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The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
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Social transitions in sponge-dwelling snapping shrimp.
Solomon Tc Chak1, Dustin R Rubenstein1
1Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States.
Current Opinion in Insect Science
|June 28, 2019
Summary
Marine shrimp social evolution is rare, with eusociality only in sponge-dwelling species. Ecology and life history changes, like host generalism and crawling larvae, were key to this social evolution.
Area of Science:
- Marine biology
- Evolutionary biology
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Sociality is rare in marine environments.
- True eusociality is documented only in sponge-dwelling snapping shrimp (genus Alpheus).
- This genus displays diverse social systems, including multiple independent origins of eusociality and communal breeding from pair-forming ancestors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a hypothesis on the evolutionary transitions toward sociality in snapping shrimp.
- To illustrate how ecological factors and life history traits interact to shape social evolution.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of social evolution in snapping shrimp.
- Examination of ecological transitions (host specialization to generalism, sponge size).
- Analysis of life history changes (planktonic vs. non-dispersing larvae).
Main Results:
- Ecological shifts preceded eusociality evolution, with host generalism being a precursor.
- Larger host sponges favored communal breeding.
- Non-dispersing, crawling larvae evolved exclusively in eusocial species, indicating a life history shift linked to eusociality.
Conclusions:
- Ecology and life history are critical interacting factors in the evolution of shrimp sociality.
- The study provides a model for understanding broader principles of social evolution in response to ecological and life history pressures.
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