In the case of eusocialism, William's inequality is sufficient to explain the behavior and there isn't a need to move to higher level processes. This is particularly true for the Hymenopterans for whom sisters of an individual are more closely related than are that female's own offspring (ants, bees, wasps etc. are haplodiploid). You don't have similar situation with naked mole rats in regards to high r values but as I recall colonies are highly inbreed. There is a lot of literature on mole rats in particular but I at least am not particularly familiar with it. Perhaps someone else on the list is.
For systems like that of wolves where a dominant pair does the majority of the breeding, if I recall correctly, game theory models have done a good job demonstrating ESSs for cooperation. Ned Dochtermann *************************** Ned Dochtermann [EMAIL PROTECTED] 775-784-6781 Graduate Group in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology Fleischman Agriculture Building, Room 145 University of Nevada, Reno -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sharif Branham Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 7:39 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: EVOLUTION Behavior Re: current natural selection pressures What role does eusocialism play in this discussion in general and as it relates to group selection? Sharif Branham
