hamilton, who stressed two main ideas: first, it is valuable to identify the level (gene, individual, population, species) at which natural selection acts most consistently and powerfully and, second, natural selection can favor contributions to genetic reproduction not only through descendant but also through nondescendant relatives. The importance of these two ideas is apparent throughout the volume.
The organization of the volume is partly taxonomic and partly by subject. We thought it appropriate to begin with the social insects, for their sterile castes have, since Darwin, been a focal point in the understanding of natural selection. What, after all, could be more challenging to a theory of evolution based on differential reproduction than explaining the existence of individuals that normally produce no offspring of their own? The currently intensive study of cooperative breeding in birds, represented here by several investigations, involves obvious parallels, because helpers sometimes die without producing offspring; however, the conclusions reached in studies of social insects and cooperatively breeding birds often diverge intriguingly. Nevertheless, in both cases the emerging picture suggests that two crucial variables are genetic relatedness and fluctuations in the availability of breeding habitat.
Nearly all of the investigators in this symposium, including those interested in caste systems and cooperative breeding, have sought to measure the reproductive success of individuals in systems of sexual competition and parental care. Data on this long neglected problem are presented for insects, fish, frogs, lizards, birds, and mammals, including humans.
Sexuality can be viewed as involving a kind of proto-social cooperative behavior. Among prominent questions in evolutionary biology at present, the evolutionary raison d'etre of sexuality is fairly described as the most difficult. It is fitting, therefore, that this volume should include two papers with promising new ideas on this question.
Finally, we are particularly pleased with the section on human sociality, for it shows clearly that the theory of natural selection, which has for so long guided research at all levels of inquiry in biology, has significant implications for the study of human behavior and social systems as well. [from the Introduction]

Publish Date
Publisher
Chiron Press
Language
English
Pages
532

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Cover of: Natural Selection and Social Behavior
Natural Selection and Social Behavior: Recent Research and New Theory
October 1981, Chiron Press
Hardcover in English

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Introduction
Page xi
I. Eusociality in Insects
1. Intragroup Selection and the Evolution of Insect Societies · Mary Jane West-Eberhard
Page 3
2. Individual Strategies of Inclusive-Fitness-Maximizing in Polistes fuscatus Foundresses · Katharine M. Noonan
Page 18
3. Kin Selection and Satellite Nests in Polistes exclamans · Joan E. Strassmann
Page 45
II. Correlates of Male and Female Reproductive Success in Various Vertebrates
4. Male Age-Size Distribution and Male Mating Success in Bullfrogs · Richard D. Howard
Page 61
5. The Timing of Reproduction and Its Behavioral Consequences for Mottled Sculpins, Cottus bairdi · Jerry F. Downhower and Luther Brown
Page 78
6. Phenotypic Correlates of Male Reproductive Success in the Lizard, Sceloporus jarrovi · Douglas E. Ruby
Page 96
7. Population Structure and Social Behavior: Models for Testing the Ecological Significance of Song Dialects in Birds · Robert B. Payne
Page 108
8. The Evolution of Sexual lndistinguishability · Nancy Burley
Page 121
9. The Evolution of Leks · Jack W. Bradbury
Page 138
III. Parental Strategies in Vertebrates
10. Natural Selection and the Evolution of lnterspecific Brood Care in Fishes · Kenneth R. McKaye
Page 173
11. Parental Behavior of Male and Female Frogs · Kentwood D. Wells
Page 184
12. Reproductive Cost and the Sex Ratio in Red-Winged Blackbirds · Kent L. Fiala
Page 198
IV. Cooperative Breeding in Birds
13. Altruism, Kinship, and Reciprocity in the White-Fronted Bee-Eater · Stephen T. Emlen
Page 217
14. Demographic Patterns and Communal Breeding in the Green Woodhoopoe, Phoeniculus purpureus · J. David Ligon
Page 231
15. Kin Selection and Individual Selection in Babblers · Jerram L. Brown and Esther R. Brown
Page 244
16. Selfish Behavior by Florida Scrub Jay Helpers · Glen E. Woolfenden
Page 257
17. Ecological Factors and Kin Selection in the Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds · Walter D. Koenig and Frank A. Pitelka
Page 261
V. Social Behavior and Life Histories in Mammals
18. Nepotism and Cooperative Breeding in the Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Sciuridae: Cynomys/udovicianus) · John L. Hoogland
Page 281
19. Reproductive Competition and Infanticide in Belding's Ground Squirrels and OtherAnimals · Paul W. Sherman
Page 311
20. Correlations Among Life History Characteristics of Mammalian Species Exhibiting Two Extreme Forms of Monogamy · D. G. Kleiman
Page 332
21. Some Applications of Computer Models to the Study of Primate Mating and Social Systems · Glenn Hausfater, Carol D. Saunders, and Michael Chapman
Page 345
VI. The Problem of Sexuality
22. Fluctuation of Environment and Coevolved Antagonist Polymorphism as Factors in the Maintenance of Sex · William D. Hamilton, Peter A. Henderson, and Nancy A. Moran
Page 363
23. Genome Parliaments and Sex with the Red Queen · John Hartung
Page 382
VII. Humans
24. Abuse and Neglect of Children in Evolutionary Perspective · Martin Daly & Margo I. Wilson
Page 405
25. Paternal Confidence and Dowry Competition: A Biocultural Analysis of Purdah · Mildred Dickemann
Page 417
26. Uterine vs. Agnatic Kinship Variability and Associated Cousin Marriage Preferences: An Evolutionary Biological Analysis · Mark Flinn
Page 439
27. Why Lineage Exogamy? · William Irons
Page 476
28. Terminological Kinship, Genealogical Relatedness and Village Fissioning among the Yanomamo Indians · Napoleon A. Chagnon
Page 490
29. Evolution, Culture, and Human Behavior: Some General Considerations · Richard D. Alexander
Page 509
Index
Page 521

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Number of pages
532

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL8322461M
ISBN 10
091346208X
ISBN 13
9780913462089
Goodreads
2653986

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October 13, 2014 Edited by contulmmiv Added new cover
October 13, 2014 Edited by contulmmiv Added description
October 13, 2014 Edited by contulmmiv Added toc, second author
January 28, 2010 Edited by WorkBot add more information to works
December 9, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page